Every season of Apex Legends sees a new character join the game’s roster, but there’s more to Season 12 than meets the eye. From map updates to legend and weapon nerfs, a lot has changed during Apex Legends’ latest update — including free legends just for logging in.
While there have been a lot of small quality of life changes and bug fixes, the game’s developers Respawn Entertainment have also made some major changes to the way Ranked works in Apex. Top that off with one of the community’s favorite weapons disappearing from the ground loot pool, and it's easy to see just how different the new season Defiance is going to be.
10 Hammerpoints Are Back
Introduced just after the surprise launch of the game back in 2020, Hammerpoint Rounds are a powerful hop-up for some of Apex’s weakest guns. Available for the P2020, RE-45, and the Mozambique, Hammerpoints disappeared from the game in May 2021, but are returning now.
Unfortunately for fans of the hop-up, Hammerpoints’ bonus damage has been reduced significantly compared to its previous iteration. The hop-up used to more than double its weapons’ damage against unarmored opponents, but that damage multiplier has now been reduced to x1.5 for the P2020 and only x1.35 for the Mozambique and RE-45.
9 Log In To Get Free Legends
Normally, players need to either grind 20 levels or pay with real-world money to unlock new legends. But for the first time in the history of the game, Respawn is giving away Octane, Wattson, and Valkyrie for free — but only during the first three weeks of the season.
Log in during Feb. 8-15 to unlock Octane; Feb. 15-22 to unlock Wattson; and Feb. 22-March 1 to unlock Valkyrie. Players will also get three Apex packs each week, with a free legendary pack during Valkyrie’s week. Valkyrie herself is one of the most meta legends to arrive in the Games, so fans of the battle royale should definitely try out her kit if they haven’t already.
8 Storm Point’s Prowlers Got Nerfed
When Respawn added their latest map, Storm Point, during Season 11, players had mixed emotions about the addition of PvE combat for the first time in the battle royale (outside of the Season 5 quest, of course). While it was something new to experience, prowlers quickly got on some peoples’ nerves. There’s nothing worse than clutching a 1v3 only to get beat down by an NPC two seconds later.
The prowlers are still there, but their damage has been reduced from 30 to 20, and their knockback effect has also been decreased. Additionally, players now get extra rewards for clearing a prowler nest (150 crafting materials, compared to the previous 90). Prowlers also won’t spawn if there is more than one squad in the area.
7 The Volt Is Now A Care Package Weapon
Introduced in Season 6, the Volt SMG has given the ever-popular R-99 a run for its money since it released. Now that the Volt has gone into the care package, players won’t be able to find it on the ground.
However, when they do manage to pick one up from a care package, players will be in for a treat. The Volt already hit hard, but its base damage has been increased from 15 to 17. It’s also sporting a bigger magazine, now with 28 rounds inside.
6 Mad Maggie Has Arrived
With each new season, Apex gets a new legend. Season 12: Defiance is no different, with the savage mercenary Mad Maggie joining the games. Maggie has a lot of history with Fuse, so she’s bound to have some great voice interactions with her fellow Salvonian.
Her kit is definitely an aggressive one. Maggie's passive lets her run faster with shotguns and also highlights damaged enemies for a couple seconds, like a shorter version of Bloodhound’s scans. This makes her an extremely dangerous legend to play against, as Maggie mains will be able to see if their damaged opponents are going to peak them. She also has a drill that can burn through walls and even Gibraltar’s dome shield. And if that wasn’t enough, her ultimate drops speed boosts that anyone on her team can use.
5 Crypto’s Been Buffed, Caustic Got Nerfed
For years now, Crypto has had one of the lowest pick rates in Apex, so he was in dire need of a buff this season. Crypto now throws his drone forward, and no longer enters pilot mode by default. Players can take advantage of this change by EMPing enemy squads in front of them more quickly. However, only time will tell if this buff is enough to stoke interest in this fallen legend.
Caustic, on the other hand, got nerfed (again). His gas traps can now be destroyed by enemies. Simply shoot the traps for 150 damage, and they’ll vanish quicker than one can say, “Placing an independent variable.” The silver lining for Caustic mains is the gas will stick around for 2 seconds after the trap is destroyed.
4 Ranked Points Are Changing (Again)
Respawn made some major changes to the way players earn Ranked Points (RP) in Season 11: Escape, but they’ve made additional alterations in Season 12: Defiance. To recap, Season 11 saw the removal of the score multiplier for RP. Instead, players earn a set amount of points based on placement in the match, with bonus RP for each kill or assist varying depending on the squad’s overall performance.
Now, the maximum RP for kills has been reduced from 175 to 125. According to Respawn, they think their previous change made players too aggressive, so they’ve made kills less important. To compensate for this, players placing in the Top 5 now earn additional points, with a win now earning 125 RP compared to the original 100.
3 The Flatline and Longbow Are Craftable Only
With loads of new guns added to the game since Apex first launched in 2020, the loot pool has become saturated with weapons. Many players want to be able to reliably find their favorite gun, but the odds are stacked against them when the loot pool expands every season or two. To ensure that players don’t lose access to their favorite weapons while maintaining the integrity of the ground loot pool, Respawn have moved the Flatline and Longbow into the Replicator.
In Defiance, no Flatlines or Longbows will spawn in the map. However, players can craft them at Replicators for only 30 crafting materials. When crafted, they’ll receive the gun and two boxes of ammo.
2 Olympus Got An Update
The city in the clouds, Olympus, has just got its second map update. It’s got some entirely new zones, like Phase Driver and Terminal, but the map has also expanded and shifted. Several locations in the south side of the map have moved, with Solar Array, Bonsai Plaza, and the Icarus all shifting further away from the center. There’s even a new zone called Shifted Grounds featuring cover, which is stuck halfway between the Phase-world and the real-world.
To make room for Olympus, which had vanished during Season 11, World’s Edge will be leaving the map rotation for the time being. That map has already received countless updates, but this is likely a sign that it will be getting even more changes down the road.
1 Control, The New LTM
Respawn added Arenas a few seasons back in order to give players new ways to play Apex, but with the addition of Control (a 9v9 Domination-style mode), the battle royale has gotten its best addition since the introduction of heat shields. Unlike the battle royale game mode, Control lets players respawn infinitely.
In Control, two teams fight over three control zones. Capturing those zones earns the team points, and the first to 1250 wins. Games are relatively short but action-packed, with more legends working together than ever before. Players can jump straight into the action and try out new legends or guns in a live environment, providing a more realistic and engaging experience than practicing in the Firing Range.