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Apex Legends Season 21 Upheaval Patch Notes: What Update 2.56 Changed

A historical guide to Apex Legends Season 21 Upheaval: Alter, the Solos takeover, maps, and weapon changes. EA called the notes Upheaval, while MP1st reported the Update 2.56 label.
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Apex Legends Season 21, called Upheaval, ran from May 7 to August 5, 2024. Its launch update introduced Legend Alter, temporarily replaced Duos with Solos, and changed weapon and loot rules. “Update 2.56” is the version label reported by MP1st; EA’s official notes call it the Upheaval Patch Notes and do not print that numeric version. The details below describe the historical Season 21 launch, not current live-game rules.

What was Apex Legends Season 21?

EA named Season 21 Upheaval and listed its dates as May 7 through August 5, 2024. The season introduced Alter and Apex Artifacts. EA’s patch notes, published May 6, highlighted the new Legend, the Solos takeover, map rotation, and balance changes. EA describes seasons generally as periods of new content, Battle Passes, balance changes, and cosmetics that may also bring features, map changes, weapons, or Legends; a season is about three months long. See EA’s seasons and updates guide.

What were Alter’s Season 21 abilities?

EA described Alter as a Legend who could create void passages through terrain and help her squad regroup through her Nexus. These are the Season 21 patch-note descriptions, not a guide to Alter’s current balance or abilities.

  • Gift from the Rift (Passive): Claim one item remotely from a death box, except a shield core.
  • Void Passage (Tactical): Create a portal passage through a surface.
  • Void Nexus (Ultimate): Place a regroup point allies can use to return through a phase tunnel.

The patch notes also listed two upgrade choices at each of two levels:

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How did the Solos takeover work, and when did it run?

Solos replaced Duos from May 7 through June 24, 2024, as a six-week takeover. EA’s notes described these rules and features:

  • Each match had 50 players.
  • A player who died during the first four rounds received one automatic Second Chance respawn. Unused Second Chance converted to EVO at the round cutoff.
  • Battle Sense indicated enemies within 50 meters.
  • Auto-healing regenerated health while out of combat and began after each kill.

The notes also listed adjustments to loot, circle size, and round times.

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Which maps and weapon changes did the patch list?

For the first half of the season, EA listed Broken Moon, Kings Canyon, and World’s Edge for Pubs and Ranked. The patch notes recorded these weapon and loot changes:

Item or rule Season 21 patch-note change
Wingman Returned to floor loot. Damage decreased from 50 to 45; projectile size returned to pre-Care Package values; hipfire accuracy was reduced; Skullpiercer Elite was removed; Boosted Loader compatibility was added; magazine attachments were removed.
Devotion Entered the Care Package with a new Reverse Hipfire behavior. Damage increased from 15 to 16; magazine size increased from 48 to 54 at purple; reserve ammo was set to 324.
First loot bin for an unarmed player Guaranteed to contain a weapon. EA’s notes state: “The first loot bin opened by an unarmed player will always contain a weapon.”

These are values and rules published in EA’s patch notes, not independent performance measurements.

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What other changes did EA list?

Banner collection

EA said banner collection was changed so players could resume actions such as running, shooting, punching, and reviving while the collection registered. The patch notes framed the change as reducing the helpless moment players faced while collecting a teammate’s banner.

Map, cosmetics, and PC notes

The Season 21 page linked to a Broken Moon update and materials about Apex Artifacts. PC-specific notes included a new Map Detail setting and rendering improvements. EA’s notes describe these changes; this article does not claim they were independently tested.

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