Stella Chung
Guest
Apex Legends latest Season Upheaval will be dropping May 6th and there are some huge map, gameplay and weapon changes, and a new Legend. Alter is the 26th Legend to be added to the roster and she'll be joining the Skirmisher Class. But that's not all! The best news? Solos is back! Here’s all the new content coming to Apex Legends Season 21.
Alter's Abilities
Void Passage (Tactical): Alter creates a breaching portal that can be placed on ceilings, doorways, and walls.
Gift from the Rift (Passive): See death boxes through walls and take one item from it
Void Nexus (Ultimate): Alter will deploy a Nexus to use as a translocator. Alter and her teammates can activate the Nexus to phase back to that location at any time, even if you’ve been knocked.
After Alter, or anyone, uses her tactical there will be a brief moment after exiting the portal that will keep you in a phased state to allow for you to look around and give enemies time to react. Also, be aware that once you place a Nexus and activate your recall, you’ll drop a Nexus Relay that can be used by teammates and enemies.
If you’ve already used your Nexus portal charge, you can piggyback off a teammate who activates it through their Nexus Relay drop. Similarly, be aware that Alter’s tactical portal can also be used by anyone, not just teammates.
Solo Takeover
The Solos gamemode is back for a limited time, replacing Duos. This will be a six week takeover. You’ll drop into Solos with pre-kitted weapons and attachments. Luckily, if you lose a fight, you have a chance to redeem yourself with the new Second Chance mechanic where you use a respawn token to return to the fight.
Each player has one Respawn Token that can be used to come back before Round 4. Unused Respawn Tokens will be converted into Evo Levels in Round 4.
Since you don’t have teammates to help you out, there’s a new Battle Sense mechanic you can use to detect nearby enemies. A pop up will show on your HUD with an audio cue showing enemies are nearby within 50 meters.
Kind of like how Control works, you’ll have an auto-heal that’ll kick in after a bit of time but will also be rewarded with health regen when you kill another player. The total Player count is only 50 in Solos. Apex Rumble will also be coming back later this season with some extra tweaks.
Broken Moon Map Changes
Olympus has crashed into Cleo, where Broken Moon’s map lives, and now Broken Moon has been completely reshaped. The changes to Broken Moon get rid of the chaotic Promenade POI and create new rotation points and better flow to the map so players aren’t clustered.
There have been biome changes and alien eggs have been found scattered around the map. Ferrofluid is found all across the Moon now to try and repair some of the damage. New Ziprails inside of POIs like Quarantine Zone to allow for new types of fights.
Smaller camps are dispersed throughout the map which means more loot. The map now feels like more of an alien town and there’s a new colorful skybox.
Apex Artifacts
Apex Artifacts are a new universal Mythic Melee Cosmetic that can be equipped by any Legend in any mode. The first Artifact was the Cobalt Artifact. This artifact, and future ones, can be customized in various ways with Exotic Shards. You can make up to over 200 different variations. Exotic Shards can be earned in the premium battlepass or purchased in the shop.
Gameplay Balance Changes
The Wingman is now out of the Care Package rotation with hip fire nerf and the Skullpiercer is now out of the loot rotation. The Boosted Loader hop-up is now ground loot and the Wingman cannot use magazines anymore so it’ll stay at a constant max of 6 bullets. The new Care Package weapon this season is the Devotion that’s been beefed up.
The Longbow is getting a buff to match the recoil control of Purple Barrel on its base weapon and ADS time is faster now and matches the Sentinel’s.
1x Digital Threat is now out of the loot pool since it was only used for Shotguns and Pistols. And last but not least, in Season 21 there will no longer be a delay in picking up your teammate’s banner then looting their death box.
In terms of Legend balancing, Crypto is getting a slight buff with better in-game leveling upgrades to improve drone handling, drone recon, and faster cool-down times on getting his drone back.
NewCastle’s Tactical, his Mobile Shield, now deploys faster and his Ultimate, Castle Wall, will destroy any projectiles thrown at it while it’s energized (so on its initial deployment and the minutes after).
Another major Legend change is Ash with her tactical, Arc Snare, which will be deployed in her offhand. So now you can continue shooting with your weapon while throwing out her snare.
Apex Legends Season 21 "Upheaval" will launch May 7th for all platforms.
Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she's previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn't streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.
Alter's Abilities
Void Passage (Tactical): Alter creates a breaching portal that can be placed on ceilings, doorways, and walls.
Gift from the Rift (Passive): See death boxes through walls and take one item from it
Void Nexus (Ultimate): Alter will deploy a Nexus to use as a translocator. Alter and her teammates can activate the Nexus to phase back to that location at any time, even if you’ve been knocked.
After Alter, or anyone, uses her tactical there will be a brief moment after exiting the portal that will keep you in a phased state to allow for you to look around and give enemies time to react. Also, be aware that once you place a Nexus and activate your recall, you’ll drop a Nexus Relay that can be used by teammates and enemies.
If you’ve already used your Nexus portal charge, you can piggyback off a teammate who activates it through their Nexus Relay drop. Similarly, be aware that Alter’s tactical portal can also be used by anyone, not just teammates.
Solo Takeover
The Solos gamemode is back for a limited time, replacing Duos. This will be a six week takeover. You’ll drop into Solos with pre-kitted weapons and attachments. Luckily, if you lose a fight, you have a chance to redeem yourself with the new Second Chance mechanic where you use a respawn token to return to the fight.
Each player has one Respawn Token that can be used to come back before Round 4. Unused Respawn Tokens will be converted into Evo Levels in Round 4.
Since you don’t have teammates to help you out, there’s a new Battle Sense mechanic you can use to detect nearby enemies. A pop up will show on your HUD with an audio cue showing enemies are nearby within 50 meters.
Kind of like how Control works, you’ll have an auto-heal that’ll kick in after a bit of time but will also be rewarded with health regen when you kill another player. The total Player count is only 50 in Solos. Apex Rumble will also be coming back later this season with some extra tweaks.
Broken Moon Map Changes
Olympus has crashed into Cleo, where Broken Moon’s map lives, and now Broken Moon has been completely reshaped. The changes to Broken Moon get rid of the chaotic Promenade POI and create new rotation points and better flow to the map so players aren’t clustered.
There have been biome changes and alien eggs have been found scattered around the map. Ferrofluid is found all across the Moon now to try and repair some of the damage. New Ziprails inside of POIs like Quarantine Zone to allow for new types of fights.
Smaller camps are dispersed throughout the map which means more loot. The map now feels like more of an alien town and there’s a new colorful skybox.
Apex Artifacts
Apex Artifacts are a new universal Mythic Melee Cosmetic that can be equipped by any Legend in any mode. The first Artifact was the Cobalt Artifact. This artifact, and future ones, can be customized in various ways with Exotic Shards. You can make up to over 200 different variations. Exotic Shards can be earned in the premium battlepass or purchased in the shop.
Gameplay Balance Changes
The Wingman is now out of the Care Package rotation with hip fire nerf and the Skullpiercer is now out of the loot rotation. The Boosted Loader hop-up is now ground loot and the Wingman cannot use magazines anymore so it’ll stay at a constant max of 6 bullets. The new Care Package weapon this season is the Devotion that’s been beefed up.
The Longbow is getting a buff to match the recoil control of Purple Barrel on its base weapon and ADS time is faster now and matches the Sentinel’s.
1x Digital Threat is now out of the loot pool since it was only used for Shotguns and Pistols. And last but not least, in Season 21 there will no longer be a delay in picking up your teammate’s banner then looting their death box.
In terms of Legend balancing, Crypto is getting a slight buff with better in-game leveling upgrades to improve drone handling, drone recon, and faster cool-down times on getting his drone back.
NewCastle’s Tactical, his Mobile Shield, now deploys faster and his Ultimate, Castle Wall, will destroy any projectiles thrown at it while it’s energized (so on its initial deployment and the minutes after).
Another major Legend change is Ash with her tactical, Arc Snare, which will be deployed in her offhand. So now you can continue shooting with your weapon while throwing out her snare.
Apex Legends Season 21 "Upheaval" will launch May 7th for all platforms.
Stella is a Video Producer, Host, and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is on competitive FPS games and she's previously reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer, and Battlefield 2042. She regularly hosts and shoutcasts competitive Apex Legends and Halo Infinite tournaments when she isn't streaming on her Twitch channel after work outs. You can follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.