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Apex Legends Cipher patch notes: Akimbo Wingman, Strongholds and Ranked Legend bans

Apex Legends Season 31 Cipher adds the Akimbo Wingman, Strongholds, Legend bans in Diamond+ Ranked, a Crypto rework and plenty of weapon changes.

By The news desk2 min read

Apex Legends Cipher patch notes: Akimbo Wingman, Strongholds and Ranked Legend bans
Image: Respawn / Steam

Respawn has posted the Apex Legends Cipher patch notes, with Season 31 starting on 3 November. The headline additions are a dual-wielding Wingman, capturable Strongholds and a big Ranked overhaul.

New weapon and Strongholds

  • Akimbo Wingman: Loot a second Wingman and you’ll automatically go akimbo. It now uses Heavy Ammo instead of Sniper Ammo, base damage drops from 50 to 45, and magazine size doubles. The guns fire in quick alternating bursts.
  • Strongholds: These locked, bunker-style structures airdrop in during Round 2 closing. They crush anything underneath on landing and deploy cover.
  • Capture one by controlling the zone around it. When it opens, each living member of the capturing team gets a level up, and the loot includes a Care Package weapon and three gold guns.

Ranked changes

  • Legend bans: In Diamond+ matches, each player requests one Legend to ban. A Legend’s chance of being banned matches its share of requests, and two Legends are banned.
  • Challenger and Goliath matches: Entry cost drops by 30% if your squad is two or more tiers below the lobby, and rises by 50% if it’s two or more tiers above.
  • New UI: The Waiting for Players screen shows Squad Tier, Lobby Tier and entry cost. There’s also a new Ranked tab in the inventory, and RP now shows in the kill feed.

Legend changes

  • Crypto: The drone now runs on a battery with 25s of use, can be redeployed without a cooldown, and can mark enemies. The speed boost towards teammates is now part of his base kit.
  • Lifeline: Tactical cooldown falls from 25s to 15s, and D.O.C. heals her while gliding.
  • Revenant: Tactical cooldown goes from 20s to 15s and Ultimate cooldown from 180s to 150s.
  • Loba: Tactical cooldown rises from 25s to 30s, and Ultimate from 120s to 150s.
  • Axle: Changes from the 1 October 2026 hotfix are listed, including reduced slide control and a weaker Kickstart knock-up.

Weapons

  • L-Star returns to floor loot with lower damage and a smaller stockpile.
  • Akimbo Mozambique enters the Care Package with an Executioner Hop-Up.
  • The Hemlok goes back to its Burst AR form.
  • Prowler recoil is increased and Selectfire is removed.
  • Prowler, Hemlok, Nemesis and Akimbo Wingman now support tap fire queuing in auto fire bursts.

Maps, Wildcard and fixes

  • Respawn made 99 quality of life fixes across the map rotation, plus lighting changes to E-District Night and global rendering updates.
  • Wildcards are now granted at the start of Rounds 1, 2 and 3 through a selection UI, and Replicators are removed from the mode.
  • Fixes include over 35 rat spots and over 15 Alter out-of-bounds clips resolved.
  • Respawn says disk usage is down by about 30 GB on most platforms compared with Season 29.0, though the patch itself is larger than usual.

Read the full patch notes