Apex Legends Season 20: Breakout Full Patch Notes and Release Date
As Apex Legends begins its 20th season, "Breakout," the developers at Respawn Entertainment are introducing groundbreaking changes, and to celebrate the 20th season, they want to reshape the battle royale experience. While Season 20 officially will not release a new Legend, map, or weapon, it will boost and rework a lot of fundamental systems within Apex Legends. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into the patch notes, exploring three key changes: the Legend Upgrade System, Evo Armor rework, and Crafting Replicator overhaul.
What is the Legend Upgrade System in Apex Legends?
Without a doubt the star of Season 20, the Legend Upgrade System stands as the most significant change since the game's debut five years ago. With each Legend now equipped with four unique perks, players unlock these perks during a match by upgrading their Evo Shield to blue and purple. The upgrades cater to different gameplay mechanics, from tactical abilities and ultimate skills to gunplay mechanics.
Here are the Legend Upgrades that Respawn has confirmed so far:
- Gibraltar's "Baby Bubble" will be smaller in size but have a reduced cooldown.
- Octane gains the ability to drop two jump pads in a row.
- Mad Maggie's upgrade rains fire down in a V pattern on the second bounce of her Wrecking Ball.
Legend Game Designer John Larson explains that while core abilities remain unchanged, these upgrades allow players to extend their mastery of any Legend and find new strategies. The system aims to provide a more dynamic and immersive gameplay experience, allowing strategic augmentations to change the course of each match.
The key feature here is that you can choose to boost a skill or leave it as it is, depending on the specific scenario of a given match.
Evo Armor Changes in Season 20
The Evo Armor system has been reborn in Season 20. After players requested this change for a very long time, Evo Armor has been removed from the ground loot to become a personal shield that players can upgrade throughout the match. Evo Shields are now tracked in XP, enabling players to level up through actions connected to their roles, such as using Ring Beacons for Control Legends or opening support bins for Support Legends.
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Evo Harvesters will be scattered across the map, along with Evo caches in care packages. These will offer you a chance to boost your shield up a notch. Since the Evo Armor is no longer lootable, switching armors is fundamentally changing. Players must now find shield cores in death boxes, restoring corresponding shield amounts and providing temporary over-shields for higher-level Evo Armors. |
Evo Shields will also evolve as you increase your Legend Upgrade System level. This introduces a strategic aspect to the game that will make you play around the shield, with upgrades available when the armor reaches blue and purple levels. There’s an additional perk coming from this change, since players will be forced to fight more often in order to upgrade their shields instead of just surviving by avoiding combat.
Crafting Replicator Changes: Streamlined Support
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Crafting Replicators are getting a streamlined overhaul, boosting the power level of supporting and healing Legends, especially since they won’t focus on dealing damage as much as the rest of their squad. Crafting Materials are being entirely removed from the game, and replicators no longer offer weapons or attachments. Players can now craft healing items, ammo, and Squad Respawn Banners without a crafting cost, so you will be seeing a lot more of those. However, each replicator can be used only once, meaning you have to choose your items carefully. |
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This adjustment makes Crafting Replicators a reliable sources of consumables, boosting support and healing for squads.
Apex Legends Season 20 Ranked Changes
Season 20 introduces huge changes to the ranked system, matchmaking, and scoring. Respawn Entertainment is retiring Ladder Points (LP) and returning to Ranked Points (RP). These changes aim to make the ranked experience more rewarding, with eliminations giving you more RP based on placement and bonuses for defeating higher-ranked players.
The new matchmaking system discards hidden MMR in favor of determining matches solely based on Ranked Points. The season kicks off with everyone reset to 1 RP, leading to a chaotic start to Apex Legends Season 20, with skilled players facing new players and rising through the ranks quickly.
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Season 20’s entry Costs, based on rank, increase with higher ranks, and the season features two splits, with player ranks resetting by six divisions.
Limited-Time Modes and Mixtape
Season 20 will come with an exciting limited-time modes (LTM) to both the battle royale and Mixtape. While specific details about the "Straight Shot" LTM and the "Lockdown" Deathmatch-style mode are limited, they promise a unique gameplay experience. Straight Shot, for instance, has a smaller lobby size and provides players with fully kitted weapons for a more balanced but chaotic experience.
Mixtape introduces the Thunderdome map, designed for Gun Run, Control, and Team Deathmatch, inspired by the original Thunderdome POI in the old King's Canyon map.
Apex Legends 5-Year Anniversary Rewards
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Apex Legends Season 20 happens to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the battle royale, and Respawn Entertainment is celebrating with a shower of free rewards throughout the season. Players can unlock six Legends by completing challenges for each of them, leading to permanent unlocks. The Breakout Battle Pass offers additional featured banner frames, including a Legendary one for Wraith, that matches her new skin. |
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During Season 20, players can send free gifts related to each of the free-to-use Legends, unlocking a Legendary sticker and a rare tracker set featuring the new Wraith Legendary skin.
Completing challenges also unlocks the Reactive Flatline recolor of the Heatsink, a free reward that Respawn added after listening to player feedback and reflects that they understood the controversy surrounding the price of recolors.
Weapon Changes
While Season 20 will boost and nerf nearly every weapon, specific details on buffs and nerfs have not been officially revealed yet. However, a few known adjustments include nerfs for the 30-30 Repeater and Hemlock. Additionally, the 1x Digital Threat Optics will no longer be usable on SMGs, limiting them to Shotguns and Pistols.
Legend Changes
As with any season, players should expect individual adjustments to each Legend as the season progresses. The Legend Upgrade System, while boosting the gameplay experience, will, undoubtedly, lead to a need for balancing updates early in the season and further changes to balance gameplay as time goes by. A detailed list of buffs and nerfs for Legends will be available post-launch on February 13th.
As for individual Legend changes, Crypto stands out among the rest, receiving a buff to the speed at which he enters and exits his drone view, which should boost his strategic utility. So far, Respawn hasn’t announced any other specific Legend changes.
Apex Legends Season 20 Breakout will be a landmark chapter in Apex Legends’ history, introducing changes that redefine how players engage with the battle royale genre. The Legend Upgrade System and the big changes to Evo Armor evolution will shift the dynamic of the game away from the path Apex was walking, as requested by the player community, and the Crafting Replicator adjustment will contribute to the creation of a more balanced and engaging gameplay experience, especially for Supports and Healers.
Apex Legends continues to evolve, carrying the Battle Royale genre on its back, and we can’t wait to find out what Season 20 will feel like, but we know it will be amazing!
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