There is no new Legend forApex Legends Season 20. There is no new weapon, no new map. Looking at the game on the surface, it looks like nothing has changed at all. But dig a tiny bit deeper, and one of the game’s core mechanics has been flipped on its head in a way that will change how the entire game is played. On its fifth anniversary,Apex Legendshas taken a bold step into the unknown.
Armour no longer spawns on the floor. You start the game with white shields and must level them up to improve them. This is intertwined with Legend Levelling, a process which simultaneously evolves your armour and character throughout the match. Level up with damage as usual, but get bonuses for knocks, kills, assists, squad wipes, and using your class abilities like scanning Survey Beacons or Ring Consoles.
When you level up from white to blue and then blue to purple, you may also choose a perk for your Legend. Every Legend gets two unique perks to choose from at each level in Season 20, giving you new ways to utilise the characters in different ways.
“With each upgrade having four options for upgrades, we’re talking about a hundred new things in the game to be considered,” admitted John Larson, game designer at Respawn. “This is definitely something that I personally was very cognizant of early on, and I think ultimately a lot of the abilities [and] upgrades stay core to the normal loop of how you interact with Legends. If there is a change, if it is something like Ash – where one of her upgrades (spoiler alert) raises her Tactical charges, or she can keep the one charge that lasts for more seconds – we signify it with either a slight visual or sound difference. So you can understand when you see this version has entered the world, it’ll be different.”
I’m not sure that this will help with the game’s readability, as you no longer know what capabilities an opponent has at their disposal in a fight, but it seems like a simple way to balance Legends. Less-used characters like Lifeline and Mirage get big buffs and powerful abilities, whereas the most popular options like Revenant and Horizon get meagre abilities. A reduced cooldown is still a reduced cooldown, but it’s hardly a self-revive, is it?
Shield swaps are also gone, or at least have been nerfed significantly. Swapping to an opponent’s shield from their death box now heals your shield and grants a temporary pip of health for every level it is over yours. So if you have a blue shield and swap it to a purple, you have 75HP healed to full and a temporary pip of 25HP that can’t be healed when it’s cracked.
If you want to read every Apex Legends skill tree for Season 20, look no further:
Here are all the Apex Legends skill trees in full:
Ash
Ash has fairly minor changes, giving her more utility with her Tactical ability.
Ballistic
Similarly to Ash, Ballistic’s Tactical is buffed in different ways depending on which branch of the skill tree you pick.
Bangalore
Bangalore can now heal slowly while sitting in her own smoke, which could mean the difference between life and death in a pinch.
Bloodhound
Bloodhound has some nice synergy, with White Ravens quickly charging their Ultimate, and then recovering HP when knocking enemies with said Ultimate active. Remember that knocks also increase the length of their Ult, and suddenly you’ve got a powerful combination.
Catalyst
Catalyst is already strong, so she just gains minor buffs to her abilities.
Caustic
Caustic’s gas gets gassier. A small regeneration inside his own Nox Gas could prove handy when resetting.
Conduit
Like Catalyst, Conduit is currently in a good place. Her skill tree is therefore lacklustre, to balance her strong abilities.
Crypto
A bigger Ultimate could be handy for levelling Crypto’s Evo Shield, but he’ll already need to have Level 3 shields to get the buff. This tree could have been a lot more exciting.
Fuse
A little speed boost could be handy for slow Fuse mains, but his skill tree mostly improves the mirror match against other Fuses.
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is all about bubble fights, and you may either choose to improve your shotgun or prepare to better reset with his skill tree.
Horizon
Arguably the strongest Legend in the game, Horizon’s skill tree just decreases her cooldowns. I’d opt for the Tactical myself.
Lifeline
How do you choose between a self-revive and a Supply Drop with its potential Kraber? I think I’d pick the former, but it may depend on your situation. Don’t overlook +20 percent revive speed, either. The only Legend with single-use skill perks, Lifeline has done well in Season 20.
Respawn didn’t rule out using Legend Skills as ways to balance Apex’s characters. you may already see that better Legends have worse skills, and vice versa.
Loba
Loba can take an extra item of loot from her Black Market, but is otherwise a little lacklustre.
Maggie
Maggie’s flaming Fireball gives her Wrecking Ball a Thermite Grenade, and her Tactical is now surprisingly, astonishingly large. Big Guns then Fireball is the play here.
Mirage
Mirage meta incoming. The game’s best reviver (sorry, Lifeline) just got a buff in that department, and the Bamboozle bonus can create chaotic final circles. Have fun.
Newcastle
Newcastle is a vastly underrated Legend, and his new abilities cement him as a great support option. Resilient Support and Revive Master make resetting a breeze.
Octane mains on controller get a tap strafe. Come on.
Pathfinder
I didn’t get a chance to test Pathfinder’s new ziplines before Season 20, but his Season 20 skill tree makes him a versatile pick, if not a particularly exciting one.
Rampart
If there’s one thing Rampart needed, it was a reduced spinup time for Sheila. I’m joking. This is going to suck.
Revenant
Revenant’s skill tree revolves entirely around his Tactical, so get ready to hop, skip, and jump across Storm Point next season.
Seer
Respawn doesn’t know what to do with Seer, and his skill tree represents that. His abilities now have a bigger range, but he still won’t be used.
Valkyrie
Valkyrie was pushed out of the meta by the advent of Evac Towers. Extra Thrusters won’t bring her back in, and her Passive didn’t need any changes.
Vantage
I’m a little surprised that Vantage didn’t get more of a buff with her skill tree, which is pretty underwhelming, all things considered.
Wattson
Wattson gets two different Pylon options now, which could be perfect when playing different zones or areas. I like the idea of covering a bigger area with two slightly weaker Ultimates to see off any incoming grenades or barrages from multiple angles.
Wraith
Wraith gets her old Tactical back with Quick Shift, but Wraith mains will have a tough choice between that and reducing her Ultimate cooldown.
As John Larson said, a hundred skill options are now available in Apex Legends Season 20, and many more permutations for every opponent you encounter. Of course, you also have more tools at your disposal too, but don’t rely on those shield swaps to get you out of a scrape.
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