It may be an unlucky number for some, but Apex Legends' thirteenth season is shaping up quite nicely. We've got an impenetrable new legend in the form of Newcastle, and seismic changes to both Storm Point and Apex's Ranked system arriving with the new season.
Now that the season is in swing, the full patch notes go over balance updates and bug fixes, but we'll cover all the big changes you'll want to brush up on before you drop in. Here's everything we know about Apex Legends Season 13: Saviors.
When does Apex Legends Season 13 start?
Apex Legends Season 13 lands on Tuesday, May 10 at 10am PST / 6pm BST. Once the Saviors season officially kicks off, you can dive in any time you like to try out the newest Legend and map reworks.
Apex Legends Season 13 new Legend: Newcastle
Don't be fooled by the name: Apex Legends' Newcastle is no Geordie. Instead, he's a shield-bearing knight with the power to utterly lock down a location in fortifications.
The Season 13 trailer gave us hints at Newcastle's full kit, which we now have the details on. We see Newcastle deploy his Mobile Shield, an energy shield that can be controlled via drone. At one point he deploys another barrier while reviving Pathfinder (reminiscent of Lifeline's pre-rework revive shield), part of his Retrieve the Wounded passive. His ultimate a massive barricade called Castle Wall that, as far as the trailer suggests, can withstand a hell of a lot more damage than Rampart's walls.
- Mobile Shield (Tactical): Throw a controllable drone that creates a moving energy shield.
- Retrieve the Wounded (Passive): Drag downed allies as you revive and protect them with your Revive Shield.
- Castle Wall (Ultimate): Leap to an ally or target area and slam down, creating a fortified stronghold.
Adding a legend with such a focus on hard cover seems to be an attempt to shake up the long-standing Gibraltar meta, though previous defensive characters like Wattson and Rampart have often ended up relatively weak. Regardless, Apex tends to launch new characters a bit on the overpowered side, so expect to be banging against brick walls for at least the first few weeks of the new season.
Apex Legends Season 13: Ranked rework
Apex has tweaked and tinkered with its Ranked systems for a few seasons now, but Season 13 is set to be the biggest overhaul to the way competitive play in Apex works yet.
In the ranked rework for Season 13, you'll no longer be protected from de-ranking (under the current system, you can drop tiers within a rank, but will never fall below the bottom tier of your current rank). Respawn say that tier demotions are being introduced "with the goal of addressing the current struggle some players experience when they get promoted to a new tier but cannot climb higher in the ranks." You'll have protection from tier demotion for three lost games after promotion to a higher tier.
The new system also aims to emphasise "Skill and Teamwork", by changing RP for kills and adjusting the assist timer. "Now everyone on a team will receive some RP when one of them gets a kill," Respawn says. RP for kills no longer has a cap, and instead the base value of each kill diminishes. Meanwhile the assist timer has gotten a boost from 10 to 15 seconds and refreshes with player revival.
Apex Legends Season 13 map changes: What's new?
Storm Point, Apex Legends' newest map, has gotten a bit of a hammering. The season trailer shows our Legends murdering a giant enemy crab, whose corpse is a new POI aptly called Downed Beast. Cleanup crew ECHO has arrived to handle the mess, but in the meantime their tents and giant crane are a high tier loot location surrounded the beast's body. You can also climb inside the thing through several openings or zipline up above.
More interesting, however, are the fortified IMC Armories that burst through the sand. Like King's Canyon's loot vaults, these are packed with guns and attachments, though trying to grab these will summon AI-controlled Spectres. You'll get locked inside and need to survive for 60 seconds to claim the loot, after which you can stroll on out or eject up into the sky if you choose.
What’s in the Apex Legends Season 13 Battle Pass?
For Season 13, we're getting the usual array of themed skins, banners, voice lines, holo-sprays, music packs and loading screens, with the regular battle pass at 950 Apex Coins and the bundle for 2,800.
In the paid tier of this season's battle pass, there are rare sets of gear for Fuse, Bloodhound, Pathfinder, Mad Maggie, and Newcastle. You can catch the rest of the details on Apex's site.
