The latest Breach mid-season update introduces a massive overhaul to the Apex Bots system alongside critical engine and audio optimizations. These changes aim to make training and bot encounters feel more realistic while improving the technical baseline for PC and console players alike.
TL;DR: Apex Bots and Engine Update
The update introduces much smarter bot AI that heals and uses ziplines, fixes console audio saving, and adds PC performance boosts like WASAPI and ReBAR support.
If you’re interested in the mid-season patch notes, check here!
Evolution of Apex Bots
The AI in Apex Legends has received a significant intelligence boost. Bots are no longer static targets and will now exhibit behaviors much closer to human players in high-stakes combat.
- New In-Combat Healing System: Bots will now actively seek cover to heal when they take damage. You should use these windows of vulnerability to push and finish the fight.
- New Target Acquisition and Awareness System: Bots now make smarter decisions about which player to focus on. Their increased awareness makes it much harder to sneak up on them during a match.
- Improved Strafing: Bots can now move toward their target while strafing. This allows them to close the distance in a more aggressive and unpredictable manner.
- New Weapon Switching System: Bots now swap weapons based on their distance from you. If you get too close and they have a shotgun available, they will switch to it immediately.
- Improved Bot Traversal: Bots can now utilize complex movement mechanics including ziplines, ziprails, and jump towers to pursue players across the map.
Audio and directional tracking
The audio mix has been adjusted to provide better situational awareness and fix lingering console issues.
- Console Audio Fix: A bug preventing audio mix settings from saving properly on consoles has been resolved.
- Hardlight Volume: Following community feedback, the volume of Hardlight mesh breaking has been lowered.
- POV-Based Footsteps: Footstep volume for enemies outside your field of view has been increased. The sound becomes louder the further the source is behind your shoulder to help you track flankers.
Engine and performance optimizations
PC players will notice several improvements to audio input and graphical rendering stability.
Windows Audio and Voice Clarity
Apex now utilizes the Windows Audio Session API (WASAPI) for microphone input. This enables support for the Voice Clarity enhancement in Windows 11, which helps remove background noise. You can enable this in your Windows System Sound settings under Mic Properties. If the game picks the wrong microphone, you can manually select the correct one in the Apex Voice Chat settings.
Graphics and Rendering
The engine has been updated to improve CPU and GPU efficiency through modern rendering techniques.
- Bindless Resources: Static objects now use batching to reduce draw calls, which improves baseline CPU performance during map rendering.
- Olympus Improvements: The map now uses updated algorithms for occlusion culling, slightly boosting performance in dense areas of Olympus.
- ReBAR Support: PC systems that support Resizable BAR will see faster data uploads to the GPU. This reduces model and texture pop-in while stabilizing overall frame rates.
ReBAR allows for faster data transfer between the CPU and GPU, which reduces texture pop-in and helps maintain a more stable frame rate on supported systems.
FAQ: Apex Legends engine improvements
How do the new Apex Bots behave in combat?
Bots now seek cover to heal when damaged and will switch to shotguns if you get too close. They also use ziplines and jump towers to chase players.
What is the directional audio change?
Enemy footsteps are now louder when they are behind you or outside your field of view to help you react to players trying to sneak up on you.
How do I enable Voice Clarity on PC?
You must be on Windows 11 and go to System Sound settings. Look for Mic Properties and enable Audio Enhancements under Input settings.
