Based on documents published up to Sep 20, 2026
Season
Season 30 Split 2: Marked
Split start:
Split 2 of Season 30, Marked, opened September 15, 2026. Nothing printed touches RP maths or promotion rules, but the ranked ladders grow to six 5-day windows and the ranked rotation gets Olympus and Broken Moon back. The balance story is a lift for three legends from three different classes whose pick rates had sunk — Conduit (Support), Fuse (Assault) and Catalyst (Controller) — plus a conservative lift for three long-range weapons, while the season's leaner loot is loosened only where healing is concerned. New detection systems for unauthorized controller hardware and software also went live on every platform with the split.
At a glance
- Ranked ladders run six 5-day windows (September 22 – November 1) — total competitive days go 25 → 30
- Nothing in the notes changes RP maths, promotion, demotion, or the split reset
- Ranked and pubs rotate World's Edge / Olympus / Broken Moon — Storm Point and E-District rotate out
- Conduit (Support), Fuse (Assault) and Catalyst (Controller) all get kit-wide buffs
- Three long-range weapons — Triple Take, Bocek, Charge Rifle — get conservative buffs; the launch SMG nerfs stand
- New systems detecting unauthorized controller hardware and software are live on every platform, consoles included
Ranked ladder calendar
| Ladder | Window | Span |
|---|---|---|
| Ladder 1 | 9/22 – 9/27 | 5 days |
| Ladder 2 | 9/29 – 10/4 | 5 days |
| Ladder 3 | 10/6 – 10/11 | 5 days |
| Ladder 4 | 10/13 – 10/18 | 5 days |
| Ladder 5 | 10/20 – 10/25 | 5 days |
| Ladder 6 | 10/27 – 11/1 | 5 days |
The dates exactly as the patch notes print them. No timezone is given there.
Ranked ladders — six 5-day windows now, the first opening September 22
Split 2 runs six ladders from September 22 to November 1. The shape is split 1's — 5-day windows, one free day between — with one more window, taking the total competitive days from 25 to 30 by our own count of the two date tables. Nothing in these notes covers RP maths, promotion, demotion, or the reset applied at the split.
- changedWindow length: 5 days, unchanged from split 1
- changedWindows: 56 (total competitive days: 2530)
- changedThe break between windows stays at one day
- changedThe first window opens September 22 — a week after the split starts on September 15
- changedNothing printed changes RP maths, promotion, demotion or the reset
Sources: Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes / Apex Legends™: Marked Patch Notes
Map rotation — Olympus and Broken Moon return; World's Edge gets polished
Both ranked and pubs stay three maps, but the maps change: Storm Point and E-District, in since launch, rotate out for Olympus and Broken Moon. Over 150 map quality fixes land alongside, the bulk of them on the freshly reworked World's Edge.
- changedRanked and pubs: World's Edge / Olympus / Broken Moon
- changedStorm Point and E-District leave the rotation
- changed150+ map quality fixes, most on World's Edge: terrain holes, cover, zipline behaviour, rat spots closed
Sources: Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes / Apex Legends™: Marked Patch Notes
Conduit — a faster, surer Energy Barricade, and both Level 2 upgrades swapped out
Per the designer's notes, the Support's pick rate spiked to 14% after the Season 29 buffs and fell to 6% after the nerfs that followed. This pass rebuilds the handling of the Energy Barricade ultimate: it deploys and arms faster, the jammers stand taller and tighter, and a new toggle officially supports laying them across a forward line.
Tactical — Radiant Transfer
- changedThe shield bar now previews how far the temporary shields will regenerate
Ultimate — Energy Barricade
- buffedFires faster, cutting the time before she is back in the fight
- buffedJammers activate significantly faster
- buffedA new orientation toggle while targeting lets the jammers deploy in a forward line
- buffedJammers spawn higher and slightly closer together, covering more vertical space
- changedA new HUD element shows deployment validity, marking each invalid jammer red
Upgrades
- changedBattpack and Bigger Jam (both Level 2) are removed
- changedNew Concurrency (Level 2): refire once with no cooldown within 10s, with 2 fewer jammers in a tighter formation
- changedNew Jammed Up (Level 2): jammer radius +25%, and enemies it damages have their HUD jammed for 10s
Sources: Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes / Marked Midseason Designer's Notes / Apex Legends™: Characters
Fuse — Knuckle Jump and explosive resistance move into the base kit
A polish pass on the Assault's Season 28 rework — per the designer's notes his pick rate peaked at 12% in February and had slid to 5% by May. The mobility and resistance that used to be upgrades (Knuckle Jumper, Wreckless) fold into the base kit, new options fill the freed Level 2 and 3 slots, and the Motherlode lands faster and hits harder at its edge.
buffedPassive — Grenadier
- buffedGains 25% explosive damage resistance at base
- buffedOrdnance within 30m is highlighted in the world
Tactical — Knuckle Cluster
- buffedKnuckle Jump is available at base, with moderately less jump power than the old upgrade
- nerfedJumping no longer refunds tactical cooldown
- buffedReturns to guns much faster after firing, and ADS now zooms
- changedA new indicator shows the radius where the jump activates
buffedUltimate — Motherlode
- buffedRaises slightly faster, and an adjusted arc lands the main projectile sooner
- buffedMini-bombs explode faster, speeding up the whole rollout
- buffedLess damage falloff on the initial explosion — the edge of the radius hurts more
- changedA new indicator visualises the initial and follow-up explosion radii
Upgrades
- changedKnuckle Jumper (Level 2) and Wreckless (Level 3) are removed — their effects live in the base kit now
- changedReignition moves from Level 3 to Level 2, its recharge slowing from 1s per 2 explosive damage to 1s per 3
- buffedPyro Techniques: the persistent flames' radius doubles
- changedNew Big Bang (Level 3): Knuckle Cluster explosions cover 50% more area
- changedNew Sticky Bomb (Level 3): the initial projectile is 25% larger and sticks to enemies; every 7 hits shaves 1s of cooldown
Sources: Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes / Marked Midseason Designer's Notes / Apex Legends™: Characters
Catalyst — Piercing Spikes turn faster and mind the doors; the Dark Veil is kinder to allies
The Season 28 buffs didn't stick — per the designer's notes the Controller's pick rate sank from 6% in February to around 1% by August. This pass polishes the base-building loop: spikes thrown at a door frame now reinforce and rebuild it automatically, on a shorter cooldown. In exchange, her immunity to other Catalysts' ferrofluid is gone.
Passive
- nerfedNo longer immune to other Catalysts' abilities — mirror matches affect her now
buffedTactical — Piercing Spikes
- buffedCooldown 20s15s
- buffedPlaced on a door or doorway, it reinforces or rebuilds the door automatically
- buffedSpikes stand taller and are harder to jump over
- buffedHitting an enemy with the projectile now deals damage
buffedUltimate — Dark Veil
- buffedFires significantly faster, for a smoother deployment
- buffedAllies passing through the wall are no longer slowed or blinded
Upgrades
- changedSole Piercer (Level 2) is removed; Hidden Spikes moves from Level 2 to Level 3
- buffedFerro-Door moves from Level 3 to Level 2, its cap on reinforced doors going 46
- buffedResilient Veil moves from Level 3 to Level 2, with ultimate cooldown 150s120s
- changedNew Ferro-Frenzy (Level 3): one more spike, each 50% smaller but ticking damage faster
Sources: Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes / Marked Midseason Designer's Notes / Apex Legends™: Characters
Bloodhound — a small walk-back of the August 25 scan buffs
Two lines trimming the Eye of the Allfather scan buffed on August 25: sonar snapshots fade out faster, and fade faster still once the snapshot — or the player's head — is actually seen. The August 25 changes themselves (a sturdier Allfather's Cloak, a second more of scan) have their own patch write-up.
- nerfedSonar snapshots fade out more quickly
- nerfedSeeing the snapshot, or the tracked player's head, clears it faster still
Weapon balance — three conservative long-range lifts; the launch SMG nerfs stand
The counterweight to launch, when the close-range SMGs and the Hemlok all came down: three long-range weapons come up instead. The designer's notes call the sizing deliberately conservative, with the weapon metrics still settling.
buffedTriple Take
- buffedFires faster while in ADS
- buffedBlue magazine capacity 89
buffedBocek Compound Bow
- buffedArrow stockpile 4060, explosive arrows per energize 710
- buffedWith Sparrow's Quiver: stockpile 5070, explosive arrows 912
buffedCharge Rifle
- buffedMax-distance damage (beyond 200m) 99110
- buffedSelectfire damage penalty 40%25%
Attachments
- buffedThe Executioner hop-up's unlock cost drops 375275
- nerfedThe corrupted Agile Standard Stock's speed boost no longer stacks with Maggie's and Gibraltar's mobility upgrades (confirming an earlier hotfix)
“move them a bit closer towards their fellow weapon class-mates”Sources: Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes / Marked Midseason Designer's Notes
Loot — healing comes easier, and bin resets grow richer
The season's leaner-loot skeleton stays; per the designer's notes, only the community's pain points — healing, and late-game supply — are loosened, deliberately. Floor loot trades a little ammo for more healing, and reset bins simply hold more.
- buffedPre-reset loot: healing spawns more, ammo slightly less
- buffedReset bins: more items on average, with healing, ammo and survival-slot items all easier to find
- buffedEmpty bins become significantly rarer
- buffedThe bins' Weapon Assist pool expands to every base weapon, where it used to draw from a pistol/shotgun/Alternator selection
Sources: Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes / Marked Midseason Designer's Notes
Anti-cheat — unauthorized-controller detection goes live on every platform
Ahead of Split 2, new systems detecting unauthorized controller hardware and software went live across PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2. Respawn says the systems were validated for accuracy over several months, that detections lead to action — bans included — upon review, and, explicitly, that playing on console is no exemption.
- changedCovers every platform: PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2
- changedValidated over several months; detections are actioned, up to bans, after review
- changedPlaying on console explicitly does not exempt from detection or enforcement
“In the leadup to Split 2, we implemented significant, new systems to detect players using unauthorized controller hardware or software in Apex Legends on all platforms”Not in these notes
Nearby topics a reader looks for at a split boundary, kept separate on purpose.
- Season 29's matchmaking test resultsStill pending
The Season 30 launch notes promised a follow-up blog on Season 29's two tests — 1-tier premade restrictions and Diamond+ solo-queue-only. Neither the midseason patch notes nor the designer's notes carry the results, or any matchmaking change.
Sources: Apex Legends™: Marked Patch Notes / Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes
Sources
Each entry is a summary with our own commentary, not a translation of the original. The primary documents it rests on are listed at the end of the write-up.
- Apex Legends™: Marked Midseason Patch Notes — Electronic Arts / Respawn Entertainment · published Sep 14, 2026
- Marked Midseason Designer's Notes — Electronic Arts / Respawn Entertainment · published Sep 10, 2026
- Apex Legends™: Characters — Electronic Arts / Respawn Entertainment · published Sep 20, 2026
- Apex Legends™: Marked Patch Notes — Electronic Arts / Respawn Entertainment · published Aug 3, 2026
Note: Japanese proper nouns follow EA's Japanese midseason patch notes; the few names we could not confirm there (Sparrow's Quiver, Weapon Assist, Executioner) are left in their original spelling rather than invented.