Apex Legends Season 31 Cipher: Release Date, Patch Notes & Changes

Apex Legends Season 31, "Cipher," went live on November 3, 2026, for most regions at 10am PT (6pm UTC), with full patch notes published by Respawn a day earlier on November 2. The update reworks Crypto from a passive scout into a more aggressive recon pick, adds a dual-wield Akimbo Wingman, swaps the vaulted Elite Hemlok Breach AR for the returning Hemlok Burst AR, introduces a new mid-match loot objective called Strongholds, buffs Lifeline and Revenant, and brings Legend banning to Ranked at Diamond and above.

Video: Apex Legends · Apex Legends: Cipher Gameplay Trailer

When does Apex Legends Season 31 "Cipher" launch?

Season 31, titled "Cipher," launched on November 3, 2026. Respawn's season rollout follows the same pattern it has used for prior seasons, bringing servers down for a brief maintenance window before the new season goes live at roughly 10am PT (6pm UTC) for most regions, with other regions coming online on their own local schedule shortly after. Respawn published the full Cipher patch notes the day before launch, on November 2, alongside a separate designer's notes breakdown explaining the reasoning behind the bigger changes.

If you're searching for "Apex Legends Season 31 release date" or "Apex Legends patch notes" right now, here's the short version: the season is live, the patch notes are public, and the headline changes are a Crypto rework, a new Akimbo Wingman, a Hemlok weapon swap, the new Strongholds loot objective, buffs to Lifeline and Revenant, and Legend bans in high-rank Ranked. Everything below breaks each of those down using Respawn's own patch notes and designer commentary.

Crypto rework: from passive scout to aggressive recon

The headline Legend change in Cipher is a full rework of Crypto, whose pick rate Respawn's designers say "has been very low for multiple seasons." Rather than small number tweaks, Respawn rebuilt all three parts of his kit to push him toward what the designer's notes call "a more aggressive recon role" that stays closer to his squad instead of sitting back and piloting a drone from a distance.

• Passive: The speed boost Crypto used to get only through an upgrade — moving toward teammates — is now built into his base kit and has been slightly reduced in magnitude to compensate.
• Tactical (Surveillance Drone): The drone now runs on a 25-second battery instead of a cooldown. When the battery runs out, the drone automatically recalls, which takes 6 seconds, and it can then be redeployed immediately with no cooldown. Its scan is now a full 360-degree radius, and it marks enemies for 8 seconds on a 4-second cooldown between scans.
• Ultimate (EMP): Crypto can now trigger his EMP directly from a deployed drone instead of needing to line up a separate activation. If the drone has line of sight on enemies, the EMP deals full shield damage and a heavier slow; without line of sight, it deals a reduced 50 damage and a lighter slow.
• Upgrades: The Level 2 upgrade "Got Eyes On You" extends enemy mark duration by 4 seconds and replaces the old speed-boost upgrade (now baseline). The Level 3 upgrade "Charged Up," which adds 10 seconds of drone battery life, replaces the old Hackathon upgrade.

Respawn frames this as an attempt to cut down the amount of time Crypto spends disconnected from his body piloting the drone, while still keeping the scouting identity that defines the Legend.

Akimbo Wingman: Apex's first dual-wield burst weapon

Season 31 adds the Akimbo Wingman, which Respawn's designers describe as the first new akimbo weapon since Season 22 and the first akimbo weapon built around a burst-fire pattern. Per the designer's notes, pulling the trigger fires both revolvers in a staggered "pop-pop… pop-pop" burst rather than a single simultaneous shot.

• Looting a second Wingman while already holding one automatically slots it into Akimbo mode.
• Ammo type changes from Sniper ammo to Heavy ammo, using Heavy Magazine attachments and spawning from Heavy Ammo Arsenals.
• Base damage per shot drops from 50 to 45, and the headshot multiplier in Akimbo mode is reduced to 1.25x (56 headshot damage) to offset the extra volume of fire.
• Akimbo mode brings a slightly faster fire rate, a longer reload, more recoil, and double the magazine size compared to a single Wingman.
• Holding the trigger down continues firing subsequent bursts automatically.

Respawn's stated goal, per the designer's notes, is to preserve the Wingman's high-skill, mid-range precision identity while lowering the "intimidation factor" of facing a single well-aimed Wingman shot — spreading damage across more, smaller hits instead.

Hemlok swap: Elite Breach AR vaulted, Burst AR returns

To make room for the Akimbo Wingman in the loot pool, Respawn is vaulting the Elite Hemlok Breach AR, which the designer's notes say "had been popular since its release in 28.1." The notes describe its removal as being "for now," leaving the door open to a future return. The vault removes the Elite variant and its signature Breach Charge firing mode from the loot pool.

Taking its place is the returning Hemlok Burst AR, restored closer to its earlier form: Respawn removed the Automatic and Breach Charge fire modes and the integrated silencer, and brought back Burst and Single fire modes. Per the patch notes, the Burst AR deals 21 body damage and 29 headshot damage per shot, and — like the new Akimbo Wingman — holding the trigger down continues releasing subsequent bursts automatically.

Strongholds: a new mid-match loot objective

Cipher introduces Strongholds, a new high-value loot location that drops into the map alongside existing Care Packages. According to Respawn's Cipher game updates overview and patch notes, one Stronghold drops per match during the Round 2 ring close. Key mechanics:

• A Stronghold can't be entered until it's captured, and it crushes and kills anything caught underneath when it lands.
• Capture progress only advances when a single team is the only one alive inside the zone; multiple teams present will contest it.
• Capture progress is shared globally across the capturing team, doesn't decay, and fills faster with more teammates present.
• Successfully capturing a Stronghold grants a Level Up to every living teammate who helped capture it.
• Loot inside includes one Care Package weapon, three Gold weapons, three Amps, and two Corrupted Attachments.

Respawn's separate overview describes Strongholds as spawning with dynamic cover and triggering an alarm on capture that reveals the capturing team's location to nearby squads — turning each Stronghold into a mid-match risk/reward decision rather than a free loot pile.

Lifeline buffs

Lifeline gets a kit-wide buff aimed at her mobility and survivability:

• Passive: Her D.O.C. drone now heals her while she's gliding, not just on the ground.
• Tactical: Her Combat Revive cooldown drops from 25 seconds to 15 seconds, folding in what used to require an upgrade.
• Upgrades: Improved Flight now gives better glide handling and a longer glide duration. At Level 2, BattPack is removed and replaced by Enhanced Radio (moved down from Level 3). At Level 3, the old Enhanced Radio slot is replaced by an Ultimate Cooldown reduction of 60 seconds, and the old Tactical Cooldown slot is replaced by a new Revive Shield upgrade that grants the revived teammate a shield from D.O.C. while she's reviving them.

Revenant buffs

Revenant's rework-adjacent buffs focus on cooldowns and giving his upgrade tree more meaningful choices, which Respawn's designers say the old upgrades "weren't offering":

• Tactical (Silence): Cooldown reduced from 20 seconds to 15 seconds, with a faster charge time built into his base kit.
• Ultimate (Forged Shadows): Cooldown reduced from 180 seconds to 150 seconds.
• Upgrades: At Level 2, "Ever Lasting" replaces the old Ultimate Cooldown upgrade, extending his Ultimate's duration by 10 seconds on a knock. At Level 3, "Silence" replaces the old Tactical Cooldown upgrade, creating an area silence pulse when his Tactical lands. Also at Level 3, a new "No Escape" upgrade replaces Agile Assassin, refreshing his Tactical whenever an enemy is marked by his passive, Assassin's Instinct.

Ranked: Legend bans arrive at Diamond and above

Season 31 also reshapes the start of every Ranked match at Diamond tier and higher. Per Respawn's Ranked Roadmap for Seasons 31 and 32, Diamond+ lobbies now add a pre-match banning phase:

• Every player nominates one Legend they'd like to see banned for that match.
• Once nominations close, each nominated Legend's ban chance is weighted by how many players voted for it — more votes mean a higher chance, not a guarantee.
• The system then randomly selects Legends to ban from those weighted odds, and if fewer than four unique Legends were nominated, it fills out the candidate pool using Legends from the previous week's most-played list.
• Banned Legends can't be selected by anyone in that match.

Respawn's stated rationale for weighted randomness over a strict "most votes get banned" rule is to avoid creating a new, predictable banning meta where the same handful of Legends are banned every single match.

The roadmap also outlines wider Ranked changes landing alongside Legend bans this season, including wide-skill lobbies that assign a lobby-wide "Lobby Tier" and adjust entry costs for squads well above or below it, the removal of Road to Ranked challenges in favor of a straightforward Account Level 20 requirement, and Demotion Protection that grants three "Demotion Shields" per rank to cushion a single bad match. Season 32 is slated to bring a bigger ranked restructuring on top of this, including a new Open League/Pro-Am League split and reworked rank tiers.

Key Season 31 "Cipher" changes at a glance

What's next for Apex Legends

Respawn has already previewed part of what follows Cipher: its Ranked Roadmap commits to a larger Ranked restructuring in Season 32, including a new Open League and Pro-Am League split, a reworked rank ladder that adds Iron and Emerald tiers, and changes to how RP is scored. Respawn's designer's notes also flag the Elite Hemlok Breach AR's vaulting as being "for now," leaving open the possibility it returns in a future rotation once the Akimbo Wingman has had time to settle into the loot pool.

As with every new season, expect balance adjustments in follow-up patches once Cipher's changes — particularly the Crypto rework and the new Akimbo Wingman — have been tested at scale in live matches. Readers who want the full, unedited patch notes and designer commentary can find them directly on Respawn's own pages linked throughout this article. For background on two systems referenced throughout Apex's seasonal content — how Battle Passes work and how cross-progression carries your account between platforms — see our explainers on how Battle Pass tokens, tiers and free-vs-premium unlocks work and how cross-progression works across platforms, both of which apply to Apex Legends' own seasonal and account systems.

Frequently asked questions

See below for quick answers on timing, platforms and the biggest changes.

Written byJonah Reyes

Jonah Reyes leads Pandromeda's gaming coverage: console and handheld hardware, release dates, pricing changes, patch notes and the business moves behind the biggest franchises. He sources every date and price from the platform holders and publishers themselves, and says plainly when something is still only a rumour.

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