Apex Legends season 16 is giving players everything they could want | Hands-on preview

Apex Legends season 16 is the gift of all that the community could want from the franchise. A revamp of the meta, a new weapon, an introduction of class-based perks, and more. Season 16, aka “Revelry”, seeks to bring to the game many balance updates and a fresh new experience.

The first of many things to pick apart is the new class-like listing of characters and their perks. There are five legend classes in the upcoming season and they are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Assault, Skirmisher, Recon, Controller, and Support. For example; the Skirmisher class, containing legends like Wraith and Octane, tends to list those legends that have the ability to initiate and dip in and out of fights.

Legends within the Skirmisher class have the perk of being able to see care packages earlier, even seeing the weapon inside, providing that it does in fact contain one. This can really aid your team in terms of positioning and obtaining the most powerful weapons in the game. The Assault class contains those like Ash and Bangalore, with the primary goal of providing combat benefits and utility for within fights. For example: Bangalore’s smoke can provide an escape just as long as the team you are fighting does not have a digital threat to see through it.

Just as with the other classes, the Assault class has a perk: being able to open the new hidden compartment of supply bins. These hidden compartments use the smart loot system introduced which was brought in with season 13’s IMC Armories on Storm Point. This allows for you to obtain better loot tailored to you and your squad. In addition, those within the Assault class can hold an extra stack of ammo.

This is an incredible incentive to play (or have somebody in your squad playing) an Assault Legend, as it can be rewarded by having the upper hand early game with better loot and attachments that you may otherwise not likely find. The Recon Legends are those concerned with obtaining intel, for example Legends with scans. Bloodhound, Seer, Crypto and Vantage. In terms of perks, the Recon characters actually no longer have the ability to scan for ring data, but instead can reveal enemy locations on the map and pinpoint the location they were near for 30 seconds.

There is a drawback, though. Those nearby to the scan can see the location they were scanned from. As the ability to see ring data was removed, it was given to another Class: the Controller class. These Legends generally have the role of area setup and area control. This would be those like Caustic and Catalyst. Along with their good area denial and control skill sets, the addition of being able to gain ring data only makes sense making these Legends excellent for close quarter late game scenarios.

Finally, the support class (whilst having the traditional role and goal of “team survival and supplying healing items”) is improved through its newly introduced perk. The support perk allows all Legends under the class to open the secret compartment of blue bins which now contain high value healing and survival items. In addition they can craft teammate banners from being fully eliminated during the game, regardless of whether the banner is timed out or not. The idea of perks is really nice to see, bringing an extra dynamic to Apex Legends and giving all Legends a fair chance at being playable.

Looking at more changes to the Legends, there are many changes and attempts to impact and change the scan meta. The idea was to reduce the scan level and strength of both Seer and Bloodhound. Seer has had his Ultimate duration reduced and can no longer spam the heartbeat monitor as much as before. In addition the heartbeat monitor is audible to nearby enemies. For Bloodhound, their ultimate has actually been changed. It no longer refreshes his abilities but now white ravens will be around the map leading you to enemies which seems like a large change but perhaps a welcome one as it may stray people from the scan meta.

Other legends have received a tweak to their kit too. Wraith has had her teleport distance doubled, and it is faster which allows for further and quicker escapes. Pathfinder has had his zipline speed increased so he is less of a sitting duck when using it, and this might give Pathfinder a little bit more survivability while using his kit. Mirage has received some very notable buffs too. When you shoot one of his clones you will now be punished through being tracked for a short period of time.

Perhaps most notable though, is that after resurrecting somebody as Mirage both you and your ally will remain cloaked as long as you do not unholster a weapon. This can allow for some getaways which may otherwise not be possible and can as a result, prepare for a re-engage or just plain run from the fight. Lifeline too, has received some care, obviously as the support perk contains one of her old niches to be played. The slowing penalty when reviving has been reduced and the speed for her care package has received a drop speed increase.

Now for weapon changes. The rampage has been removed from care packages in place of the hemlock. I am not usually a fan of the hemlock but I was left presently surprised when testing and it felt much better than usual. The gold shotgun bolt is also a new addition. It automatically reloads the weapon and is in essence the kinetic feeder but just better. Shotguns have received more love from the balance team and stocks have been added to the mastiff and peacekeeper to tighten bullet spread, hopefully hitting less low damage rolls due to projectile spread as a result.

Assault Rifles have received a nerf to their hip-fire as they had become more of a hybrid between mid-range and close-range when designed to be mid range royalty. The R301 has been given an additional nerf also, having damage reduced from 14 per bullet to 13.

There is also a new weapon in Apex Legends season 16, though, and it far surpasses the previously mentioned R301. The name is Nemesis. It is a burst AR firing 4 bursts per input. It also has a charge mechanic which when reaching 100, pretty much fires as a full-auto AR. Even as a concept it sounds great but its damage is incredible, at 17 damage per bullet it shreds anything you successfully hit and at a huge lack of recoil. I tested the recoil extensively and even with the weapon at stock with exception to a 4x scope, the recoil felt very easy to control and should be treated with respect.

There’s some good news in the form of game modes and some changes too. Team Deathmatch is back. A 6v6, high octane shootout fest. Maps such as Skulltown and Party Crasher are involved. TDM is returning inside of a game mode called Mixtape which is said to contain changes within it but TDM might be a mainstay. Furthermore, ranked is changing a little bit, rather than having maps per split, maps will rotate every 24 hours, and in season 16 maps available in ranked will be Broken Moon, Storm Point and Worlds Edge. Competitive splits, and resets will still exist so don’t be alarmed about that.

I believe that Apex Legends season 16 is the amalgamation of listening to the community and putting in place changes that should, or have the goal of adhering to the player base wants. The meta changes moving from the scan meta and whilst there is no new legend this upcoming season, there are more than enough changes to get excited about.

Apex Legends: Revelry is set to release February 14th on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.