Apex Legends’ New Season and Third Anniversary

Just a little more than three months ago I wrote about the then-upcoming eleventh season for Apex Legends, which brought with it a new map and a new legend directly from Titanfall 2. Now it’s time for the celebration of the arrival of the twelfth season and the third anniversary of the game itself.

A lot is being added, but I think it’s best to start with the bigger changes for the new season, which is named “Defiance”. Although the previous season added the Storm Point map, the focus for this new season is an update to Olympus.

Similar to the destructive changes introduced to previously updated maps, the changes for Olympus have stemmed from overarching sabotage that has brought the floating city closer to the planet beneath it. If you’re worried about the aesthetics of the map, it thankfully still looks pretty peaceful. Worries about a dreary skybox being added to the map can go away for now.

The map has expanded and shifted around with the addition of the Phase Driver on the south side of the map. What makes this area most interesting is that it’s interactable and can phase in loot for you. Each usage makes more than enough noise to catch the attention of other squads though and there’s a 45-second cooldown between each use.

Another new area is the interior Terminal point of interest that runs along the Phase Runner tube and acts as a central routing area that’s sure to see plenty of action. Lastly, a new hallway entry point was added to the linear hallway on the Northeast side.

Since parts of the map were shifted to make room for the new areas, this marks the first time that specific areas and points of interest have moved without the map’s destruction being the cause. Another change that players will notice is that the terrain has shifted in various places.

Objects have also spawned in a phase-like state. The map may not have undergone a drastic change, but it should certainly feel different to players. More details on the changes can be read on the map update post.

As is customary with every new season, we have a new legend to mix things up. The latest legend is Mad Maggie, who players may recognize from season 8 as she was a part of Fuse’s backstory as well as the announcer. Although glitches resulted in her easily repeating lines and gaining a negative reputation among players, her introduction videos have already swayed the opinion back the other way.

Her abilities look pretty unique and chaos-inducing for lack of a better term. Her tactical is Riot Drill, which is fired and attaches to obstacles/walls (including Gibraltar’s Dome tactical) and burns opposing players on the other side. Her Wrecking Ball ultimate releases a bouncing ball that leaves speed-boosting pads and will detonate near enemies. With her passive ability, Warlord’s Ire, she can temporarily highlight enemies she’s damaged and move faster with shotguns.

The final addition for the new season is a new limited-time mode that’s already caught the interest of many players. Control is a 9v9 mode with two teams fighting to capture and control three zones.

Points are awarded each second a team has control of a zone. More points are awarded with more zones controlled up to the winning limit of 1,250. Controlling all three zones starts a lockout phase and timer, which can result in an early victory if the team manages to hold the zones throughout.

Timed Events in the mode should keep each match fresh. Capture Bonuses may be placed on a specific zone and award more points to the team that owns it after a timer hits zero. This should change some teams’ priorities in the middle of a match.

Something else that will shake things up is airdrops. Airdrops will leave behind powerful weapons from crates for those that are lucky enough to receive them. They’re sure to run out of ammo eventually but could help change the tide for either team.

Of course, I haven’t even mentioned the most unique aspect of Control. Unlike the main battle royale mode, players can expect to respawn after they’ve died and get right back into the action. Players will also be able to choose their spawn location, choose specific loadouts, and even choose their legends.

If you die and find that your current legend and weapon loadout isn’t working out very well, you can easily change into something you think will suit the current situation better. A lot of players are already looking forward to this mode with how similar it will be to other hero-based non-battle royale shooters. Further detail about the mode’s implementation can be read in this post.

The Control mode is limited to three weeks, which is coincidentally as long as the anniversary content is expected to last. This year’s content is especially fun for players who don’t have specific characters, as each of the following three weeks will feature a free character and free packs just for logging in.

From February 8th to February 15th players can receive Octane and three thematic packs. February 15th to February 22nd will net players Wattson and three thematic packs. Finally, from February 22nd to March 1st players can get Valkyrie, three thematic packs, and one legendary pack. For those who already have these legends, they’ll still be able to receive the packs.

Between a new limited-time game mode, free legends, a new legend’s debut, and the return of a fan-favorite map, this is already shaping up to be a content-filled season. It will definitely be a fun start to the third year of the game. For a more specific look at what’s coming as well as balance changes, the patch notes can be read here.