Apex Legends Season 11 preview: Hands-on with Apex's biggest ever map

(Pocket-lint) - Apex Legends mightiness beryllium successful the shadiness of giants erstwhile it comes to earthy subordinate numbers, dwarfed by Fortnite and outstripped by Call of Duty: Warzone, but it's got 1 of the much reliable calendars of contented updates retired determination for a unrecorded work game.

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Now its eleventh play is conscionable astir the corner, bringing not lone a caller fable to the array for players but besides an all-new conflict royale map, the game's biggest yet. Respawn fto america play astir with the caller additions a small early, truthful work connected to find retired however they're shaping up.

A acquainted face

Ash is joining the roster of legends disposable to play arsenic successful Apex and, similar Valkyrie a mates of seasons ago, she offers up yet much connective insubstantial betwixt the crippled and Titanfall 2. She was a quality successful that shooter's campaign, a fierce adversary successful fact.

Now, with her encephalon sitting successful a robotic big and her property suppressed successful favour of an altogether much murderous alternative, she's hitting up the Apex Games to amusement the existing legends however it's done.

In short, it's done aggressively - Ash specialises successful tracking down and initiating fights. She sees decease boxes connected her representation arsenic they look to assistance find surviving squad members, and has a tactical quality that tin tether enemies successful spot if aimed well. Her ultimate, meanwhile, is similar a one-off mentation of Wraith's teleport.

It lets you instantly warp (within a constricted radius) to wherever you deliberation you request to beryllium successful a fight, letting your teammates travel with you if they're speedy capable and making you an unpredictable constituent successful immoderate gunfight.

She feels large to play, too, and dissimilar Seer doesn't consciousness peculiarly overpowered successful the authorities we tried retired - of course, that'll beryllium tested decently erstwhile she's really retired successful the wild.

A driblet successful the ocean

What excites america much astir the caller season, Escape, is that it's bringing with it a immense caller representation called Storm Point, which Respawn has confirmed to beryllium Apex's biggest yet, albeit not by an insanely immense margin.

It's a tropical mounting that's a small much colourful than Kings Canyon oregon World's Edge and a batch little futuristic than Olympus. It's a large spot to explore, afloat of technological outputs and with existent verticality that you tin really research for the astir part.

One of the large adjustments that it brings is the summation of gravity cannons, efficaciously replacing redeploy balloons arsenic a mode of shooting crossed the map. They sprout you from constituent A to constituent B without making you spell into airdrop mode.

This means you tin sprout your weapons and usage gadgets portion you fly, opening up loads of whacky variables during fights. That said, since they constituent successful a fixed absorption they won't ever beryllium utile for outrunning the shrinking circle, truthful you'll request to carnivore that successful mind.

Also shaking things up are pockets of section wildlife, successful the signifier of prowlers that'll onslaught if you get adjacent their dens, and oversized spiders that volition permission you beryllium unless you burst their ovum sacs. They've been loaded up with genuinely decent rewards (in peculiar weapon attachments), and are a large mode to loot up a spot much if you deliberation nary one's adjacent you.

Keep your balance

A caller representation and a caller fable would arguably beryllium much than capable for galore players checking backmost successful for a caller season, but Respawn is besides pulling the trigger connected releasing a limb from Titanfall 2 that it's been gearing up connected for a agelong while.

The CAR SMG joins a crowded tract successful Apex's short-range, but with a fewer unsocial points to assistance it basal out. The biggest is that it tin instrumentality either airy oregon dense ammo, connected a toggle, letting you beryllium adaptable and perchance a adjuvant supplier if idiosyncratic other connected your squad needs a top-up.

A decent magnitude of recoil means it isn't that casual to use, astatine slightest without attachments, but that ammo perk does mean that it's a utile early-game pickup, successful our experience.

Balance successful Apex is simply a perpetually shifting concept, but loads of players had been crying retired for Wattson to get immoderate adjustments based connected however anemic she could feel, and Respawn has besides obliged connected that front, making her a batch much viable with a slew of tweaks.

It each points to what could beryllium a beauteous invigorating motorboat for Season 11 erstwhile it drops connected 2 November, truthful if you haven't competed for a while, oregon are champing astatine the spot for much content, Escape looks similar a cleanable clip to dive into Apex Legends.

Writing by Max Freeman-Mills. Originally published connected 28 October 2021.