Apex Legends Season 2 finally releases today (July 2nd, 2019) with an extensive list of new additions, welcomed changes, and anticipated new content! The team at Respawn Entertainment is truly bringing out an excellent update to Apex Legends, and this article will cover all the new features to look for and expect from Season 2 — Battle Charge. For a fully detailed explanation of everything covered in this article, visit the official Apex Legends’ Subreddit for patch notes and developer insights.
MAP CHANGES
The Repulsor Tower has been blown up by a mysterious entity. This has resulted in the destruction of the Repulsor area of the map and has now allowed for the invasion of Kings Canyon by the wildlife previously kept away by the Repulsor Tower and the frequency it emitted. Flyers (a familiar dragon-like animal from the Titanfall Universe) as well as the Leviathans (MASSIVE dinosaur-like beasts the size of mountains) previously seen on the outskirts of King Canyon have now invaded the play area. These beasts have also destroyed areas in Kings Canyon and have even caused changes in previous areas. The team at Respawn Entertainment have been hard at work building up the lore and storytelling elements of Apex Legends and are using the start of Season 2 — Battle Charge to dive into the world Apex Legends resides in. Clean-up crews for the disaster at the Repulsor Tower have established base camps across Kings Canyon, adding buildings and areas that had not previously existed. Certain areas on the map have also been able to regrow and flourish in their natural state due to the lack of the Apex Tournament (which had been cancelled due to the destruction on the island). The lack of battle has resulted in the scorched and war torn areas of the map becoming green and full of plantlife. The officials behind the Apex Tournament have also used this opportunity to add some new features to the arena thus bringing more changes and additions to Kings Canyon.
NEW BATTLE PASS
With the start of Season 2 — Battle Charge, we see the introduction of a new Battle Pass which brings with it a completely revamped leveling system and amazing cosmetic choices. The progression of the Battle Pass is completely different from Season 1, allowing for much faster and easier progression through the season. The Battle Pass is now entirely challenge-based and not time-based at all. Daily and weekly challenges will become available to players, and these challenges will stack from week to week. So, if you are not able to play Apex Legends or you were to start halfway through Season 2 … all of the previous challenges that you had missed will be available to you from the get go. The Battle Pass will contain four legendary skins as well as many other rarities of skins. It will also contain 1200 crafting metal materials (enough to purchase any legendary skin of your choice) and will no longer reward badges or stat trackers in favor of three new types of rewards. The Battle Pass will also offer three special challenges that will reset on a rotation. These are extra challenges on top of the weekly and daily challenges that will reward a Battle Pass specific currency called “Stars” … these stars can be used to unlock tiers in the Battle Pass. If you manage to finish these three extra challenges, they will reset and allow you to earn them again … the only difference being that in order to finish them the second or third time, the experience required to finish these challenges will be larger each time you reset them before their official refresh. When they do refresh, the experience required to finish them will also go back to its lowest requirement. This new “Star” system may be confusing at first … For more information, visit the official Apex Legends’ Subreddit for the full Battle Pass experience breakdown.
NEW GAME MODE
We finally see the introduction of a Ranked Mode into Apex Legends. There are a total of six ranks: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Apex Predator. Each of the ranks will have their own match-making, and at the end of the season you will be rewarded based on the rank you finish with. Players within the Apex Legends community have desperately wanted a ranked mode in the game for a long time now. They were given a taste of what kind of environment a ranked mode would offer with the Legendary Hunt update and its introduction of the Apex Elite game mode. Ranked mode is going to bring a whole new level of competition to the table, and it may be what is needed to bring Apex Legends into Esport territory. After some significant time with ranked in the hands of players, we will truly see what Apex Legends has for potential in the competitive gaming scene.
NEW LEGEND(S)
With Season 2 — Battle Charge comes the addition of a greatly anticipated, newly playable Legend to choose from. “Watson” will now be available to all players who unlock her with Legend Tokens. Her abilities are as follows: Perimeter Security — A tactical ability where you connect nodes to create electrical fences that damage and slow enemies; Interception Pylon — A special ability where you place an electrified pylon that destroys incoming ordnance and repairs damaged shields as long as it stands; Spark Of Genius — A passive ability where using an ultimate accelerant will instantly charge your ultimate and standing near the Interception Pylons boosts tactical ability recharge rate. Through the process of data mining on PC, this Legend has been known about for quite some time and has been in the code and files of the game since the start of Season 1. This made some players think that we would get access to her sooner, so the community behind Apex Legends is thrilled to finally get to play as Watson. Now, take the rest of this as speculation, many fans and Apex Legends enthusiasts have started to speculate that we may get access to another Legend at some point in Season 2. This comes from footage within the official Season 2 Reveal Trailer where a mysterious figure is seen at various moments throughout the trailer while using a laptop to connect to something at the Repulsor Tower. This figure is then seen executing the EMP that blows up Repulsor Tower, forever changing Kings Canyon as we know it. Players and fans alike have analyzed that this mysterious figure is the Legend “Crypto,” another data-minded Legend found in the game files of Apex Legends on PC. The team at Respawn Entertainment have deliberately kept this figure mysterious in the trailer because they want to build hype before having him become available to players. Like I said, take this with a grain of salt as this character may not become available during Season 2 — Battle Charge. But mark my words … I truly believe Crypto is going to be the next Legend we see after Watson.
NEW EQUIPABLES
With the launch of Season 2 — Battle Charge, players will now have access to new equipable items in-game. First off is the brand new weapon called The L-Star. This is a gold tier weapon that will only be obtainable through Care Package drops, and it will pack a real punch. This weapon will be able to open closed doors just by shooting them and has an intensely rapid rate of fire. Along with access to The L-Star, the team at Respawn Entertainment have teased that there are going to be three additional hop-up attachments for weapons. These are still unseen and have not been detailed by the developers, but players are anxious to find out what kind of attachments these hop-ups may be.
NEW CUSTOMIZATIONS
Along with the release of the brand new Battle Pass and the subsequent cosmetics that will come with it, the team at Respawn have teased that there are going to be three types of rewards from the Battle Pass that we have not seen before. One of these rewards is speculated to be the new Skydive Emotes showcased in the Season 2 — Battle Charge Gameplay Trailer. These new emotes are useable at any point during skydiving in-game and look awesome. If the Skydive emotes are anything to go off of then the remaining new Battle Pass rewards are likely to be just as unique.
Overall, Season 2 —Battle Charge is going to put Apex Legends in an excellent spot for new content and new ways to play. The dedicated community that has built around Apex Legends has voiced a very excited opinion for what they have seen of Season 2 so far. With all of this upcoming content in the hands of gamers, expect Apex Legends to propel forward in popularity and hopefully grow to greater heights. If you are a fan of Apex Legends then I am sure you are excited for this content. If you have not played Apex Legends, Season 2 — Battle Charge is truly a great time to jump in and start playing one of, if not the best, Battle Royal games on the market. For in-depth patch notes and developer insights, be sure to visit the official Apex Legends Subreddit.
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