For the first time in the game's history, Apex Legends season 16 is skipping the addition of a new character, and instead, Respawn has put its focus on reworking the class system, bringing a plenitude of character changes with the new season. One of the biggest changes is the introduction of a new class system in Apex Legends, which expands and better defines each role into Assault, Skirmisher, Recon, Controller, and Support.
According to lead legend designer Devan McGuire, the goals of this class change is to better define the new gameplay perks for each class, to clearly reflect the playstyles of each character (as some had been dumped into the offense class before, despite not really feeling like an offensive class in nature), and to encourage new team compositions in Apex Legends. Each class now comes with a gameplay perk, which adds a little more to their kit to better fit their style.
The new Apex Legends Assault class focuses on combat, utility, and initiation, whereas the Skirmisher class is about combat mobility and escape. The Recon class focuses on intel and tracking, the Controller class is focused on area set-up and control, and the Support class focuses on survival and supply.
Respawn intends to continue refining these gameplay perk changes, meaning some could be changed in the future. As of Apex Legends season 16 at least, the following are the new perks associated with each class:
- Assault: access to a new hidden shelf in the new red weapon bins, which also features a smart loot system for characters. The ability to carry an extra substack of ammo in each stack.
- Skirmisher: The ability to see the most valuable item in incoming care packages.
- Recon: Survey Beacons no longer reveal ring data, but instead, mark the locations of nearby enemies on the map for 30 seconds. Nearby enemies are alerted that they've been pinged.
- Controller: This class gains access to a new Ring console, which indicates the next ring location.
- Support: All support class characters gain access to a hidden shelf in the blue supply bins, but they also gain the ability to craft Respawn Banners, even those that have expired.
Perhaps the biggest shuffle is the Survey Beacon change, but from a design standpoint, it makes perfect sense. The controller class is filled with characters who excel at locking down areas, and knowing what that next area is could be a huge advantage. The new Recon class scan operates a lot like Crypto's Map Room did on Kings Canyon, which makes sense from an intel and tracking point too. Of course, while characters are generally where players would expect them to be, here is the new class list for Apex Legends:
- Assault: Maggie, Ash, Bangalore, Revenant, and Fuse
- Skirmisher: Valkyrie, Wraith, Mirage, Octane, Horizon, and Pathfinder.
- Recon: Crypto, Seer, Vantage, and Bloodhound
- Controller: Catalyst, Caustic, Wattson, and Rampart
- Support: Lifeline, Loba, Gibraltar, and Newcastle
Apex Legends is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.