Over the past week, Respawn Entertainment has been sharing and revealing what’s next for Apex Legends in the next season. This comes after it was revealed that this upcoming season will feature Titanfall content, which got fans of that franchise very excited. Last week, Respawn revealed the next Legend coming to the game, Valkyrie. The launch trailer for the game teased new game mode coming to the game. Today, the gameplay trailer for the next season, Legacy, was released and detailed more information about the new permanent game mode called Arenas.
Arenas is a 3v3 game mode that condenses the chaos of 20-squad battle royale matches into more focused 3v3 combat. Two squads compete over multiple rounds striving to be the last squad standing. Before every round starts, players can use materials earned to get and upgrade weapons, as well as ordnance and healing supplies. Squadmates can be revived if they are knocked down but will not be able to be respawned if they are eliminated. To win an Arenas match, squads need to win at least three rounds and be up by two points against the other team.
Each round starts fresh with base equipment and some materials to use. You can decide which weapons to use and upgrade so you can approach each round how you want. More materials are awarded each round. Weapons acquired are just the base gun with no attachments. Upgrading weapons adds all of the available attachments of each tier, starting from white to blue to purple. Fully upgrading to purple will fill out the hop-up slot for the weapons that have one. Weapons will not carry over from round to round. Everyone starts fresh every round. Abilities will have a limited number of uses each round instead of recharging like other modes. Unlike weapons, unused ultimate and tactical ability charges will carry over to the next round.
Each map will have supply bins with healing items and a few material canisters. Collecting canisters will award everyone in your squad 200 bonus materials to spend in the next round. Killing an enemy also rewards you 75 bonus materials and their items drop directly to the floor for quick in easy looting. As the round goes on, a care package will drop in filled with upgraded weapons. Before the round starts, players can see where the ring will close and what weapons will be available in the care package. A total of five maps will be available in Arenas. Two new maps and three maps from areas within the three BR maps will be thrown in a bi-weekly rotation. At the start, Artillery from King’s Canyon, Thermal Station from World’s Edge, and Golden Gardens from Olympus will be available. The two new maps are Party Crasher and Phase Runner.
Party Crasher takes place in a luxurious, downtown plaza where players can choose to engage on the crashed Voyage or two-story buildings that make up the plaza. The map is varied, with each side playing to different strengths and offering a wide range of options. The downtown plaza pushes players to make quick decisions within its many flanking options. The Voyage sits up high, offering great sightlines and elevated positions.
Phase Runner is a hidden, experimental zone at the peak of a mountain. The large center is very open, offering plenty of long sightlines to find your enemy. Industrial points of interest focus on mid/close-range combat. Players can also take the prototype phase runner to gain immediate access to the other area.
The gameplay trailer also offered players another look at Valkyrie and her abilities. She can ascend the battlefield and bring her teammates with her and reign fire from above. The trailer also introduces the new high-precision Bocek Bow weapon. The bow can be fired into a shotgun pattern with Shatter Caps and fired with a faster draw while firing at the optimal pace with Deadeye’s Tempo. With the introduction of a new game mode, players can level up their battle pass in both Battle Royale and Arenas. Challenges will now be either general or specific to one of the modes.
Apex Legends: Legacy releases next week on May 4.