Apex Legends introduces hotshot Titan pilot Valkyrie

Apex Legends' next season is calling back to Respawn's Titanfall roots, starting with the daughter of one of the second game's mercenary villains.

Today's new Stories From The Outlands trailer brings series mascot Kuben Blisk back into the spotlight, and introduces us to Kairi "Valkyrie" Imahara. Titanfall 2 players will probably recognise her old man as Viper, the boss of that game's brilliant airship level, and the short (titled "Northstar" after his Titan class) shows us 'Kyrie taking a joyride in her dad's mech.

Titanfall 2 lead Jack Cooper might ultimately be responsible for Viper's death, but Valkyrie pins the blame squarely on Blisk. But a heated chat at gunpoint convinces her to settle for murdering his drink, snatching an entry into the Apex games.

The short doesn't give us much of a hint of Valkyrie's loadout, but it does close on her hacking apart her old man's Northstar—severing its limbs and turning the hulking old robot into what looks like a missile-toting drone. Previous leaks suggested Blisk himself would be a new hero, able to wallrun and call down an auto-titan for a brief period of area denial.

The Season 9: Legacy page also shows her nipping about, using the dismembered mech as a heavily-armed jetpack. Northstar's own ult let it fly around, picking off foes from afar, so maybe we'll see some of that echoed in Valkyrie's kit. Datamined abilities suggest she'll be able to passively hover, with an ultimate that lets her and her team shoot into the sky to redeploy across the map, while her tactical is a cluster missile that explodes multiple times on impact.

Season 9 also introduces a bow to Apex Legends, while Olympus is about to be overgrown with a new "Infested" map evolution. Expect more details closer to the season's arrival on May 4th.

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20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.