Apex Legends has announced Showdown, the 26th season of Respawn’s Battle Royale, which introduces a brand new permanent game mode called Wildcard, a new progression system and more quality of life updates. Additionally, Caustic and Bangalore get some love and Elite weapons join the game. There are also a couple of ranked updates on the way. With changes come sacrifice, Arenas has been removed for the foreseeable future.
Wildcard is a new fast-paced permanent game mode for 30 players on a modified version of Kings Canyon with ziplines, gravity cannons, jump pads and other traversal objects. The starting ring in Wildcard will be compressed, forcing you to fight almost instantly on the drop but don’t worry – a Self Revive Kit will be in your inventory from the start. Also you can now auto loot so you can stay focused. Running, walking, or sliding over ground loot will automatically add it to your backpack. Ground loot will typically be Shield Cells, Ammo and Evo Orbs.
Evo Orbs can be picked up from knocked down players to level up weapons, reduce respawn times, grant a bit of Shield Charge and much more. Death Boxes still exist but these will contain skills and weapons. Your inventory will be auto-sorted, leaving you more time to focus on the action.
Of course, Wildcard needs, well, Wildcards! You can get Wildcards at Wildcard Replicators and they can grant new abilities like wall running.
The Wildcard Replicator will also be where you get new weapons, Legend perks and more. The contents of the replicators will be randomised for each match. Levelling up weapons in Wildcard Replicators will be capped at gold with a 1% chance to get a Mythic Lupin (loot). Also, for the first time ever, Legend stacking will be allowed in Wildcard – imagine the possibilities!
Onto Battle Royale, E-District will see some changes in Showdown. It’s now daytime at the district while micro and macro visual clutter has been reduced in an overall bid to improve visibility. Shop interiors have doorways linking them together inside, some buildings have been removed in dense POIs, and Titanfall Fans may be pleased to know that the Angel City Skybox inspired some of the new look for E-District. Other maps will also be seeing smaller updates this season, such as the time of day in Storm Point changing.
The Battle Royale map rotation for Season 26 Showdown is E-District, Broken Moon and Storm Point.
Caustic is seeing a lot of love this season, his gas is more deadly and he’s got a brand new passive to sink your teeth into. The gas will surround enemies and slow them too. When you’ve been slowed by gas (even if you’re moving fast initially) your movement ability cooldown will be removed too – so if you’re gassed you’ll need to fight your way out. Caustic’s health bar won’t show in gas and he’ll have an easier time seeing out.
Bangalore is also getting some buffs, she’s got a full set of new upgrades, including now her Tactical and Ultimate can be electrified to emit EMP on a direct hit! Her smoke will still remove aim assist. It’s not the end of the road if you come up against these two, smoke and gas will be influenced by ordinance or Legend abilities which gives you the chance to clear the air.
The entire Control Class is getting some new perk buffs too, ring consoles can spawn an extra tall evac after scanning survey data, zone overcharge will continuously charge your shields but taking any damage will stop this.
Elite weapons are a new addition for Season 26 and only one has received the makeover for Showdown – the RE-45 Burst. It’s now an Energy weapon, replacing the long-standing Light ammunition it ran on before and a few more surprises await. Elite weapons are temporary additions to Apex Legends, so while the RE-45 has been given a makeover for this season it may not be around forever.
The Peacekeeper is returning to floor loot and, brace yourselves, the Akimbo P2020 is going into the Care Package with the Kinetic Feeder Hop-Up attached to it. Mozambiques have a faster fire rate and tiger blast pattern while the power of LMGs and hipfire accuracy has been reduced.
Locked Hop-Ups make their debut in Showdown too! Hop-ups will still be baked into weapons but to access their full power you need to deal a certain amount of damage with that weapon to ‘unlock’ it. Once you’ve fully unlocked a Hop-up, it will last for the rest of the match. However, if you switch weapons or drop the weapon and pick up a new one your Hop-up progress you’ll lose some of your progress. Teammates can pick up your fully unlocked weapon if you drop it and they will see the benefit.
Amps are new powerful lootable perks available in ranked and unranked, helping you customise your playstyle. For example, the Bottomless Batteries Amp will prevent your Shield Batteries being used if you’ve got two or more in your inventory.
Ranked, among other changes, is introducing a new reward – Auras. These are a reactive cosmetic that sits behind your Legend and will reflect your current rank. Your first rank Aura will be free as you progress through the road to ranked challenges (if you’ve done this, you’ll get one too). Auras are optional, they can be turned off in your Legend locker. Turned on, you can see them in the locker, lobby, podium and occasionally on the map. They’ll also be visible during the initial skydive, during some emotes, and during finishers and revives but only between the two players involved in these moments.
There are also small increases to the Bronze, Gold and Platinum entrance cost. The amount of RP you gain from kills and assists has been reduced, but there’s an increase in RP gains from completing challenger bonuses.
Drop Zones in ranked have been added to give more structure to the start of a match, squads will be assigned random POI which you can see from the dropship. Teams will fly in and exit together, the Dropship will also be lower to the Drop Zone too.
There’s all that and plenty more coming in Apex Legends Showdown, which launches on Tuesday 5th August on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch.
