Apex Legends Overclocked Split 2 midseason patch buffs Ballistic, adds shotgun hop-ups

Apex Legends dropped its Overclocked Split 2 midseason patch on June 23rd, bringing Legend balance changes, two new shotgun hop-ups, anti-cheat improvements, and a range of bug fixes. It's a meaty mid-split update aimed at shaking up the meta before the season wraps.

Ballistic is the headline balance story. He's been sitting near the bottom of the pickrate charts after a string of nerfs, so Respawn is pulling him back up — carefully. His Whistler tactical now carries two charges instead of one, the overheat debuff duration stretches from 12 to 15 seconds, and overheat damage jumps sharply from 15 to 50. Crucially, the debuff now locks onto only one weapon: whichever the target is holding when hit, or their first slot if they're unarmed. It no longer degrades while the target isn't firing or swaps weapons, but it also can't stack onto a second gun or re-apply while someone is already overheating — that's the counterplay Respawn wanted to build in. His Ultimate also changes: instead of a full movement speed boost for Ballistic alone, the whole squad now gets a sprint-speed boost when it activates, which helps coordinated pushes without turning the team into untouchable speedsters mid-fight. Ballistic also now respawns with his Sling weapon in all game modes.

On the anti-cheat front, Respawn says it implemented detection for a reverse speed hack this season — the exploit that let cheaters freeze themselves mid-air for extended periods. The team also identified and patched several server-crashing exploits. Respawn acknowledges it can't detail everything it's working on without tipping off bad actors, but says more announcements are coming soon. The studio has been posting incremental and seasonal ban recap updates on the ApexLiveComms account for anyone tracking the numbers.

The patch notes provided cover Ballistic and the anti-cheat section in full, with the shotgun hop-ups and remaining Legend changes listed further in the notes. June 23rd is the date to mark — a good excuse to pull the squad back in for the second half of Overclocked.