[GameSpot] - Apex Legends Season 18 - Revenant's New Abilities, No More Skydive Trails, And Double XP

[343iBot]

Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection is almost here, and it's bringing some serious changes to the game. The upcoming season includes a new battle pass, a new animated web series, a new collection event, and a brand new set of abilities for the oldest character in the game. But there's a lot more to Season 18 than murderbot makeovers, and we've got the scoop. Keep reading for a detailed breakdown of everything we know about Season 18, including map rotations, details on the removal of an iconic Ranked Mode reward, and a sneak peek at the next Heirloom Weapon set to hit the game.

When does Apex Legends Season 18 begin?

Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection will go live on Tuesday, August 8 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. No end date has been announced yet, but Apex's seasons always last approximately three months, so Resurrection is likely to end in late October or early November.

No new legend

Similar to Season 16, Season 18 will not feature a new legend, but will instead be reworking the abilities of a pre-existing legend. This shouldn't come as a surprise--Respawn devs have previously stated that new legend releases are likely to slow down in the future. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, Respawn has stated that although Season 17 did not meet the studio's financial expectations, Season 16--which also lacked a new legend debut and instead focused on quality-of-life improvements--was one of the game's most successful seasons.

Revenant Reborn

Revenant will be sporting a new faceplate in Season 18, and will also be available to play for free all season long.

Once Resurrection goes live, a very familiar faceplate will be getting a dramatic makeover. Referred to by Respawn as "Revenant Reborn," the undead assassin will soon be sporting a completely new default skin, a noticeable change to his voice, and much more importantly, an entirely reworked ability set. Respawn has cited Revenant's low pick-rate compared to the other legends as one of the reasons why they decided to make this change.

Revenant's new abilities are as follows:

Passive: Assassin's Instinct

Revenant is keeping his ability to crouch-walk more quickly and quietly than other legends. He's also keeping his ability to climb faster and farther than them. But starting in Season 18, Revenant will also be able to climb horizontally.

His passive also includes another additional skill: Revenant will be able to spot and track enemies who are under 40 health (provided they are within 30 meters meters of him). If Revenant himself is the one to knock an enemy below 40 health, the enemy is highlighted for Revenant's entire team, allowing them to be seen through walls and other obstacles in a similar manner to many Recon-class legends' wallhack abilities.

"We wanted to keep the fast crouch[-walk] speed and wall climb from before, as it's an iconic part of his old kit," game designer Evan Funnell explained in a recently released video showing 100 Thieves member iiTzTimmy testing out Revenant's new kit.

Tactical: Shadow Pounce

Revenant now has a jumping ability that can be charged up, sending him flying through the air at a frightening velocity, somewhat similar to Vantage's tactical Echo Relocation ability or Newcastle's Castle Wall ultimate. This will be especially useful for catching up to teammates who may have run ahead of you, and closing the gap between Revenant and his enemies.

Ultimate: Forged Shadows

Instead of a Death Totem, Revenant can now summon a small horde of Shadows, the spooky legend doppelgängers usually seen during Apex's annual Shadow Royale Halloween event. These Shadows create an overshield that protects Revenant from taking up to 75 damage. This shield can be refreshed by knocking down enemies, but does not apply to most area-of-effect damage hazards, including ring damage and damage caused by Caustic's gas barrels.

This new ability's name was inspired by one of Revenant's most notorious murders: the killing of James "The Forge" McCormick, who was set to join the Apex Games in Season 4 using the callsign "Forge." But before he even had a chance to set foot inside the ring, Forge ended up dying at Revenant's hands (literally), with the synthetic killer taking his place in the Apex Games after murdering him on live television.

Revenant's new kit buffs both his mobility and his protection from incoming damage.

But Revenant's current abilities--especially his Death Totem ultimate ability--are heavily tied to the plot of Apex Legends, so Respawn's narrative team has gone out of its way to ensure that this dramatic change makes sense when it comes to the game's ongoing story. Previously, Revenant could be killed and instantly respawn himself via his Death Totem, which proved to be an agonizing experience for the immortal Syndicate killer-for-hire. But eventually, he began letting himself be killed on purpose, hoping to burn through all of his spare bodies until none were left. For the last 25 years, Revenant's life (or death, rather) has revolved around finding a way to disable his source code so he can finally be allowed to rest in peace.

Taking notice of this, it's implied that current Syndicate leader (and grandfather of Octane) Torres "Duardo" Silva recently made some behind-the-scenes moves to locate Revenant's source code, and has managed to gain some measure of control over the artificial assassin, giving him a new body with new abilities, so that Revenant no longer requires thousands of spare bodies to respawn. In a recent AMA, the game's developers explained that Revenant's physical changes have taken place over time, but seemed to happen instantly from his perspective. It appears that this is because whoever's been fiddling with his source code (and his body) didn't want him to remember it, although Kill Code: Part 2 suggests Revenant has retained some partial memories of the procedure.

Recolored Heirloom Weapon

No season of Apex Legends is complete without a few Collection Events (which now sometimes feature event shops with exclusive free loot), and Resurrection is no different. A week after the new season launches, the Death Dynasty Collection Event will go live, introducing a new set of 24 spooky new premium cosmetics that can be unlocked via Apex Coins or Event Packs ($7 USD each). Players who unlock all 24 items will also earn the latest Heirloom Weapon Set to hit the game: Revenant's new Death Grip scythe, a recolored version of his original Dead Man's Curve Heirloom Weapon. Death Grip is the second recolored Heirloom Weapon Set to be introduced to Apex, with the first being Wraith's kunai knife recolor, the Hope's Dawn Heirloom Set.

The Death Dynasty Collection event begins at the same time as the new season, going live on Tuesday, August 8 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. The event concludes two weeks later on Tuesday, August 22 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET.

Revenant and his new Death Grip Heirloom Weapon.

Double XP

During the aforementioned Death Dynasty Collection Event, players can kick-start their Resurrection battle pass by earning double XP for participating in certain game modes. Players will earn double XP in standard battle royale matches during the first week of the event (August 8-15). From August 15-22, double XP can be earned from playing Mixtape Mode matches.

Unfortunately, it appears that there's no free loot shop tied to this particular event, but there is a free reward track for players to complete, with items like holosprays, legend skins, battle pass stars, and Crafting Metals for players to earn as they rack up XP.

Mixtape on the moon

Speaking of Mixtape, fans of the Broken Moon map will be pleased to learn that Mixtape matches will take place on Broken Moon this season. Gun Run and TDM will take place on the Broken Moon POI known as The Core, while Control matches will be held at the Production Yard.

Ranked rewards removed

During Season 18 previews, Respawn developers revealed that Ranked Mode is being reworked again, in part due to players' negative response to the changes made in Season 17. More info about upcoming Ranked Mode changes will be available when the Season 18 patch notes are released, but for now, players can learn more about the upcoming changes via the recent developer blog post detailing everything Respawn learned from the changes made to Ranked Mode in Season 17. The main issue seems to be that the changes made ranking up a bit too easy, as at least 20% of Ranked Mode players currently hold the Masters rank, which should ideally be much harder to reach.

But one change that might catch players off guard is the major change coming to end-of-season Ranked Mode rewards: Players will no longer earn unique skydive trails for reaching high ranks. Developers cited "toxic" gameplay patterns as the reason behind the change, explaining that these skydive trails have often led to multiple squads purposefully landing near a high-ranked player after seeing their skydive trail, and then proceeding to gang up on said player to take them out of the game quickly.

"We’ve been observing an unintended effect where the presence of a Ranked dive trail during the drop would unduly influence where players wanted to land—either strongly avoiding or actively pursuing players with the trail," devs explained in a recent blog post. "A reward for being a top player shouldn’t give away valuable information at a critical part of the match, so we’ve made a change to swap the Dive Trail reward with an Epic Banner Frame as the Diamond+ Ranked reward."

Revenant may be the best assassin of all time, but Respawn believes giving exceptional players unique skydive trails makes for toxic gameplay.

It also appears that developers want to make colorful skydive trails a bit more accessible to the average player, which might explain why Valkyrie's Prestige Skin Set is the first Mythic-tier item set to feature a unique skydive trail.

In place of skydive trails, players who reach Diamond-rank or higher will earn a special Epic-tier banner frame. Weapon cosmetics, holosprays, and banner badges will continue to be awarded as always. For more info on the changes coming to Ranked Mode this season, check out this rundown of Respawn's recently hosted Ranked Mode Reddit AMA, where developers answered player questions and explained other new features that are currently in the pipeline.

Recharged rifle

Revenant isn't the only one getting some TLC this season! The Charge Rifle--which initially debuted in Season 3--is also being reworked for Season 18. Instead of firing a sustained beam of energy, the new Charge Rifle can be charged up, firing a single beam of energy that does more damage the farther is travels (and the higher it was charged prior to firing). The new design is similar to the way the weapon worked in Titanfall 2. The weapon can now pierce through multiple enemies with a single shot, and can also be equipped with an Extender Sniper Magazine.

New community-made sticker pack

Players can look forward to a new set of stickers to decorate their healing items with this season. From August 8-22, the new community sticker bundle will be available in the in-game store. The stickers were designed by Apex Legends fan-artist ryonello, who says they tried to capture a more mischievous side of the game's various legends.

"My message to aspiring artists with the community is keep going, I love you," the artist said when asked about the new sticker collection. "Draw what you love and other people will love it too. And I would really love to see your work as part of the [Apex Legends fanart] collaborations one day.”

More lore on the horizon

Season 18 is kicking off with a dramatic storyline that sees the legends learn who's really lurking in the shadows and pulling all the strings.

Developers confirmed during previews that more animated webisodes of the Kill Code miniseries are planned for the future, though it's unclear if players will see more episodes during Season 18. It's certainly not out of the question, however--Resurrection is a Revenant-centric season, and the Revenant-centric annual Shadow Royale Halloween event is likely to take place again this year. Given the drastic changes Revenant is about to undergo, it's quite likely that his "Shadowverse" counterpart will have something to say about his new look--and the man who's been hiding in the shadows and pulling Revenant's strings.

Respawn's narrative team also hosted an AMA on the /r/ApexLore subreddit, giving players a chance to have their lore-related questions answered. Devs shared what their idea of an Apex Legends karaoke party would look like, and also revealed an interesting factoid about fan-favorite Mirage's taste in movies.

"Mirage would see Barbie--he would pretend it's ironic, but then burst into tears during Ken's big song," lead writer Ashley Reed explained when asked about Mirage's opinion on Greta Gerwig's new film.

Keep an eye out for more updates as the new season draws nearer, and don't forget to finish up your Season 17 battle pass (and grab all the free loot you can from the Neon Network Collection Event) before Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection goes live next Tuesday, August 8 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET. For more info on the upcoming season, check out Respawn's Season 18 blog post.

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