Apex Legends Legacy update Brings 3v3 Arena mode, the highflying Valkyrie, and more

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Developer Respawn Entertainment shares some new detailed updates on the Apex Legends Legacy update which includes a new round-based 3v3 mode called Arena, a jetpack-equipped Legend named Valkyrie, the Bocek Compound Bow, as well as an update to the Olympus map, and will be rollout to the free-to-play battle royale on May 4, 2021, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Origin and Steam.

The new Arena Mode

In the Apex Legends Legacy update, the new 3v3 mode allows players to compete against each other on a close-quarters map. Each round is decided by eliminating the enemy team (of course), with the final victory decided by winning at least three rounds and gaining a margin of victory of at least two rounds. Sudden death decides the final winner in the 9th round when both teams are deadlocked at four wins each. That means that each game has a minimum of three rounds and a maximum of nine.

Buying Phase

Each round begins with a buying phase, which lets players arm themselves with weapons, consumables such as healing items, projectiles, and even abilities — just make sure you have the materials to pay for it. Get ready for a big departure from dropping into the map and collecting gear as you go.

Weapons start out in their basic form with no add-ons, and by purchasing additional upgrades, you can go up from level 1 to level 3 and add a scope of your choice. However, weapons cannot be carried over to the next round and must be repurchased with each buying phase.

You’ll only be allowed to use Tactical Abilities and Ultimate Abilities in each round. Tactical Abilities start with a limited number of rounds, but you can stock up on more charges during the buying phase. Unspent abilities carry over to the next round.

Materials required for purchase are provided as round bonuses, and can also be earned by extracting them from devices or by killing enemies. The round bonus also increases as the fight progresses, giving you more options for more powerful weapons, upgrades, and ability charges.

The choices you make in the buying phase play a huge role in the overall strategy. In the first round, you only have enough materials to buy your best weapon type and one recovery (you start equipped with armor and helmets). The more you earn in round bonuses, the more you can buy as the game progresses. You can upgrade your weapons, add attachments, recharge your abilities, and make more choices. In the final rounds of the game, both teams will be well-equipped for an epic, high-level battle.

Maps in Arena Mode

Arena maps are small, but like Battle Royale, the ring closes at regular intervals and constricts the battlefield. Supply boxes are scattered around the map containing recovery items and supplies. Combat takes place in a rotation of locales, including the new Party Crusher and Phase Runner maps developed specifically for this mode.

Party Crasher

Party Crasher is one of two exciting custom arenas where you’ll be able to show off your skills. This arena takes place in a ritzy, downtown plaza where players can choose to engage on the crashed Mirage Voyage or the opulent two-story buildings that make up the downtown. Stay vigilant, as this map hosts a variety of engagement distances—both close quarters and long-distance.

Phase Runner

The Phase Runner map will have the same portal features found in Olympus. Phase Runner focuses on medium to long-range combat, where players can fight from either the construction site or the entrance/exit of the map.

In addition to the new maps, there will also be custom locations for existing battle royale maps, such as the Turret in Kings Canyon, the Thermal Power Plant in World’s Edge, and the Garden in Olympus.

New Legend: Valkyrie

The latest legend, Valkyrie, is the daughter of Viper, the famed Titan pilot from Titanfall 2. Valkyrie’s jetpack, reconstructed from the wreckage of Viper’s Northstar Titan, gives her the ability to temporarily fly over the battlefield and rain down a barrage of missiles. When danger abounds, she can use her Ultimate Ability to quickly retreat into the sky, and if an ally on her team grabs her, she can carry them up into the air with her.

VTOL Jet

Activate the jetpack in mid-air and spend the energy gauge to fly. You won’t be able to shoot while the jets are activated, but you can open fire while letting off the gas.

Missile Swarm

This ability fires multiple small rockets in a specified area, dealing damage and stunning enemies. Missile Swarm can also be activated while the VTOL jet is in flight. Bombarding an area deals less damage than you might expect. On the other hand, it does stun enemies hit by it for a short period of time, so it could be used to support your allies.

Skyward Dive

Two teammates can accompany Valkyrie on the Skyward Dive by approaching her while preparing to fire and performing an action. This maneuver also lets you quickly spot your enemies’ positions.

After ascending with the Skyward Dive Ultimate Ability, enemies caught in view during the skydive will automatically be marked and shared with your allies. Although you can’t see beyond shields, the ability to mark enemies as soon as you see them is powerful.

A Note from Respawn

Lead game designer Daniel Klein says Valkyrie’s ability to fly with a jetpack is both exciting and effective. But the big question is how to keep matches balanced. Respawn has accounted for that. First of all, you can’t fly forever; if you run out of energy, you will plummet. And the jetpack is so loud that it may expose Valkyrie to nearby enemies. Guns and grenades also aren’t usable while Valkyrie is in jet flight. All these adjustments were made to keep the game fair. Respawn recommends flying somewhat erratically when playing Valkyrie, to make yourself a harder target mid-flight.

Bocek Compound Bow

The new Bocek (pronounced bow-check) compound bow is a precision marksman weapon that rewards a skilled and confident hand. Holding down fire will draw the bow over a short time, increasing the power of the shot, with maximum power giving optimal damage and projectile speed. Repeatedly firing the Bocek right as it reaches max power provides the best-sustained damage.

The Bocek uses a new ammo type, Arrows, which are unique to this weapon. Arrows are rarer on the battlefield, but fired arrows will stick into surfaces and remain in the world for players to pick back up and reuse. The 1x hcog classic, 1x holosight, 2x hcog, 1x-2x variable, and 3x hcog optics can all be equipped. The Bocek can also be further modified with the two new hop-ups entering the game, Shatter Caps and Deadeye’s Tempo; it can even equip both hop-ups simultaneously!

Update on Olympus

Olympus, a map introduced in Season 7, gets an update with the Apex Legends Legacy update. The Icarus, a suspicious ship that entered the atmosphere of the planet Psamathe from outside the realm, has docked at Olympus along with an unidentified parasitic plant. The landscape, infested with giant roots at the point of descent, provides players with a new gameplay experience throughout the map. Massive vines wrap around entire buildings, creating new paths and vantage points.

Inside the ship, you will also find the bodies of the fallen scientists. Search them to find keycards, which will unlock top-grade loot hidden in the Icarus.

STARTER KIT AND LOOT CHANGES in Apex Legends Legacy update

• Players will now start a match with a “Starter Kit” consisting of a Level 1 EVO Shield, Helmet, and Knockdown Shield, plus two Shield Cells and Syringes each.
• We’ve removed Level 1 Helmets and Knockdown Shields from the loot pool.
• Spawn chances for Level 1 EVO Shields in the loot pool have been significantly reduced.
• Along with the lowered or removed spawn chances for these items, we’ve rebalanced the loot pool such that higher-level versions of these items will appear nearly the same as they do now, but other item types will appear more often (weapons, ordinance, health, ammo, etc.)

EMOTES

Introducing Emotes! Every Legend will have one emote unlocked at launch and additional emotes can be obtained through Apex packs or by crafting them. Equip your emotes to the emote wheel and flex away! It’s great fun to show off to your squadmates in the starting room of Arenas, and of course, you have to use them on the Winner’s podium.

Now, since emotes kick your camera back to a third-person view, we know some folks are already thinking about corner peeking. Competitive integrity is still paramount, so enemies that your character couldn’t see in the first-person view will not be shown while you are in the third person.

This video shows the “Anti-Peek” feature working on the purple Dummie behind the rock. Without it, Pathfinder would be able to use the 3rd personal camera to gain knowledge that he shouldn’t have. All emotes have Anti-Peek enabled and there is no way to disable it.

BATTLE PASS

Unlock the premium Legacy Battle Pass and level it up to unlock new skins like Rampart’s Crafty Kitsune at Premium Level 25 and Wraith’s Demon’s Whisper at Premium Level 50.

Apex Legends Legacy update (Full Changelog)

LOW PROFILE CHARACTERS

Low profile no longer exists! This trait has been removed from Wraith, Lifeline, and Wattson.

LIFELINE

• Combat Revive: No longer deploys a shield. Can now revive two players at the same time. Can now cancel active revives in progress to allow your teammate to defend themselves with their knockdown shield.
• D.O.C. Heal Drone: Heal rate increased from 5hp per second to 8hp per second. Deployment time before healing begins reduced by roughly 33%.
• Care Package: Cooldown reduced from 6 minutes to 5 minutes. Now guarantees an upgrade (if possible) in three categories: Body Shield, Other Equipment (Helmet, Backpack, and Knockdown Shield), and Weapon Attachment, based on your team’s current gear when the Package arrives.

OCTANE

• Stim: Reduced cooldown between stims from 4s to 1s. Increased health cost from 12hp to 20hp.
• Increased bullet spread while in the air and shooting from the low LaunchPad trajectory.

LOBA

• Burglar’s Best Friend: Can now run and slide at full speed while aiming the bracelet and while the bracelet is in the air. Loba will no longer be slowed after translocating.
• Fixed a lot of bugs that caused bracelet tosses to fail.
• Black Market Boutique: Increased cooldown from the 90s to 120s.

HORIZON

• Gravity Lift: Reduced lift speed by 30%. Reduced side-to-side acceleration. Limited the time you can sit at the top of Gravity Lift to 2 seconds. Increased cooldown from 15s to 20s.
• Horizon’s abilities will now get zapped by Wattson pylons.

FUSE

• Knuckle Cluster: Fuse now has two stacks of Knuckle Cluster. Reduced cooldown from 25s to 20s.

BANGALORE

• Smoke Launcher: Thickened Bangalore’s smoke.

BLOODHOUND

• No longer receives assists from Eye of the Allfather.

CRYPTO

• Crypto’s drone can now scan and open care packages.
• Can no longer use his drone to “hijack” a respawn beacon that’s already in use.

WEAPONS UPDATES in Apex Legends Legacy update

MARKSMAN WEAPON CATEGORY

The G7 Scout and the 30-30 are currently in the Assault Rifle weapons category, but they are a bit strange in that category due to their firing style and some of their handling values. Similarly, the Triple Take felt a little out of place in the Sniper category.

With the introduction of the Bocek bow, we felt it was a good time to introduce a new weapons category, Marksman Weapons, which will include the G7, 30-30, Triple Take, and Bocek. Weapons in this category are precision weapons that are most effective up to the medium-long range and are the sort of in-betweens of Assault Rifles and Snipers. This allows us to begin moving the settings of these weapons towards more consistent value for the class, and make the settings of ARs and Snipers more consistent with fewer outliers.

SUPPLY DROP ROTATION

With any supply drop change, these weapons will have their stats updated. The Kraber will spawn less often in the early game and more often in the mid-game to better accommodate its power. The Triple Take will be the most common early-game crate weapon, with the Prowler being the most prominent late-game crate weapon.

FULLY KITTED ROTATION

• Added: Wingman, Bocek, R99, Hemlock, and Sentinel
• Removed: R301, 30-30 Repeater, Mozambique, Longbow DMR, and Spitfire

HOP UPS

• Shatter Caps – Fire select to toggle between standard mode and shatter mode. In shatter mode, rounds split into a blast pattern on firing. This hop-up will be equipable to the 30-30 Repeater and the Bocek.
• Deadeye’s Tempo – Firing at the perfect moment increases the fire rate. This can currently be attached to the Sentinel and the Bocek.
• To make room, the Hammerpoint and Skullpiercer hop-ups are being vaulted for now, and won’t be available.

ASSAULT RIFLES

• Reducing the headshot multiplier for all assault rifles from 2.0 to 1.75

PEACEKEEPER

• It comes with the Precision Choke by default, which can be toggled off
• Pellet damage reduced from 10 to 9
• Rechamber time increased from 0.9 seconds to 1.1 seconds
• Reload times increased (regular from 2.45 to 2.5, empty from 3.35 to 3.5)
• Pellet spread increased in general and spread when charged increased for all charge levels (from 0.65/0.45/0.2 to 0.85/0.65/0.35)
• Quickly loses charge after leaving ADS

TRIPLE TAKE

• As a crate weapon, it will come with a 9 ammo clip and 63 reserve ammo
• The fire rate increased from 1.2 to 1.3
• Time to full charge reduced from 1.1 seconds to 1 second
• Retains charge briefly after leaving ADS
• Move-speed while aiming down sights has been increased to match other marksman weapons — faster than snipers, slower than ARs
• Increased spread while airborne and aiming down sights

HAVOC

• Increased recoil controllability early in the pattern

SPITFIRE

• Reduced recoil controllability early in the pattern

30-30 REPEATER

• Increased leg damage multiplier from 0.75 to 0.85
• Move-speed while aiming down sights has been increased to match other marksman weapons — faster than snipers, slower than ARs

G7 SCOUT

• Move-speed while aiming down sights has been increased to match other marksman weapons — faster than snipers, slower than ARs
• The increased hip fire spread size (reduced accuracy) to be more in line with other marksman weapons

LONGBOW

• Increased headshot multiplier from 2.0 to 2.15

WINGMAN

• Increased headshot multiplier from 2.0 to 2.15

MOZAMBIQUE

• Increased magazine capacity from 4 to 6
• Moved the lower 2 pellets inward in the blast pattern

P2020

• Increased bullet damage from 15 to 18
• Lowered fire rate from 8.5 to 6.25

ARC STARS

• Aim and movement slow removed from the initial stick.

QUALITY OF LIFE

• Badges are now sorted by categories and can be filtered by “all” or “unlocked only”. This suggestion came directly from players. Thank you! It’s so much better!

• When looting death boxes, players can now see health bars for everyone on the team.

• Challenges can now be “favorited” by going into the challenges menu and right clicking a challenge. That Challenge will then be added to a new favorites tab that will appear in the lobby and in the match’s map screen.

• Pressing and Holding F2 while in-game will bring up the ability description page for your character. This is only available on PC.
• Players can now request better equipment by going into their inventory and pinging a piece of equipment.
• Your first Challenge Reroll of the day is now free.
• Rerolling your challenges will allow you to choose from either BR-focused challenges or Arenas-focused ones.
• Holo Sprays, Quips, and Emotes, can be favorited. These will be used whenever the player is prompted to do a random emote.
• Club Invites v2: You can now include what you want to play when you send your clubmates a party invite via the Club tab. Select as many club mates as you want to send the invite to at once via the member list.
• Ranked: Fixed edge cases where an abandon penalty would be incorrectly applied due to server errors.
• Flight path adjustments: Removing edge dropship flight paths to prevent matches where large portions of the map receive little to no traffic. These screenshots show a before/after comparison of possible flight paths on Kings Canyon.

RING UPDATE

• Ring 4 pre-shrink time reduced from 2:00 to 1:45
• Ring 4 shrink speed reduced from 33 second close time to 40 seconds
• Ring 5 shrink speed reduced from 20 second close time to 40 seconds
• Ring 6 pre-shrink time reduced from 1:30 to 1:00
• Ring 6 shrink speed reduced from 1:40 close time to 2:00

Only two days remain from today for the Apex Legends Legacy update which will land on May 4, 2021, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Origin and Steam.

Source: Electronic Arts

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