The 19th season of “Apex Legends” is here and lots of fans, including myself, are loving the new updates. “Ignite” brings a new legend, new map rotations, map updates, anti-cheating updates, a new ranked feature, new crafting rotations and of course buffs and nerfs to both weapons and legends.
Conduit, the newest welcomed legend, marks the 25th legend the game has seen and is the first of Filipino descent. I have always praised Respawn Entertainment, the gamemakers, for their continuous inclusion of diversity and research into who their characters are.
They have added beautiful new Point of Interests (POIs), where players can land in order to avoid extremely competitive looting and gameplay.
Conduit brings new passive, tactical and ultimate abilities to the wide range of characters. Her passive, called “Savior’s Speed,” allows her to use a speed boost while trying to catch up with teammates who are out of tactical range.
Her tactical ability “Radiant Transfer” gives teammates energy and regenerates their shields temporarily. “Energy Barricade,” her ultimate, deploys what Electronic Arts, the parent video game company, describes as “an array of shield jamming devices which damage and slow enemies.”
When I first read these patch notes, I was skeptical of these abilities. Her tactical ability seems a lot like Octane’s, whose “Stim” ability allows him to sprint at a greater speed. Her passive reminds me of Wattson’s ultimate, where she deploys a small pylon that recharges shields and deflects ordinances.
With her ultimate being based around shields, I can’t help but compare her to Newcastle, whose ultimate also deploys shields that do damage to enemies if they touch them. However, popular “Apex Legends” player iTemp Plays discussed in a recent video, “I am having so much success with this ultimate especially. It lasts for ages on the ground so you can really dictate a fight with it. You can leave it at the top of a zipline, at choke points like doorways or hallways, and I’ve also had success using it a bit more aggressive as well.”
“If you make someone weak behind a bit of cover, it is so easy to accurately line up the ultimate to disrupt them whilst they heal,” he said. Although she is a support legend, iTemp says her style suits both supportive and aggressive play styles; and I have to admit, she is quite fun to play.
The new maps in rotation this season include Broken Moon, Storm Point and my personal favorite, Olympus. I have never been a fan of Storm Point and would most likely rank it last on a tier list of all the maps. However, this new season brings changes to it that make it more bearable.
They have added beautiful new Point of Interests (POIs), where players can land in order to avoid extremely competitive looting and gameplay. Even with these new additions, they were able to decrease the size of the map to avoid those longer late-game searches for the remaining teams — which was one of the map’s greatest faults.
For ranked gameplay, Respawn has incorporated a “Promotional Trial” state in which ladder points are frozen, so those who are reaching the peak of the tier can concentrate on reaching the next phase. However, to complete the trial, a player must either win the game or get a certain placement and amount of kills. If they do not pass the trial within the time of the match, ladder points are lost. The player has five matches to complete their objectives and move on.
Season 19 crafting rotations bring the beloved RE-45 pistol back to floor loot along with the 30-30 marksman. The R-301 assault rifle and Volt submachine gun, however, took their place. This I am not too happy about, because those are two of my absolute favorite guns in the game. Thankfully, though, these crafting rotations switch every season.
The L-Star light machine gun is finally out of the care package, which is a nice change considering it was in there for quite some time. Unfortunately, the Wingman pistol took its place, marking a sad day in history for those who love carrying the versatile weapon.
I am beyond excited to continue playing this new season. For more information on weapon and legend changes, make sure to read the patch notes.
5/5 Stars
ajones11@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @PlayApex, X
