Apex Legends: Takeover kicks off Year 6 by buffing all weapons

Apex Legends is coming off a grand celebration in the beautiful country of Japan. With its latest esports season coming to an exciting close, it's time to look ahead to what's next for the game itself. The game's sixth anniversary is rapidly nearing, which means it's time to jump into its 24th season. Apex Legends: Takeover will feature some massive changes to the character meta, specifically to the game's Assault types, and the weapon meta with every single weapon getting a buff of some sort.

Some may have expected Respawn to lead off the new Apex Legends year with a new character, but the team has taken a step back to reflect over the game's existing ones. Rather than bog down the meta, the team is thinking bigger by aiming for more system-wide changes that will make the existing roster more fun to play. While new Legends aren't off the table for the future, the team's priority is now on larger-scale changes like the new Arsenals system.

Arsenals are new weapons stations that will be located across every map at every POI location. The stations will be visible from the dropship and as players drop down to the surface. Locations will be fixed, but weapon types will be randomized. After picking up a weapon, there's a spot on the other side of the station for upgrades. The design goal is to get players into the action faster by offering a fixed place to pick up weaponry.

Players may need to take a moment to get used to the game's weapons for the Takeover season, because nearly every weapon is being buffed. The new season will not contain any weapon nerfs, as the aim is to provide a greater power fantasy and some more intense battles across the battle royale map. To further aim for this goal, armor and helmets are also getting tweaked with the biggest change being that white, blue, and purple helmets are being removed from Apex's BR mode entirely in order to place a greater emphasis on strong weapons and consistent headshot multipliers.

"This is the first time in Apex's history that we have buffed every single weapon," Lead BR Designer Eric Canavese said during a press briefing. "As for the buffs, almost every weapon is getting a damage increase and all the headshots multipliers have changed. A number of weapons have received targeted buffs, like mag size adjustments and adding lasers to the car. Suffice to say, every single weapon is going to feel different in Takeover."

With weaponry one of the Takeover season's main focuses, Respawn has also looked to help revamp Apex Legends' Assault characters. Assault Legends will receive new perks, like Combat Reserve (which will give them additional slots for grenades) and Battle Surge (which offers temporary stat bonuses upon cracking an enemy shield). Individual Assault class Legends are also getting some big adjustments.

While Ash was a popular character addition, Respawn is hopeful that an improved Ultimate, revamped abilities, and a longer tether will make her more dangerous on the battlefield. She'll also have an all-new Predator's Pursuit passive, which will give her an omnidirectional dash that can help her close in on targets or move to safety faster.

A more recent addition to the roster is Ballistic and Respawn has some grand plans for him as well. Ballistic has been revamped to be slightly more versatile. In addition to some adjusted upgrades, Ballistic's base kit has been redesigned for more versaility while his Ultimate has been boosted to give him greater team speed. Finally, his Sling can now carry crate weapons.

There's something in the Takeover season for everybody, as Respawn has been working diligently to reduce the unwanted presence of cheaters in the game. Work has already started over the past few months with the block of Linux access, which Respawn notes has already led to a substantial reduction in cheating incidents. The next involves changing how players get into Ranked play in the first place. The Road to Ranked will debut in Takeover, tasking players with completing a handful of challenges in order to gain access to Ranked Play. The goal is to help up the barrier to Ranked while also helping newer players acclimate themselves to a more competitive environment.

There's much more coming to Apex Legends: Takeover. That includes a new Anniversary event that will feature 36 event items and a new Mythic R-301 rifle for Wraith with enhanced animations, textures, and graphic effects. Look for more special Mythic weapons over the course of the next year. More information on the upcoming Takeover season can be found on the Apex Legends website. Shacknews was also invited to check out the end of the Apex Legends Global Series Year 4 in Sapporo, Japan this past weekend, where we spoke to members of the Respawn team about the next season. Keep it on Shacknews in the days ahead for some exclusive interviews with the Respawn team talking about Apex Legends: Takeover.

This preview is based on a developer briefing held via Discord. Subsequent interviews were conducted at the Apex Legends Global Series Year 4 Championship in Sapporo, Japan with travel provided by Electronic Arts.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?