Apex Legends Season 5 “Fortune’s Favor” kicks off May 12th and brings plenty of new changes to the Arena including the debut of the thirteenth legend, Loba Andrade, the introduction of Season Quests, a new Battle Pass, Ranked Season 5, as well as changes to the map, Legends, weapons, and loot.
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New Legend
As seen in a recent launch trailer, Loba Andrade is out seeking revenge for the death of her parents. She is armed with abilities that allow her to reposition quickly and identify high-tier loot for her and her teammates.
Loba’s tactical ability, Burglar’s Best Friend, allows her to teleport to nearby locations by throwing down her mother’s modified Jump Drive bracelet (as seen in the gameplay trailer as she saves herself from a near-fatal fall). This will be useful for escaping firefights and getting the jump on your enemies.
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Her passive ability, Eye for Quality, allows Loba to see epic and legendary loot through walls, which means she can scout the area quickly for her teammates when dropping into high-loot areas or entering new locations while traversing the map.
Finally, Loba’s ultimate ability, Black Market Boutique, allows her to throw down her staff and collect all nearby loot to its inventory. Teammates can take up to two items from the inventory, but so can enemy legends, so placement will be critical. This ability can be seen in her launch trailer as she steals a gun from enemy reinforcements before teleporting away.
Loba’s kit is fitting given her background as a thief and should make a great addition to any team looking to secure good loot early on. For more on Loba’s background and lore, check out our analysis video.
Map Changes
Season 5 also brings some big changes to King’s Canyon. To start, Skulltown and Thunderdome, two popular locations for combat and loot, have fallen into the ocean and been replaced by an excavation site called Salvage as seen early on in the gameplay trailer. Additional areas of King’s Canyon will be unearthed as well, such as the Offshore Rig section and the excavated Capacitor which offers an underground pathway to Singh Labs. These are the first major map changes since Season 2, and should breathe some new life into well-trod areas.
Charge Towers are also being added to the newly excavated sections which grant full ultimate charges to any legends on the platforms when activated. These areas are sure to be contested by players early and often, so make sure you’re geared up before entering.
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King’s Canyon will be the only map available for the first two weeks after Season 5 launches to allow players to explore and familiarize themselves with the new areas. World’s Edge will make its way back into the rotation after this limited period of time.
Season Quest
One of the biggest new additions to Season 5 is the first Season Quest titled “The Broken Ghost.” This quest lasts for the entire season and requires you and your team to track down nine mysterious artifacts. Each day, you’ll find one lootable Treasure Pack in any competitive match that will contain Apex Packs, Battle Pass experience points, crafting metals, or the ability to participate in the weekly Hunt for the next piece of the artifact.
Every week a new Hunt is unlocked, along with serialized chapters of the story that unfold over nine weeks. Hunts can be played solo or with squads and require you to find and retrieve artifacts while holding off the dangerous Prowlers, similar to Bloodhound’s Trials introduced in Season 4.
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The first hunt begins on May 19th and is available after you’ve collected five Treasure Packs and continue weekly for the duration of Season 5. Once unlocked, you’ll be able to replay Hunts as many times as you’d like so you can try different Legends and strategies. There are 45 Treasure Packs in total to collect, and you’ll have the option to purchase additional packs to catch up if you happen to fall behind. Each Hunt will reward you with a piece of the artifact, the next chapter of the story, and an exclusive weapon charm.
This Season Quest is the closest we’ve gotten to a proper story mode for Apex Legends, something that many fans have been clamoring for since its launch last year.
Legend Changes
Mirage is getting a major rework beginning with Season 5 which should allow him to be more viable in competitive matches. First, his decoys now last for 60 seconds when deployed and can be controlled, mimicking Mirage’s every move. His ultimate ability behaves the same way with his team of decoys all copying Mirage’s movements. Mirage now cloaks when using respawn beacons and reviving teammates (while also cloaking the teammate, too!).
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Bloodhound, Crypto, Lifeline, Caustic, and Octane are all receiving minor buffs, while Gibraltar and Pathfinder will see small nerfs to their Dome Shield and Grappling Hook, respectively. These changes should bring the Legends’ a bit closer in power and allow for more varied team compositions.
Weapon and Loot Changes
Each season a new set of golden weapons are rotated in. These rare drops are fully-kitted and are extremely powerful if you’re able to get your hands on one. This season you’ll be able to pick up a golden Longbow DMR, Hemlok, Spitfire, EVA-8, and RE-45.
Additionally, the Mastiff will be available as a regular weapon drop with its power and effectiveness reduced a bit. Taking its spot will be the Peacekeeper, which is being rotated out of the regular weapon loot pool and will be exclusive to care package drops with its power level being adjusted to compensate for its increased rarity. The Peacekeeper has been an extremely powerful shotgun with exceptional range, so this is a welcomed change.
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The last major change to loot is a rework of the gold armor drop which will now give double the amount of shield cell and syringe charges per use, while losing its increased healing speed.
Apex Legends Season 5 is sure to shake things up in the Arena. What are you most excited for in Season 5? Let us know in the comments below, and for everything else Apex Legends, stick with IGN.
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Matthew Adler is a Features and News writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @matthewadler and watch him stream on Twitch.
Source: IGN.com Here's Everything Introduced in Apex Legends Season 5