Apex Legends Season 13 – What’s New

Apex Legends Season 13 has just arrived, and many things have changed, particularly in competitive queues. Aside from new updates on the ranked matches, a new battle pass and a new Legends went live with the latest major patch. The Storm Point map has also undergone some “monstrous” changes. While some have found the newest update quite unforgiving, others have stabilized their position in the game and have started to accept the recent reworks.

New Legend: Newcastle

Respawn always adds at least one more Legend to Apex’s ever-growing roster of super-soldiers every season. The most recent character to be added to the Games is the Rebel Warlord, Mad Maggie. With the latest update, A new Legend, going by the name of Newcastle, is making its way into the hazardous blood sport.

Newcastle, Bangalore’s brother Jackson, is a defense specialist who can deploy movable shields. Like his sister, the Heroic Defender hails from the town of Harris Valley, serving as its protector for a long while. His role as the town’s guardian brought him to the Apex Games. After being presumed to have died in a staged ship explosion, the Legend has reappeared in the highly competitive Games.

While his lore is tightly knit to her sister, Newcastle’s kit is far from Bangalore’s aggressive and elusive playstyle. The Heroic Defender focuses more on defense to create a bastion for his teammates. Here is the new Legend’s ability kit:

• Retrieve the Wounded (Passive) – Can drag teammates while reviving them and can also deploy a revive shield to protect them.
• Mobile Shield (Tactical) – Deploys a mobile shield drone to block incoming gunfire and ordinances.
• Castle Wall (Ultimate) – Leaps to the air to deploy a fortified bastion that provides strong cover for Newcastle and his team.

The Heroic Defender is the latest character added to the Defense class. His kit seeks to enable him to contend with powerhouses like Gibraltar, who has dominated the game and has been the go-to meta defense Legend. Watson and Rampart have fallen short in providing the same kind of protection Gibby can offer, so it is expected that Newcastle will be a tad bit too powerful to see which part can be balanced to still contend with the meta-Legend.

Rank Revamped

The most significant changes in Season 13 are the updates to the ranked system of Apex. The changes aim to make the game more team-oriented and play-to-win rather than encourage early engagements for more points. The main goal of the ranked system rework is to promote teamplay and create a more accurate, skilled, and better gameplay. 

Playing as Team

Apex Legends have been a team game ever since its launch. However, many players have resorted to playing independently and not relying on their team. This attitude resulted in players engaging other squads alone or without any assistance or battle participation from allies. This type of engagement usually ends with either the aggressor dying right away or a teammate having more points than others in their squad. The new update will now award players with RP as long as someone gets a kill.

Another strategy that Legends have been employing for the longest time is to obtain the maximum number of frags rather than aiming for the win. Reaching for the kill cap is much easier and faster than gaining kills and winning the match. For more skilled players, this is their usual goal. However, the game has changed several aspects of the kill cap to encourage players to play to survive and win. 

• Removed: No more RP Kill Cap
• Rework: The Base Value for each subsequent kill will decrease until the minimum RP reward is reached.

While the RP Kill cap has been removed, players won’t get the same points for each frag. The first three kills will be equal to 100%. The next three would be worth 80%. Any subsequent kill after the first six would be equivalent to 20%. Another change is that kills and assists now provide equal points, while kill participation will yield less.

Changes to the Assist Rule

Assists in Apex Legends come from tagging or helping teammates down opponents by damaging them. The assist timer was only 10 seconds until it resets in the previous seasons. This means that gamers have to down their targets within 10 seconds to get an assist. However, the high mobility nature of Apex prevents this from happening since players can just retreat back and recover before re-engaging once again. 

To prevent any tension between teammates, the Assist Timer has been increased to 15 seconds, giving more time for players to get frags. The timer also reset upon the revival of the downed opponent. Another change is that gamers are still eligible for assist credits when a revived downed opponent is knocked out immediately after being brought back up. 

More Accurate, Skilled, and Better Gameplay

Rank is an essential aspect of Apex Legends since it allows the game to match other players in matches with other gamers with a similar skillset. Previously, gamers were prevented from demoting from one tier to another. However, this situation has created a situation where players are hard stuck on certain ranked positions with no way of going down or going up. 

To create an accurate presentation of the players’ actual rank or skill, Respawn has decided to finally enable tier demotion. This new feature will allow a better distribution of talent across all rank ladders. The tier demotion will also allow gamers to play at their proper skill tier. Here is how the new ranking system works:

• Players will receive a 100 RP bonus upon promotion to another tier.
• Players can now demote out of a tier, dropping halfway down the previous tier. (Platinum to 50% Gold)
• Players will get demotion protection when they ascend to a new division. They will not be able to rank down for up to 3 defeats after entering a higher tier.

Entry Cost Adjustments

Aside from adding tier demotions and RP systems, Apex has also adjusted its entry cost for each rank. Previously, match costs only started when players reached Silver. However, Season 13 has updated the whole feature so that every ranked tier will have an entry cost, including Bronze. In addition, the new entry costs have also been increased. Here are the further adjustments for every division:

• Bronze
  • 4 – 15
  • 3 – 18
  • 2 – 21
  • 1 – 24
• Silver
  • 4 – 27
  • 3 – 30
  • 2 – 33
  • 1 – 36
• Gold
  • 4 – 39
  • 3 – 42
  • 2 – 45
  • 1 – 48
• Platinum
  • 4 – 51
  • 3 – 54
  • 2 – 57
  • 1 – 60
• Diamond
  • 4 – 63
  • 3 – 66
  • 2 – 69
  • 1 – 72
• Master
  • Every Game – 75 with +5 RP for every 1000 RP starting from the threshold.

As players notice, the entry cost now increases by 3 RP per rank in the same division. Meanwhile, players in Master will have additional +5 entry costs for every 1000 RP they go beyond the baseline. This increment can increase up to +175 RP.

Since Bronze now has entry costs, Apex has added a new introductory tier for players entering the game for the first time. The new division called “Rookie” will only be available for gamers who have just started playing ranked games. Veteran Legends don’t need to worry about this tier since they won’t be demoted to this division. 

Kill Tier and Kill RP 

The RP gained per kill has also been adjusted to accommodate the new changes, along with the many adjustments to the rank system. The same mechanic will still apply where players will get RP depending on their frags and squad placement. Here are the adjusted points gained per placement and kill:

RP per Squad Placement

• 14+: 0
• 13 – 11: 5
• 10 & 9: 10
• 8 & 7: 20
• 6: 30
• 5: 45
• 4: 55
• 3: 70
• 2: 95
• 1: 125

Kill RP per Squad Placement

• 14+: 1
• 13 – 11: 5
• 10 & 9: 10
• 8 & 7: 12
• 6: 14
• 5: 16
• 4: 18
• 3: 20
• 2: 23
• 1: 25

The entry cost adjustments have also influenced the killer tier differences. The modifiers have been softened up to accommodate the new changes. Here are the RP gained per Kill Tier Differences:

• -3 Tier Difference 
  • S12 Kill Modifier: 30%
  • S13 Kill Modifier: 30%
• -2 Tier Difference
  • S12 Kill Modifier: 50% 
  • S13 Kill Modifier: 70%
• -1 Tier Difference
  • S12 Kill Modifier: 80%
  • S13 Kill Modifier: 100%
• 0 Tier Difference
  • S12 Kill Modifier: 100%
  • S13 Kill Modifier: 100%
• 1 Tier Difference
  • S12 Kill Modifier: 120%
  • S13 Kill Modifier: 100%
• 2 Tier Difference
  • S12 Kill Modifier: 150%
  • S13 Kill Modifier: 150%
• 3 Tier Difference
  • S12 Kill Modifier: 200%
  • S13 Kill Modifier: 200%

Storm Point Map Update

The return of Storm Point is marked with several noticeable changes. The most significant update is the remnant of the downed beast. The Ecological Cleanup and Hazard Outreach (ECHO) tried to remove the mess left by the Legends’ previous engagement with the monster. Unfortunately, the colossal size of the beast made it almost impossible to extract.

ECHO resorted to redesigning the area around the corpse to ensure it is still accessible and combat-worthy. Players can enter the remains of the behemoth to loot items inside or just acquire items from the platforms erected alongside the beast. The remodeled corpse of the Downed Beast is considered one of the newest hotspots on the map. 

Several IMC Armories have also appeared throughout Storm Point, aside from where the beast was slain. Upon entry into one of these armories, players have the option to push a button that will summon Spectres guarding the storage’s arsenal. After surviving for 60 seconds, players will be able to loot everything inside the armory and be given a smart loot item.

Notable Updates

Other minor changes will have varying impacts on gamers’ gameplay. These include:

• Fortified no longer reduces damage to headshots.
• Rampage & R-301 will be replacing Flatline & Longbow in the Crafting Stations.
• Eva-8, Bowcek, Flatline, P2020, and Spitfire have a chance to spawn gold versions.
• Kraber’s damage has been reduced from 145 to 140, and the headshot multiplier has been reduced from 3.0 to 2.0.
• Mastiff will be replacing Spitfire in the Care Package.
• Syringes and Shield Cells’ spawn rate has been reduced by 18%.
• Dual Shell is no longer a floor loot or included in crafting bundles.

Season 13 Saviour is expected to last until August 10,2022, so players will have a long time to experience what the new season offers. Depending on the community’s reaction to the update, we might see some additional changes in the future. In the meantime, time to ready up and dominate the field to become the Apex Legend.