Apex Legends' first batch of seasonal content, Wild Frontier, has been anything but wild. Stream viewership is down, and the game has been generating record lows in the revenue department over the past couple of months. Despite its explosive entry onto the battle royale market, Respawn's surprise contender for the genre's throne seems to be losing steam.
That said, the fine people at Respawn Entertainment don't seem to be ignoring the situation. EA PLAY 2019 revealed some pretty big things coming through the pipe for Apex Legends' second season, Battle Charge, set to launch on July 2nd. But is all of it really going to be enough to turn things around and re-establish its upward momentum? Check out the ten biggest coming attractions below to find out.
10 The New Legend: Wattson
Wattson has been officially revealed as the newest addition to the character roster, confirming fan speculation. She's an expert in quantum laser mechanics, having worked alongside her father to develop the Ring itself.
Respawn's looking to shake up the currently aggressive meta with her potent suite of defensive capabilities. Her tactical skill can deploy up to twelve "nodes" that form a laser fence between two given points, and her ultimate fulfills the dual purpose of charging this ability faster and protecting an area from bombardment abilities and grenades.
9 The Legendary Hunt
Though technically a part of Season One, The Legendary Hunt event essentially serves as a preamble to the changes coming with Season Two, and is available to dive into right now.
In addition to a set of challenges with legendary cosmetic rewards attached to them, players can also opt to bring their A-game to the time-limited Apex Elite queue. Only players that are on a streak placing in the top five squads during a match are eligible, and must earn their way back in should their streak come to an end, ensuring only the hardiest challengers will even enter the arena.
8 Two Brand New Weapon Hop Ups
Though details were kept purposefully vague during EA PLAY 2019, it's been confirmed that two entirely new weapon hop up modifications will be entering the loot rotation for Battle Charge.
Their functionality and base weapons are anyone's guess, but it was very heavily implied that the famously underpowered and endlessly meme-worthy Mozambique shotgun-pistol will be turning a few heads when they hit the game. As most players would agree, that'll certainly be a sight.
7 New Weapon: The L-Star
Confirming fan speculation, Titanfall's L-Star light machine gun will be appearing in Apex Legends when the second season hits. But it's going to be just a little bit more special than initially projected.
The L-Star is going to join the exclusive and limited selection of legendary care package weapons, being way too powerful to find as regular loot. So powerful, in fact, that it'll blow doors right off their hinges, lending a little bit of extra utility to what's already shaping up to be a game-changing weapon.
6 Daily & Weekly Challenges
Daily and weekly challenges seem to be directly aimed at addressing complaints concerning Battle Pass progression and rewards, which have been rife since Season One's absolutely brutal grind requirement.
It's been mentioned that they'll stack for players if they need to be away from the game for a while, which is definite good news for those that may not necessarily be able to maintain a consistent enough playing schedule to stay directly on top of them.
5 Legendary Rewards: More & Better
Looking to beef up the legendary offerings on the table for Season Two's battle pass, four new legendary skins have been unveiled as a part of its associated rewards. If players were hyped for the cool skins released during The Legendary Hunt, then they'll definitely be interested in these.
Octane and Caustic will be getting slick new kits, with Caustic's particularly evil-looking Prince of Darkness skin likely to become a hot commodity. In addition, the R301 and Spitfire will have some radical legendary glow-up options.
4 Brand New Cosmetic Features Replacing Badges & Trackers
Season One's multitude of "filler" rewards occupying the greater majority of its reward progression was definitely a drag. Luckily, Respawn has been paying attention to their lukewarm reception, and is attempting to address that issue.
Three new cosmetic content types are on the way to outright replace those reward tracks, and though the specifics are a little slim as of this writing, players rarely shy away from the opportunity to attach even more shiny bits to their chosen champions.
3 Ranked Mode
It may be a little overdue, but late's always better than never. Apex Legends will finally be receiving its own brand of high stakes competitive matchmaking with the release of Battle Charge.
Apex's ranked play will feature six competitive ranking tiers, ranging from Bronze to Apex Predator. It'll also feature its own set of unique rewards that are dependent on player performance during the competitive season, giving players more than enough incentive to sharpen their skills.
2 More Crafting Metals
Crafting metals, which allow players to skip the RNG and craft cosmetics of their choosing, have been a major pain for players to actually get their hands on outside of the probability that they'll appear in an Apex pack.
Season Two's Battle Pass rewards have been confirmed to contain enough crafting metal rewards that players will be able to craft a legendary item of their choosing if they save them up, which is incredibly convenient for those players that have their eye on a particular skin for their favorite legend.
1 A Mysterious Map Event
Earlier on during Apex's presentation for EA PLAY 2019, Respawn's Drew McCoy didn't imply so much as he outright stated that "perhaps a map event" would be taking place for players to keep an eye out for, but didn't quite follow up on it. Not until the very end, at least.
Apex's recap video closed with in-game footage of a legend flying alongside several winged creatures, in front of what appeared to be the eye of some gigantic, reptilian creature. When pressed, McCoy declined to comment further on it, simply stating that "big things" were coming to Kings Canyon at the start of season two.