Apex Legends’ New Character Classes Explained

This season, Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment is shaking up the meta like never before. Nowhere is this more evident than in the developer’s recently revealed plans to sort the legends into new character classes, a change that will go into effect when Season 16: Revelry launches on February 14.

In a recent blog post announcing the changes–collectively referred to as Remastered Legend Classes–Respawn confirmed that players can still expect to see new playable characters in the future, and explained the reasoning behind the decision to re-work all 23 legends. “We wanted to see how the core Legends could evolve the ways players have been using them,” the blog reads.

The new Remastered Legend Classes system rearranges the legends into one of five character classes: Assault, Controller, Recon, Skirmisher, and Support. Each class has its own unique perk that only applies to the legends in that class. The legends within each new class, and the Class Perk that applies to them are listed below:

Assault

Assault legends have a special Class Perk that allows them to hold more ammo per inventory slot. Assault legends can also upgrade loot via a Smart Loot system located in hidden compartments located within new Weapon Supply Bins. Weapon Supply Bins work just like the ones in the IMC Armories on Storm Point–they only contain attachments that are compatible with a player’s current loadout.

Regarding the changes to the Assault class, lead Apex Legends designer Devan McGuire told the press during a preview event, “Altogether, this makes [the Assault-class legends] these more offensive, mobile armories ready for any fight.”

Controller

Controllers can scan a new type of beacon called a Ring Console to get info on the size and location of the next ring, similar to the way Survey Beacons have been used in the past.

Recon

Recon legends can use Survey Beacons to see enemy placement around them, similar to the radar scanner located in Crypto’s Map Room, a Town Takeover located in Kings Canyon. This was depicted in the Season 16 launch trailer, which showed Vantage making use of the new ability.

“Recon Legends have a pretty big paradigm shift this season, and will no longer have access to ring data,” McGuire explained. Instead, they now scan a modified survey beacon to reveal enemy positions on a map for about 30 seconds. There’s some risk to this though, because nearby enemies will be notified of the beacon scan location, and they can use that to their advantage against you.”

Skirmisher

Skirmishers can see the highest-value item inside a Supply Drop at a distance before it even hits the ground. The ability works like an upgraded version of Loba’s passive ability, Eye For Quality. Unlike Loba’s passive, however, this power only applies to neutral Supply Drops.

Regarding the new Skirmisher perk, McGuire said the information revealed via the perk allows Skirmishers to make calls on looting the powerful weapons commonly found in Supply Drops. “They can set up an ambush to take it back, or know that missing Kraber is soon going to be coming from behind,” he explained during the Season 16 preview event.

Support

Support legends can open the hidden compartment located in blue Supply Bins. This compartment now contains only “big” healing items and survival items like Heat Shields, Mobile Respawn Beacons, Med Kits, Phoenix Kits, and Shield Batteries. Additionally, Support legends can use Replicators to craft Banner Cards for downed or dead allies–even those whose respawn timer has already expired. This tweak may seem small, but it will undoubtedly be game-changing in practice. Previously, if the timer on a player’s Banner Card hit zero, that player was out of the match, spending the rest of their time as a deathbox. With the new system, players on the same team as a Support legend can have a second chance of coming back even if their squadmates didn’t grab their banner.

In addition to the Remastered Legend Classes, quite a few individual legends will be receiving buffs or nerfs when Season 16 launches. These legends include Bloodhound, Horizon, Lifeline, Mirage, Pathfinder, Seer, and Wraith.

Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available to play on Android and iOS devices but will be sunset on May 1.