Apex Legends Season 8 is here and proving popular amongst players!
Apex Legends Season 8 is almost with us as the Respawn team celebrate the game's two-year anniversary.
Here's an overview of everything you need to know about the new season.
LATEST - Steam Charts Stats
Apex Legends Season 8 has been out a little while now and there's one question that remains... Is Mayhem a hit?
The short answer is yes. Yes it is.
According to Steam Charts, Apex Legends has a 24-hour peak concurrent player number over 166,000, not too far from the all-time high.
Considering it's only been around a week, only losing around 20,000 concurrent players from your rolling average is pretty good going!
It seems as if Respawn Entertainment's Battle Royale is back to it's best, thanks to Fuse and the Mayhem he's brought.
The 30-30 Repeater
The newest weapon coming to Apex Legends in Season 8 is the 30-30 Repeater!
click to enlargeThis lever-action rifle looks promising, but will it rise to the top of the meta or be forgotten as people continue to use their preferred favourites?
What do you think of the new weapon?
Best Place To Drop?
This is the big question on everyone's mind, isn't it?
With the return to Kings Canyon, where will be the best place to drop?
Slum Lakes is Spotted Lakes, Skull Town is gone, and Crash Site has opened up huge swathes of never-before-seen map.
To put it bluntly, a lot has changed since we were first introduced to Kings Canyon.
It's safe to say that the newer locations will be busier, like with any updated battle royale map, but will they be better?
click to enlargeRespawn Entertainment has confirmed that Explosive Holds are scattered across Kings Canyon and contain valuable loot and equipment when opened.
Finding one of these will be key to victory in Apex Legends Season 8!
Weapon Skins?
As we saw in the Battle Pass trailer, we're getting a few new Weapon Skins in Apex Legends Season 8.
Here's Lifeline's "Bad to the Bone" and Chain-Wrapped Flatline weapon cosmetic, pictured below:
click to enlargeHow do you feel about the new Flatline skin? Will you be using it going back into Kings Canyon in Season 8?
Kings Canyon Is Back
We can't quite believe it but Kings Canyon is back! Despite Fuse leaving a bit of a mark on the original Apex Legends map, it's returning almost unharmed.
click to enlargeThere will be a few ECHO Instalments for players to explore and a few more open routes around the edges of the map.
Where's your favourite place to drop in Kings Canyon and why is it Bunker?
Season 8 Start Time
It has been confirmed that Apex Legends Season 8 will begin on Tuesday February 2nd at 10am PST/1pm EST/6pm GMT.
Pirate Fuse?
Last night, we got our first look at some of the key cosmetics coming to Apex Legends Season 8 in this season's Battle Pass.
One of the highlights was the swashbuckling attire given to new-entry Fuse.
Below, you can check out Pirate Fuse! He sure is enough to rival Mirage as the cockiest Apex Legends Champion...
click to enlargeWhat do you make of this new cosmetic?
Season 8 Battle Pass Trailer Premieres
Apex Legends Season 8 is nearly here, and a brand new Battle Pass Trailer is getting players even more hyped!
You can watch the action-packed trailer below:
Patch Notes
The Apex Legends Season 8 patch notes are now official thanks a new reveal from EA!
Check out all the massive changes as posted here below:
NEW LEGEND: FUSE
Meet Fuse: a mercenary-turned-cage fighter who never turns down a good dust-up. His affinity for explosions allows him to carry extra grenades and to throw them faster and further. He can launch a cluster bomb with airburst explosives. And when it’s time to really bring the boom, Fuse uses “Wally” to launch a bombardment that encircles an area in a ring of flames.
Passive - Grenadier
Stack an extra grenade per inventory slot. Fire grenades farther, faster, and more accurately.
Tactical - Knuckle Cluster
Launch a cluster bomb that continuously expels airburst explosives on impact.
Ultimate - The Motherlode
Launch a bombardment that encircles a target area in a wall of flames.
NEW WEAPON: 30-30 REPEATER
click to enlargeThis heavy ammo lever-action repeater boasts hard-hitting rounds that’ll nail a fleeing Mirage at 200 paces.
The 30-30 is the benchmark for reliability, designed to withstand whipping sandstorms and temporal instability, which made it an obvious choice for the Apex Games.
DISCIPLINED TRIGGER FINGER
The 30-30 Repeater requires the user to rechamber their rounds between shots which brings a methodic rhythm to the rifle, an analogue elegance that the modern weapons of the Outlands just can’t quite capture.
To further tempt those itchy trigger fingers, the 30-30 Repeater has a built-in charge giving players an opportunity to deal increased damage with each shot at the cost of a short build-up.
The 30-30 reloads one round at a time, which makes for some very interesting resource management you won’t find anywhere else, even on the Mastiff.
The 30-30’s engagement range allows unique opportunities to reload individual rounds between shots. This gives the Repeater the ability to lay down consistent precision ranged pressure, something weapons with full reloads can sometimes struggle with.
KINGS CANYON MAP UPDATE
Season 8 once again sees changes to Kings Canyon. The main new point of interest shows the devastation from the ship crashing into the map. Players can now explore beyond Artillery, Spotted Lakes takes over the Slums and some new observation towers for basic recon or a sniper’s nest. Read more on the map changes in the map blog here.
click to enlargeLEGENDARY MAGAZINES
Season 8 introduces the Gold-tier magazines. Attaching it to a weapon automatically reloads your stowed weapons after a brief delay. The Gold magazine has the same capacity as Purple mags, and is available for Light, Heavy, Snipers, and Energy Weapons.
QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES
Damage counter
- We have now added a damage counter to the HUD. This was a highly requested feature, so we’re excited to allow people easier tracking for chasing those badges and challenges!
Pinging Ammo
- Pinging weapons or ammo in your inventory displays your current ammo count along with "player wants ammo" in quick chat.
Color Blind update
- Healing and reviving will now follow colorblind rules when colorblind settings are enabled
Lore Blurbs on Canon Skins
- Some of our skins are canon, and some are just for fun. For the skins that represent an important part of that character's backstory, we've added a small blurb to describe the significance of that skin in the Legend's life.
click to enlargeLEGEND META
Wraith:
- Hitbox adjustments.
Dev Note:
We know Wraith will always be a popular pick considering the amount of combat utility in her kit. After many tweaks to her abilities and animations, the fact remains that her win rate continues to be at the very top as it has since day one. With Season 7 hitbox adjustments to Pathfinder, we were able to control his power without nerfing his kit. We hope to do the same with Wraith.
Wraith now has a slightly larger hitbox than her fellow small legends, but the changes stay true to her model. As you can see in the before and after comparison, we’re adding some width mostly in the torso and leg areas:
Even with these changes, Wraith remains small and hard to hit. She will retain Low Profile as we monitor her usage and win rates to see if power can be given back in other ways in the future.
Rampart:
- Sheila angle increase from 120° to 180°
- Wall health in build phase increased from 1hp to 45hp (sniper rounds still pierce through)
Dev Note:
Rampart has remained at the bottom across our performance metrics since her release. Her kit is very much built around proactively setting up a powerful position, but in a game as fast-moving as Apex, we determined her walls should have some reactive power as well. We’re keeping a careful eye on this one.
Horizon:
- Gravity Lift effective cooldown increased from 21s to 25s. The 15s cooldown timer will now start when the Gravity Lift disappears.
Dev Note:
Horizon released strong, to the point where she rivals Wraith in win rate and pick rate. For the time being, we are monitoring her usage and checking whether or not the cooldown changes have a significant effect.
Octane:
- Launch Pad Remastered: Many players may have known about Octane’s “super-jump” that was possible with a well-timed jump while hitting the pad. Once the double-jump option was introduced, there was an input clash that led to unreliable usage. We decided to add some launch options that are better defined than the old super-jump.
- Hitting the jump pad from a standing position will launch players along a high arc (the speed and trajectory of the old super-jump).
- From a crouched position, players will launch along a low arc, meaning they’ll fly lower but farther in the horizontal direction.
Crypto:
- Remove ability to stick arc stars to friendly drones.
Loba:
- Loot inside unopened care packages is now visible with Eye for Quality and accessible through the Black Market Boutique.
Caustic:
- All gas now dissipates as soon as Caustic’s team is eliminated.
Mirage:
- Mirage decoys create footstep sounds.
Dev Note:
This change was mistakenly mentioned in the Fight Night patch notes when it was in fact coming with this patch. Mirage decoys will now have footstep audio in a limited capacity. There won’t be a footstep tornado if an enemy Mirage ults nearby, but it should be slightly harder to pick out the real Mirage from audio cues alone.
WEAPON META
Fully Kitted Rotation
- Removed: Wingman, Sentinel, Havoc, G7, Alternator
- Added: R-301, 30-30 Repeater, Mozambique, Longbow DMR, Spitfire
Attachments
- We are removing the Gold Barrel from the loot pool
Hop Ups
- The Double Tap hop up will be removed from the loot pool
- The Anvil Rounds hop up will be added into the loot pool
Volt
- Bullet damage decreased from 16 to 15
Alternator
- Bullet damage increased from 15 to 16
Spitfire
- Bullet damage increased from 18 to 19
- Reload speed increased from 2.8 seconds to 3.2
- Empty Reload speed increased from 3.33 seconds to 3.8
EVA 8
- Fire rate increased from 2.0 to 2.1
BUG FIXES
Caustic
- Sonar abilities no longer stop Caustic’s highlight vision.
Loba
- Fixed a few exploitable areas on Kings Canyon that Loba was able to reach via her Bracelet.
Rampart
- Jumpads in Octane’s town takeover no longer allow Rampart to place Sheila on them.
- Fixed an issue with Rampart's passive persisting even after changing characters in Firing Range
Havoc
- Fixed an issue causing the Havoc to have 100% accuracy when hip-fired through Rampart’s Amped Cover.
Peacekeeper
- Fixed a POV issue that occurred when using Horizon’s abilities, then immediately going into ADS with a Peacekeeper.
Clubs
- Re-enabled ability to invite friends to club from friends list
- Fixed an issue causing some users who have opted out of "Last Squad Invites" to not appear in club event timelines when placing in the top 5 of a match
- Failing to connect to the club database no longer leads to a misleading "Kicked from club" message
- Players will no longer be kicked from clubs when switching to another profile on Xbox.
MISC
- Fixed an issue with crowds not cheering in Pathfinder’s Town takeover.
- Fixed an issue preventing some heirlooms from appearing in the heirloom shop.
- Fixed an issue that allowed Thermites to deal damage through certain walls on Olympus.
Trailer
READ MORE: Apex Legends Fuse Guide - Abilities, Trailer & more
We got introduced to Fuse in this "Stories from the Outlands" video:
Map
You will have seen in the trailer that King's Canyon has been blown up!
click to enlargeFitting in with the title "Mayhem" expect the new map to have plenty of new areas to explore as you look to navigate the wreckage of the explosion.
For more details surrounding the new map - head here.
Weapons
We receive new weapons every season, and this one is no different.
One new gun that we know is coming is the 30-30 Repeater, which will wreak havoc in Apex Legends for those who can control their aim.
More weapons have been rumoured - and you can see everything we've found here.
Quality of Life
- In-game damage tracker added
Bug Fixes
- Heirloom store not showing all Heirlooms
- Players told they are buying Gibraltar’s Heirloom when buying Caustic’s Heirloom
- Legend skins for Mirage and Bangalore affecting aim down sights
- Errors relating to private matches
- Players can’t hear each other in cross-play lobbies
READ MORE: Switch Port Release Date Leaked
No Fill Coming In Season 8
Apex Legends has always been built around being a team-based game.
There has been a Solo mode in the game, but only briefly, leaving team-based modes such as Duos and Trios as the only option if players want to jump into Apex.
Back in November 2020 during as Reddit AMA, Apex Design Director Jason McCord confirmed it was being tested and worked and that it would be coming in Season 8.
However, it won't be available at launch, and will instead be implemented later on.