The newest season of Apex Legends is finally here, bringing with it a huge number of changes to the game. It is perhaps the game's biggest overhaul to date. Season 9, titled Legacy, introduces a new battle pass, a new legend, brings back an old favorite map, revamps Olympus, and adds a new weapon. It also comes packaged with an all-new game mode: Arenas.
While there have been severe server issues typical of any big-name launch, most players are getting back into matches and finding the game feels a little different than it did before. The new additions in Season 9 have players figuring out a new meta, but the new season also came with a list of bug fixes, balance changes, and other behind-the-scenes improvements.
7 A New Legend Enters The Games: Valkyrie
Valkyrie is the newest legend to enter the Apex Games. As an assault-type legend (the third in a row released in Apex), she excels at pushing enemies and using her abilities to support, well, an assault. She is the daughter of Viper, a near-end-game boss in Titanfall 2 who was killed by the player. Her abilities reflect this legacy.
Her passive allows her to fly through the air with the spacebar, like a jetpack. Meanwhile, her tactical shoots guided rockets at a number of locations after a delay. Her ultimate ability is essentially a portable jump tower, which allows teammates to climb aboard and drop from above. It's perfect for getting away and forcing a fight.
6 Arenas Mode Has Finally Come To Apex
Perhaps the most exciting addition to Apex Legends in Season 9 is a new permanent game mode: Arenas. In a way, Arenas work as a fusion of the Battle Royale mode with the gameplay of Counter Strike. There is still a ring, chests, and even care packages, but only two teams battle and all gear must be purchased.
Arena is a much faster and very different game to the Battle Royale mode that Apex Legends is known for. Each team gets points each round based on how well they did. It's not scored simply by who won the most rounds; instead, it actually works like Tennis. The game can go on for rounds upon rounds if both teams are evenly matched.
5 Olympus Is Revamped, & Players Are Losing King's Canyon
A big change coming to the Battle Royale game mode is the revamp of Olympus and the removal of King's Canyon. Every new Apex season has included either a map update or a new map entirely. It's no surprise that the third map added to the game is finally getting the revamp treatment.
There are several areas that have become overgrown on Olympus due to incoming contaminating ships. Before the season launched, players could actually see the fleet approaching in the distance. It brings some much-needed freshness to the two-season-old map, but it's mostly localized to a few areas only.
4 World's Edge Is Back
World's Edge, the homeplace of Bloodhound and one of the most colorful maps in any Battle Royale, returns to the rotation to replace King's Canyon. King's Canyon is, of course, the original map of the game, but it's also the most-featured map out of the three.
Fans have been clamoring for a return to World's Edge since it left ranked in early 2021, and left the regular rotation even earlier. For players new to the game, it's an entirely new battlefield.
3 The Battle Pass System From Season 8 Returns
The Battle Pass system introduced in Season 8 will be returning for the Season 9 Battle Pass. Upon release, the updated system received a lot of criticism for being far too difficult for casual players to complete. Instead of earning consistent CP to the next Battle Pass level, players now only earn a star or two for daily challenged out of 10 needed for each level.
For fans who criticized the system, it appears that Respawn won't be making any changes any time soon. However, many of the more impossible weekly challenges from Season 8 (like the infamous Bombardment kill challenge) have been reworked.
2 A New Weapon Is Available: The Bocek Bow
The Bocek Bow is the newest weapon available to players in Apex Legends. This simple weapon uses arrows and sights up to 3x zoom to deal damage at mid-range. It's similar to the 30-30 in this regard, but it also has two hop-up slots for Shatter Caps and Deadeye's Tempo.
Shatter Caps turns each arrow into a bursting projectile that works especially well in close combat. Players can also equip it to the 30-30. Deadeye's Tempo increases the rate of fire of the Bocek, and players can also use it on the Sentinel sniper rifle.
1 Hammerpoint, Skullpiercer, & the Triple Take Are Gone
As with every major update to Apex Legends, many things were added, but many things were taken away too. Among the pickups removed are the hop-ups Hammerpoint and Skullpiecer, which will reduce the effectiveness of the Mozambique and Longbow, as well as the Triple Take.
The Triple Take will be a care package-only gun from now on. To replace it, the Peacekeeper was taken out of the care package drop table and put into the general loot pool. Season 9 is looking to be a close-range meta, with numerous shotguns now available as ground loot, though the rare kitted snipers will be hard to take down.