This year marks Apex Legends’ fifth anniversary and for the next season of the game, Breakout, developer Respawn has announced some big new updates, the biggest of which is the addition of Legend Upgrades.
The new Legend Upgrade system is an in-match progression system that allows players to tailor their Legends to their playstyle. Legend Upgrades restart each match, giving players the opportunity to try all the different upgrades available for each Legend.
Instead of searching for Body Shields all over the map, players can earn EVO which levels up Legends throughout a match, improving shields and unlocking unique upgrade options at levels 2 and 3. Players can earn EVO points from doing a variety of things. Damaging enemies, knocks and assists, finshers, and collecting EVO caches can earn players points personally. Some actions such as squad wipes, revives, respawns, class interactions, world interactions, and interacting with EVO harvesters will provide EVO points for the whole squad. Legend Upgrades and EVO changes are limited to Battle Royale modes with Breakout. Mixtape modes will not have upgrades and will continue to use Body Shields this season.
Respawn has been listening to feedback and will make sone changes to Ranked. The Level requirement for Ranked is going back down to 20 and splits will be returning. Each player will start at 1 RP with the launch of Breakout. A quick split reset will drop your ranking by six divisions. Players will receive a Ranked Tier Badge for the highest rank that was achieved at the end of the season across all platforms.
Scoring is also going back to a more transparent model which will be similar to that of past seasons, placing a heavier emphasis on eliminations over placements. Players’ hidden skill rating will have no influence on matchmaking or scoring. The Bonus system has also been updated to provide more insight and Player Rankings will now be visible. Elimination scoring will continue to scale with placements – the value of each will increase the higher your team places. There’ll be no hard cap placed on the number of eliminations a player will be scored on nor the amount of points gained from them. Instead, eliminations after the sixth will be worth half of their value.
Thunderdome is a new map for the Mixtape mode. The deadliest entertainment venue is here: enter Thunderdome. Modernized with killer upgrades, this floating sky stadium is inspired by the first arena in Kings Canyon—capturing the essence of its Thunderdome, all while paying homage to the vast history of the Apex Games.
Thunderdome is geared up for a fast-paced matchup in any Mixtape mode with its three lanes to pursue. Grind for the high ground in TDM, battle to see who can hold B in Control, or find one of many power positions to dominate in Gun Run. This latest map was created with a plethora of playstyles in mind and challenges the expected strats used by many. Win or lose, the dynamic stadium crowd will always keep up the good vibes.
Breakout brings in Performance mode on current-gen consoles for 120Hz output to supported displays.
Six legends will be unlocked for everyone throughout the season. Completing challenges with these Legends will earn special Breakout Rewards – including permanent unlocks for the featured Legends, the Reactive Top Tier Flatline, and a matching set of Wraith cosmetics.
Apex Legends: Breakout will see the end of Clubs. It’ll be replaced with the new feature: Tags. Tags are 3-4 characters long, are limited to alphanumeric characters and can be updated as often as you’d like. They will appear ahead of your username wherever it is shown.
The 5th Anniversary Collection Event brings in community-created rewards to unlock via the reward tracker and the brand new LTM: Straight Shot. The mode drops players into an even quicker Battle Royale experience that gets you more reps and more action.