Respawn Nerfs Octane: Stim Surge Loses Fortified, Speed Reduced

Respawn pushed a focused balance patch on Feb. 23, 2026 that removed the Fortified effect from Octane’s Stim Surge and reduced the speed boost granted by Stim. The company’s patch text read, “We just pushed a patch that includes the following Octane changes: ADJUSTED Removed 'Fortified' from Stim Surge Reduced the speed boost given by Stim (still an increase from pre-27.0) [...]” Some reports describe the rollout as spanning Feb. 23–24, but the patch text and multiple outlets cite Feb. 23 as the primary deployment date.

The change is the follow-up to a Jan. 23, 2026 adjustment that nerfed Octane’s Swift Mend after his Season 27 rework left pick and win rates at levels Respawn later described as “unhealthy.” Respawn delayed a wider tune until Season 28 “Breach” launched on Feb. 10, 2026 to evaluate how a Fuse rework would affect Octane performance, then enacted this focused pass when early-season data still showed problematic results. The stated goal was “smoothing out the spikiest aspects of his kit while preserving his added utility.”

That preservation is the reason Stim did not revert to its pre-27.0 baseline entirely. The patch-note parenthetical explicitly notes that, even with the reduced boost, Stim remains “still an increase from pre-27.0.” Sources report no numeric speed values or Fortified mitigation numbers in the patch text; Respawn has not released percent changes or exact ability figures alongside the Feb. 23 update.

Community reaction has skewed toward approval. Gamerant summarized reception as “mostly positive opinions from the Apex Legends community,” with players pointing out that “Despite Stim Surge being less effective following this update, players pointed out that it still has utility.” Specifically, outlets highlighted that the Tactical still allows health regeneration while taking damage, a remaining utility that preserves Octane’s repositioning survivability. One analysis concluded, “Octane should still have increased survivability when repositioning, but the removal of Fortified should make him less overpowered in 1v1s.”

Season context and platform details remain unchanged: Season 28 “Breach” began Feb. 10, 2026 and the game is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. Respawn’s roadmap also indicates another Legend is planned for Season 29, and the development outline covers the rest of 2026 into the start of 2027.

With numeric values for the speed reduction and Fortified’s prior effect not published, patch-watchers are left tracking in-game performance and future notes from Respawn. As one piece of community commentary put it, “It will be interesting to see what additional changes are made to the Legend pool in the weeks ahead.”