It's that time again for an Apex Legends midseason update, with Respawn Entertainment bringing in new skins, new events, new ways to play, and of course, the all-important character meta changes. It'll be interesting to see how all of this impacts the second split of Apex Legends, as the list of changes is quite extensive.
At a glance, split two of Apex Legends season 25 features the Future Icons Event, a new variant of Arenas: Duels, new character skins, a new Prestige skin for Wattson, and more. Wattson, Vantage, and Ash all receive some tuning updates, with Respawn also touching on Ranked and map rotation.
Arena: Duels
- Arenas: Duel is a series of 1v1 duels throughout a 5-minute match of 30 players.
- Each duel, loadout, and spawn are random.
- Characters are also random.
- Legend abilities will be turned on later this season "for a new and exciting twist on the Arenas: Duels experience," according to Respawn.
Future Icons Event
- Begins June 24 and Ends on July 25
- New limited-time cosmetics
- Legendary skins for Rampart, Octane, and the Peacekeeper
- Wattson's Prestige skin: Apex Icon
- Event packs contain one event item and two standard items. No duplicates.
Wattson Changes
-
Passive
- 50% faster Ult accel consumption
- Shield Regen increased to 2/s
-
Tactical
- Fence Node HP increased to 50
- Cooldown reduced from 15s to 4s
- Slow sliding and jumping enemies
- Consume cooldowns on Ash's dash and Sparrow's double jump
- Fences near doors electrify them so they stun enemies who open or kick them in. Ends when the fence is obstructed or removed.
-
Level 2 Upgrades
- Falling Stars is now part of the base kit.
- Help is Here: Gives Wattson all Support perks
- Ultimate Conductor: Enemy damage is converted to Ult Charge and knocks give a 30% Ult Charge boost
-
Level 3 Upgrades
- Energized Healer: Gain double healing from small meds
- Power Pylon: Double Ult HP, healing rate, and capacity
Vantage Changes
- Vantage's upper body hitbox now better matches her character model
-
Passive
- Can now ping up to 3 enemies at a time and show health bars
- Pinging an enemy will reveal their position when further than 50m away
-
Tactical
- Echo auto-recalls after jumping
- Faster jump activation time
- Increased base and max distance that Echo can fly
- Double jump is now part of base kit
- Reduced weapon redeployment time
- Widened the FOV that Echo needs to jump
-
Ultimate
- Ultimate Reload is now part of the base kit
- Laser is hidden until Vantage shoots
- Laser remains for 15s, time refreshes with each shot
- Laser better reflects aim
-
Level 2 Upgrades
- Controlling My Prey: Ring Consoles and zone overcharge access
- Improved Mark: Marked enemies are visible through walls, briefing highlighting enemies and revealing their health bar
-
Level 3 Upgrades
- Tactical Cooldown: reduces tactical cooldown
- Sniper Cover: Adds Gun Shield to Sniper's Mark Ultimate
Ash Changes
-
Passive
- Dash cooldown decreased
- Tactical
- Tether Strength slightly weakened when pulling hard (like from movement abilities in Apex Legends).
-
Level 2 Upgrade
- Dual Breach is now Level 2
- Charged Knock: Gain HP regen on a knock
-
Level 3 Upgrade
- Ghost in the Machine removed
- Greedy Snare and Twin Snares are now Level 3
Miscellaneous Adjustments
Audio
- Respawn is actively reviewing audio logs from the prompt regarding an abnormal number of interruptions.
- Friendly zip-lines depriortized so an enemy's zipline can be heard.
- Non-threatening enemy footsteps (downs, etc) depriortized for active threats
- Experimenting with lowered volume/inaudible friendly footsteps when facing "significant threat"
- Hovertank volume reduced in Kings Canyon
Ranked
- The Rank Tier Display will now show the tier distribution per squad instead of per individual player. Ranked matchmaking for premade squads is done based on the highest RP value in the squad. This change will group all squad members, premade or otherwise, to show the entire squad based on the highest Rank Tier in that squad.
- The Ladder Champion Dive Trail will be granted to all players who completed the Ladder Champion placement Challenge in Split 1. The Dive Trail will be accessible for all of this Split. If players wish to retain access to the Dive Trail, they must complete the same Challenge in this current Split.
Map Rotation
-
Pubs and Ranked
- Kings Canyon
- World's Edge
- Broken Moon
-
Mixtape
- TDM: Fragment, Party Crasher, Skull Town
- Control: Caustic, Production Yard, Lava Siphon
- Gun Run: Skull Town, Monument, The Core
Overall, it seems pretty standardfare for an Apex Legends midseason update, but that shouldn't be discounted. The Apex Legends meta is always shifting, and these changes will no doubt impact it as season 25 continues.
Apex Legends
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 74%
- Released
- February 4, 2019
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Respawn Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Engine
- Source on console/PC, Unreal Engine 4 on mobile
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC, PS4, Switch & Xbox One
WHERE TO PLAY
Conquer with character in Apex Legends, a free-to-play* Hero shooter where legendary characters with powerful abilities team up to battle for fame & fortune on the fringes of the Frontier.
Master an ever-growing roster of diverse legends, deep tactical squad play, and bold new innovations that go beyond the Battle Royale experience—all within a rugged world where anything goes. Welcome to the next evolution of Hero Shooter.
This game includes optional in-game purchases of virtual currency that can be used to acquire virtual in-game items, including a random selection of virtual in-game items.
- Genre(s)
- Battle Royale, First-Person Shooter
