Apex Legends has reached record-breaking player numbers over the past few months, and with crossplay and the Switch port coming soon, that momentum shouldn’t slow down. Respawn certainly hasn’t slowed down when it comes to new content. Apex Legends season 6 is upon us, and it brings a lot to the game. From the new crafting mechanic to Rampart to World’s Edge changes, here’s what you need to know before playing Apex Legends season 6.
Further reading
- Apex Legends character guide
- How to find the best loot in Apex Legends
- Respawn confirms a game-changing sidegrade for Lifeline
Apex Legends season 6 release date and trailer
Before getting into the gritty details, let’s start with the season 6 release date. The new season started at 10 p.m. PT on Monday, August 17, bringing the new Legend and crafting system to the game (more on those two in a minute). The start of season 6 also marks the beginning of a new battle pass and a new ranked season. We’ll talk more about the battle pass in a moment, but it looks like Respawn is sticking with the competitive model unveiled in season 5.
Craft your way to victory
The biggest change in season 6 is the introduction of crafting. The season 6 page reads: “Don’t like your gear? Collect materials around the map and build something better!” We haven’t played with the crafting system yet, but it looks different than Fortnite‘s building mechanic. The season 6 gameplay trailer provides a few hints.
Crafting happens at Replicators scattered across the map. From the trailer, we can see ammo, weapon mods, items, and a sole weapon. There are also “daily,” “weekly,” and “permanent” tags on some items, so we’ll likely see a revolving door of new ones. Because Replicators are in the open, crafting sets up a nice risk-versus-reward system. You can take a few moments to bolster your loadout, but we suspect there won’t any shortage of players waiting to pick off opponents trying to do so.
Otherwise, crafting is straightforward. Everything uses “materials,” so you don’t have to worry about stringing together gun parts to craft a new weapon. Most of the items are inexpensive, too. There are two places where crafting is at its best. If you just revived a teammate, going to a Replicator is guaranteed path to more loot, especially if you can find one without too much attention. Otherwise, it’s best to get in and out of the crafting screen as quickly as possible. These areas will be highly contested, especially for the first week or two.
Meet the new season 6 Legend: Rampart
Along with the crafting theme of season 6, we have a new Legend: Rampart. Ramya Parekh, also known as Rampart, is a 21-year-old modder. She made a name for herself by stringing together any scraps she could find into deadly weapons and gear at her shop on Gaea. That was until her shop was attacked by a group of bandits and burned to the ground, leaving Rampart with nothing but an Apex Card and a chance to put her crafting skills to the test. Rampart is voiced by Anjali Bhimani, known for her work on Overwatch and Indivisible.
Backstory aside, let’s talk abilities.
Tactical: Amped Cover — Buildable cover that protects you from incoming shots on the bottom half and amps outgoing shots on the top half.
Passive: Modded Loader — Faster reloads and increased magazine capacity when using LMGs and Rampart’s minigun.
Ultimate: Emplaced Minigun “Sheila” — A mounted minigun that anyone can use with very high ammo capacity but a long reload time.
Given Loba last season, we expected a greater focus on crafting with Rampart. She’s just a generically powerful Legend, though. Amped Cover is perfect for fortifying a position, allowing you to protect your squad while staying aggressive toward nearby teams. Modded Loader is nice to have around, but it’s narrow. Generally, you don’t want abilities that are reliant on each other, which is the case for Modded Loader and the Emplaced Minigun. To get the most out of Modded Loader, you not only need a decent LMG in your loadout, but also an opportune time to deploy the minigun.
Amped Cover may be enough on its own, though. Gibraltar’s Dome of Protection is already powerful, and Amped Cover is even better in certain circumstances.
A shocking new weapon
It’s not often we see a new weapon in Apex Legends, with the current roster offering a nice rock-paper-scissors balance across playstyles. Volt should shake things up a bit. It’s an energy-based SMG that trades damage for accuracy and a quick reload time. Volt is actually a gun from Titanfall 2, so we already know quite a bit about it. The main differentiator between Volt and other SMGs is its hitscan energy rounds, offering extremely high accuracy even when you’re hip firing.
Although we only know about Volt, it looks like Respawn is experimenting with other weapons. Shrugtal on Twitter spotted what looks like a compound bow in a promotional image.
Hey, that's a compound bow. pic.twitter.com/ccq3IhMJ8b
— Shrugtal (@shrugtal) August 6, 2020
Season 6 map changes
Season 6 also brings some significant map changes, offering a few new points of interest and expanding the options for cycling out of dangerous areas. The Mirage Voyage is no longer active on World’s Edge, but instead of removing the train completely, Respawn dismantled it. You’ll find some loot and train parts dotted around the track, particularly in areas that were dangerous chokepoints in previous seasons.
Launch Site is the largest new area on the map, occupying the largely irrelevant lava fields west of The Dome. This new area has four control rooms, catwalks, and a lot of loot, so expect a battle. Countdown replaces Drill Site, with fortified walls and a deep pit in the center. This industrial complex offers plenty of loot opportunities, especially with the pit in the center. Teams stationed here will get traffic from Skyhook, Train Yard, and Lava Fissure, though, so again, be ready to fight. Finally, there’s Staging, which sits alongside the train tracks east of Harvester.
In addition to the new areas, Respawn added two new paths out of highly contested areas. There’s now a path leading to The Tree away from Launch Site, as well as a path between Survey Camp and Skyhook, directly through a cliffside.
The three new areas come with rising blast walls, too, allowing teams to fortify their position if they reach these areas first. The blast walls should make it easier to defend your position, but they don’t block other Legends from entering the site you’re defending. Legends like Pathfinder can easily jump over the walls, and there are always paths around them. If you’re holed up in one of these positions, it’s best to scout the areas around the walls rather than the walls themselves.
Leave your mark with the season 6 battle pass
A new season means a new battle pass, and along with the usual assortment of cosmetic items, you’ll find the new Holo-Sprays. Like all battle pass items, Holo-Sprays are totally cosmetic, but they allow you to leave your mark around the map (with style, no less). The pass includes news skins for Pathfinder and Bloodhound, too, as well as a new batch of drop emotes.
The Apex Legends season 6 reversed trailer, reversed
And, finally, just because it’s interesting, here’s the reversed season 6 trailer, reversed.
