New Apex Legends April 2026 update makes changes to matchmaking

Respawn Entertainment has just rolled out a new update for Apex Legendsmakes some changes that should improve the gaming experience for players. While this latest Apex Legends The update does not include new content, it fixes a number of bugs and adjusts matchmaking to potentially level the playing field in the Battle Royale lobbies.

The last few weeks have been an exciting time for Apex Legends player. On March 10, the developer released the Apex Legends x Gundam Event, which brought a limited-time version of the Wildcard, along with many new cosmetics based on the anime. The momentum continued at the end of the month, as the mid-season update for Apex Legends released, polished Gibraltar, Wraith, and Wattson, in addition to making many other changes to Battle Royale. After this major update, the Aftershock Event was launched, giving fans back-to-back in-game events. While Season 29 is already underway, minor updates to improve Battle Royale continue to roll out.

Family

Apex Legends is a brand new game now

My friends and I return to Apex Legends, after years away, to basically find a whole new game waiting for us.

Apex Legends Update Makes Matchmaking Changes in Ranked and Pubs

The most recent of these patches was released on April 14 and brought some much needed bug fixes to the game. According to the patch notes, things like Valkyrie's jetpack handle not displaying correctly and Hardlight audio glitches related to Wattson. Additionally, the patch included stability improvements for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the Apex Legends. But what many players will find more exciting are the matchmaking changes. Specifically, the developer noted that maximum queue times have been increased “slightly” for higher skill players in ranked and pubs. This change aims to create more evenly matched lobbies at all skill levels.

It will be interesting to see what impact these changes may have on Battle Royale lobbies moving forward. Players on social media hope that longer queue times could alleviate some of the problems with unbalanced matchmaking. However, others fear that an increased waiting time could become frustrating for pubs, given the occasional ups and downs of the situation.

In addition to tweaks to queue times and various bug fixes, this April update for Apex Legends also made a change to the ranked distribution tables for Drop Zone ranked matches. Notably, the lists now show the ranking of teams instead of individual players. Respawn also noted that a four-hour ranked map rotation schedule was being tested in East Asia. This test will run for the rest of the second split of Season 28. Depending on the results of the test, this could mean that players in all regions could be allowed to play on different Apex Legends maps are placed more often during a split, which can prevent things from getting out of date.

Click or tap the games that match the category

Hopefully the changes described in the latest Apex Legends patch will make the game better for fans. Like other popular battle royale games, matchmaking has always been a point of contention among players, so Respawn has regularly tried to tweak things as needed. It's possible that even more changes could occur in Season 29, but the community will have to wait and see what's in store on that front.

Apex Legends April 14th Update – Patch Notes

Hello everyone, we have made the following changes!

✅FIXED:

Catalyst's Toxic Empress skin now has appropriate visual glow effects, in-match
Valkyrie's jetpack handle is no longer missing in specific scenarios
Fuse's Knuckle Cluster holder now displays correctly
Wattson players will no longer hear Hardlight rebuilt and destroyed as a result of her tactical/final placement in the ring
Game stability improvements on Switch 2

We are also making the following changes to matchmaking in an effort to provide the best possible match quality for players:

🛠️ADJUSTED:

We are slightly increasing the maximum queue times for players in the higher end of ranked and pubs. Our goal is tighter skill bands and more competitive play across the board.
For Drop Zone ranked matches, we will display ranked distribution tables across teams, not individual players compatible with non-Drop Zone lobbies.

📋TESTING:

We are testing a schedule of 4 hour ranked map rotation in East Asia for the rest of the split. *We do not recommend changing servers as it will result in much higher ping.