Huge Ranked Changes in Apex Legends Season 22 Shockwave
Apex Legends Shockwave is full of interesting legend changes and ranked updates that will create more dynamic gameplay opportunities for high level players. Here's what competitive players can expect in Season 22.
Legend Meta Changes
Legend classes are getting some big changes in Shockwave. Legends Designer John Larson explained that competitive Apex Legends often is a very "different beast" than lower ranks and casual play. This has led to some issues with how legends work which leaves them underwhelming for the majority of players.
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First, Scan legends are getting revamped. Larson explained that there's always been some issues with players choosing whether to move around the map or defend strong positions. To help with this, Controller legends are getting an extra 25 shield damage if they're in the zone. This will aid them with rotations. They will also be getting something called remote pick-up, which allows them to pick up undamaged charges just by "looking back and pressing a button."
Said Larson: "This will allow Controllers to experiment with their kit more freely and move setups quicker."
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Recon legends are getting survey beacon changes. Right now, developers noticed that survey beacons give high level players a lot of map info that can be used to predict rotations and make ring pulls. But lower level players seem to be struggling to find much use for survey beacons. Changes in Season 22 focus on making them more tactical and impactful.
Survey beacons will refresh multiple times over 15 seconds but the scan rate is reduced. This will help keep beacon scans in line with the class' goal of tracking legends and gathering intel for the team. Devs see this being more impactful for a wide swath of players thanks to "more moment to moment recon power." Recon legends will also see legends outlined in bright red when aiming down sites, creating some wall hack-type ability. Apex players were a bit weary about this.
Ranked Changes in Season 22
Director of Player Investment Chris "C4" Cleroux said the team is focusing on tuning and preparing for larger changes to ranked. The goal is to make matches feel smoother and tighter with less chaos and less level mixing.
One way to do this is by changing how matchmaking works. C4 explained that your placement depends on a lot of factors, including how many similarly skilled players are in a queue and the time of day — things devs have no control over. But C4 said they can change how long players end up sitting in the matchmaking queue before a lobby is kicked off.
"In Shockwave, we're tuning queue time to increase tightness of matches," C4 said. "It's a very fine balance. We want players to get into matches quickly and not wait around too long. We will make some adjustments and monitor them. The goal is try and get as many like-skilled players together in the same lobby as possible."
New Player Modes and Cheating
For newer players, devs have introduced Bot Royale to replace orientation matches. Now, newer players can group up with friends to play against bot enemies to better learn weapon mechanics, movement tech, or try out new legends. Players won't get experience or any progression by playing Bot Royale to deter skilled players from playing it unless needed.
When cheaters were brought up, devs stated that more information is coming soon but not much has been shared. Game Director Steve Ferraeira explained that the team is hoping to have more open communication with the community. They want to add more transparency to in-game systems as well.
"We take this very seriously," Ferraeira said. "Competitive integrity is very critical."
Olivia is a long-time esports journalist and editor who covers just about every game but has a deep love for the FGC. Her goal is to find community-driven stories that bring a new perspective to the esports scene. In the past, she has worked for Team Liquid, Rogue, Inven Global, Dot Esports, Upcomer, and more. Outside of esports, Olivia enjoys Kirby, Pokemon TCG, Fallout, and writing science fiction. She can be found trying out new foods, traveling, or hanging out with her two orange cats. Fun fact: Olivia can do some video game and cartoon impressions!