Respawn has published the Designer's Notes for Split 2 of the Overclocked season, previewing what's coming in patch 29.1. The update hits several legends at once — Axle gets further nerfs, Ballistic, Pathfinder, and Seer pick up buffs, and Mad Maggie, Valkyrie, and Conduit are getting nerfed.
The studio addressed the obvious question head-on: why did Axle's nerf take this long? Respawn's answer is that new legends are shipped intentionally strong. The logic is that a weak legend gets ignored — players won't bother experimenting if the new pick doesn't actually shift the meta. It's easier to tune down a dominant legend than to rescue one nobody tried. There's also a data problem: Axle was free to unlock for the first two weeks, which inflated her match representation and made early numbers unreliable. Once that window closed, Respawn made some quick mid-split nerfs to her Tactic, and patch 29.1 continues that process with more targeted adjustments.
Beyond the legend changes, 29.1 shakes up the hop-up pool with a brand new shotgun hop-up and a broader hop-up shuffle. Ballistic is getting a refresh designed to open up new playstyles, while the Pathfinder and Seer buffs are aimed at pulling both legends back into competitive viability. The notes also flag that regional differences in how the game is played factor into balancing decisions — something Respawn says it's actively tracking.
The full patch notes with exact numbers are still to come, but the Designer's Notes frame this update as a meaningful mid-season reset rather than minor housekeeping. Respawn is asking players to engage with the changes once they're live and keep the feedback coming.
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