As with every season, Apex Legends season 13 is bringing a ton of changes to the game. Not much has been mentioned in way of weapons or loot pool changes, but there is a lot coming to Storm Point in terms of map changes. The arrival of the giant beast, then slain by the legends, fundamentally changes the map in a couple of ways.

First, there’s the new Downed Beast POI in Apex Legends season 13. This area adds a new rotation option between it, The Mill, and Checkpoint, and Respawn hopes it encourages a wider drop spread—pulling away from Barometer. Beyond that, the spider and prowler nests are getting some changes, but perhaps the biggest is the arrival of the IMC Armories.

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Game Rant recently attended a Respawn Entertainment developer panel, where many of the changes coming to Storm Point, including the IMC Armories, was discussed.

Apex Legends Season 13: What Are IMC Armories?

apex legends imc armory

The IMC Armories were activated when the sea beast attacked Storm Point. As many know, Storm Point was explored by the IMC long ago, and it seems they prepared secret military installments. They’ve been dormant this entire time, but they’re active now. Players are able to enter these locations, check out what Respawn described as essentially an Apex Legends minigame, secure smart loot upgrades, and return to the fight.

Apex Legends Season 13: How IMC Armories Work

apex legends spectres

Exact locations are not yet known, but IMC Armories will be spread across Apex Legends’ Storm Point Map. When players enter these armories, the doors will lock behind them and prevent them from being third-partied. It’s almost like a natural and more protected progression to Bloodhound’s Trials. Now, it stands to reason a party could be waiting just outside the IMC Armory, but how that shakes out remains to be seen.

Once inside, players will have 60 seconds to defend themselves against waves of Spectres—Titanfall’s militant MRVN units often seen with Pilots. The more players are able to defeat within these 60 seconds, the more loot they’ll be able to get. Players will be able to access smart loot crates that “scan” the player and their kit, providing them loot geared toward that. This could result in improved weapon maps, barrel stabilizers, and more.

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However, players will not need to have a full kit already established when entering the IMC armories. Players can enter them early, find some early loot there, and get better and viable loot for the early game, providing players gear "built to last." By doing this, IMC Armories are viable for early game, mid-game, and late-game loot progression. It would seem that this would be better in the late game, although the smaller circle would mean other players will likely know someone is there. That’s something that won’t be fully realized, of course, until Apex Legends season 13 releases.

How Legend abilities from outside these IMC Armories work is another questionable-but-have-to-wait-for-it thing. Respawn specifically mentioned that Loba's loot-based abilities wouldn’t be as “exploitable” here as some players would like, but whether Bloodhound can scan players in these armories wasn’t addressed. So, it may take some trial and error to see how these IMC Armories operate in conjunction to outside legends.

Apex Legends Season 13: Will IMC Armories Come to Other Maps?

apex legends spectre attack

Respawn chose to put IMC Armories on Storm Point because, crudely, it’s the biggest PVE map. Storm Point already features spiders and prowler nests, as opposed to something like World's Edge where these interactions are limited. Respawn enjoys the idea of PvE elements within the battle royale, though, and it can certainly liven up combat when prowlers are running around to. To toss more PvE combat onto Storm Point simply makes sense.

Respawn, however, was questioned on whether IMC Armories would be limited to Storm Point, and the response was encouraging. It was said this would depend on player reception. After all, while IMC Armories in Apex Legends sound promising, it is possible they fall to the wayside or are practically unused by players throughout the course of a match. If they prove to be as popular as they seem to be, then it’s possible IMC Armories appear on other Apex Legends maps; if they are not, Respawn won’t force them onto other players.

At the end of the day, a lot of good things are seemingly in the works for Apex Legends Season 13. It launches on May 10, meaning fans have 8 days as of this writing to finish up the current season and prepare for the next one.

Apex Legends is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Mobile will release worldwide sometime in May.

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