Respawn’s Aftershock event starts on March 31 and runs through April 21, but the event is bigger than its cosmetic headline. It arrives as Apex’s mid-season reset for Season 28, tying together legend updates for Gibraltar, Wraith, and Wattson, a new elite Hemlok variant, Wildcard changes, and a limited-time collection built around one of the game’s louder personalities.
That wider structure matters because Aftershock is not being framed as a simple event shop refresh. Respawn has used it as the delivery point for one of the season’s larger gameplay updates, which changes how the Fuse prestige skin should be read. It is the flashy center of the event, but it sits inside a patch meant to shake up the meta and give the split a fresh identity.
Respawn’s official event page says Aftershock runs from March 31 to April 21, while the Aftershock Milestone Collection stays available in the store, or through Aftershock Packs, until May 5. That gives the event two different lifespans: the active gameplay event itself and the longer cosmetic tail attached to the collection.
The reward structure is split as well. Respawn says the Reward Shop rotates in two phases, with one set of rewards available from March 31 to April 10 and another from April 10 to April 21. That rotating setup helps keep the event active across its full run instead of front-loading all the interest into the first few days.
The store side is built around the Aftershock Milestone Collection. Respawn says players can find limited-time offers in the store or pull them from Aftershock Packs, with event cosmetics covering legend skins, weapon skins, and the Fuse prestige reward. That gives the collection the usual Apex event shape, but with more gameplay weight around it than some recent collection-style releases.
Respawn’s own event page makes the priority clear. The Fuse prestige skin is the featured high-end reward, and the studio says it comes with both a custom finisher and a dive trail. That puts it firmly in the upper tier of Apex cosmetics rather than treating it like a standard premium skin attached to a themed event.
The way Respawn presents it also fits Fuse as a character. The official wording leans into his showman image, framing the prestige release as something earned by “the king of showboating.” That tone matters because prestige skins in Apex work best when they feel tied to a legend’s personality rather than just acting as expensive visual upgrades.
Around that headline item, Respawn is also pushing a broader cosmetic set. The event page highlights new legend skins for Wattson, Ash, Pathfinder, Horizon, Crypto, and Gibraltar, along with weapon skins including the EVA-8 “Hard Core,” Havoc “Technoforged,” and CAR “Static Discharge.” The Fuse prestige skin is clearly the top attraction, but the event is structured to feel like a full themed collection rather than a one-item chase.
The real gameplay story is that Aftershock doubles as the split’s balance reset
What makes Aftershock more important than a normal collection event is everything Respawn bundled into the same patch. Gibraltar gets a much broader refresh, including a new Momentum Boost passive, a shorter dome cooldown, faster and larger ultimate functionality, and upgrade paths like Thunder Dome and Healing Dome. Wraith gets reduced cooldowns on both tactical and ultimate as base-kit changes, plus new upgrade options that add team utility. Wattson gets faster, stronger fences and new interactions with Hardlight meshes through both her tactical and ultimate.
Respawn’s designer notes make clear this was about more than just buffing a few underused legends. The studio says Gibraltar had fallen to the bottom of pick-rate charts, Wraith’s popularity had been slowly declining, and Wattson needed stronger quality-of-life support and more meaningful interaction with the game’s Hardlight systems. In other words, the patch was built to open up more viable team compositions, not just add noise around an event shop.
The event also folds in broader mode and weapon changes. Wildcard gets a “Charged Up” update built around a Vortex Shield, EMP Blast, and nine new Wild Cards, while the Hemlok Breach AR arrives as an elite weapon with automatic fire, an integrated silencer, and a new Breach Charge mode. Those additions make Aftershock feel closer to a mid-season relaunch than a simple cosmetic event window.
The easiest way to read the event is through the Fuse prestige skin, because that is the cleanest headline. But the more useful read is that Aftershock is Respawn’s attempt to make the middle of the season feel active again by combining cosmetics, legend updates, a new elite weapon, and a changed Wildcard experience in one package.
That is what gives the event more weight than a normal collection drop. Fuse may be the face of it, but the real purpose of Aftershock is to reset how Apex feels for the rest of the split.
