What’s New in Apex Legends Season 5

Respawn introduces sweeping changes including a new legend

This latest season of Apex Legends has introduced changes that will surely disrupt the meta that many longtime players have grown to know and love. Let’s break down the changes and discuss their relevance for players.

Possibly the most prominent change is the addition of a new support legend: Loba. Her tactical movement ability — Burglar’s Best Friend — has already made her a quick favorite for many. It allows her to quickly, fairly, and discreetly make her way behind enemy lines in the middle of a combat encounter. Her passive ability — Eye for Quality — is phenomenally useful for those looking to spruce up their load outs. She’s able to spot and highlight epic and legendary items through walls up to 78 meters away. This works perfectly in combination with her ultimate ability — Black Market Boutique — which has the same range, and enables anyone in her squad to take two items from that 78 meter radius. The downside (lest this ability become OP) is that it allows enemy legends to do the same. You can counter this by collapsing or destroying your boutique once your squad is done with it. I have yet to play Loba myself, but she’s proven to be very helpful when playing on a squad with her.

Instant gratification

The addition of new legends is always a big deal, of course. But it isn’t the only significant change in Season 5. Respawn have now added Charge Towers. These structures allow legends to completely charge up their ultimate ability instantly. Any other legends present on the platform when the tower’s activation cycle is finished receive the same leg up.

The Charge Tower actually combines perfectly with Loba in the early game, as it’s possible to use the tower and then have Loba drop her Black Market Boutique instantly, allowing her squad mates to grab some key items right from the get go, rather than scrambling to find weapons. Of course, Charge Towers are useful for any legend or squad, but they are particularly useful for both Loba and Lifeline (as the latter can drop her Care Package instantly, providing a potentially game-changing boost to your squad early on).

Drowned world

Season 5 also thankfully introduces several changes to the Kings Canyon map. Skulltown and Thunderdome have sunk into the sea, making way for the Salvage area and a number of other small outposts surrounding former map staples. On the other end of the map, Relay and Wetlands have been replaced by the Rig and the Capacitor — these new locales provide plenty of new opportunities to hunt for loot and to leverage new combat strategies. The Capacitor also hides an underground tunnel leading to the Labs, although I have yet to discover the tunnel myself.

Old dogs, new tricks

As you might expect, both legends and weapons have seen some revisions in Season 5. The most substantial of which relates to Mirage. Respawn have sought to imbue him with even more depth. For example, his new tactical ability — Psyche Out — allows you to deploy a decoy and also have it mirror your movements at any point. His ultimate — Life of the Party — creates several decoys that mimic your movements right at the outset. His improved passive ability allows Mirage to cloak when respawning and reviving squad mates. This makes him particularly useful when you are desperately trying to bring your squad back into the fight.

There are a bunch of weapon changes here too. The Mastiff, for example, enters the regular loot pool with the Peacekeeper taking its place in the Care Package weapon pool (with their strengths being adjusted accordingly). Although the Mastiff’s power has been decreased to account for its more commonplace nature, it’s still certainly a force to be reckoned with. In fact, it quickly became a favorite of mine just one day after the season commenced.

Respawn have reintroduced the Skullpiercing hop-up for the Longbow and Wingman, while the Anvil Receiver has been relegated to the bench for now — actually, this kind of irks me, as I don’t really see the point of these adjustments to hop-ups. Anyway, it is what it is, and I plan on using both the Longbow and Wingman even more regularly to celebrate.

’tis the season

Last but certainly not least, there’s the new Season Hub that combines the Battle Pass, Season Challenges, and the all-new Season Quest in a single convenient screen. The most interesting bit here is the season-long quest called The Broken Ghost. So far, not much has been revealed about how this quest will unfold — well, except for the fact that there are 45 rewards available in the treasure packs that you can find scattered throughout matches — these unlock “Hunts”, which you can take on solo or in your squad. It’s a PvE-style experience against wild prowlers to find the nine pieces of The Broken Ghost. What’s exciting here, I think, is that there’s an opportunity to learn a great deal more about the lore of Apex Legends. I’m keen to see Respawn lean into this.

Oh, and as a side note: there are tons of new cosmetics available in this Battle Pass, including a wide range of new weapon and legend skins, as well as brand new emotes.

I hope you found this summary useful. I’m personally incredibly excited for this season to get into full swing and to see everything that it has in store for us!