Apex Legends’ season 12, Defiance, is live

Apex Legends’ 12th season, Defiance, is officially live.

Players can finally dive into the Apex Games as Mad Maggie, try the Control limited-time mode, and explore a sabotaged Olympus in the shooter’s season 12. In addition, the Defiance patch is bringing a slew of balancing tweaks, changes to care package weapons, and even ditching World’s Edge from the rotation for the rest of the season.

Outside of the seasonal additions, Respawn Entertainment is bringing in a few ways to celebrate the game’s third anniversary, which took place on Feb. 4. Players can get thematic Apex Packs and legends just by logging in weekly from Feb. 8 to March 1.

Mad Maggie

Some join the Apex Games for money, fame, or just thrill. Mad Maggie, on the other hand, has no choice. Sentenced to a very public death in the Games, Maggie is the villain Duardo Silva wanted—but she’s not going down without a fight.

Maggie’s abilities make her proficient at flushing out targets. Her Riot Drill can pierce through different sorts of cover and hard surfaces, like Gibraltar’s Dome Shield or Rampart’s Amped Walls. Players can also use her aggressively since she gets a speed boost with a shotgun equipped and can even briefly highlight enemies she’s hit.

Care package and hop-ups, Crypto buff, Caustic nerf

The season 12 update made a few changes to the field, bringing a new care package weapon, adding hop-ups to the mix, and making two weapons only available in Replicators. Caustic and Crypto also saw impactful changes.

The Volt has moved to the care package, taking the Alternator’s spot and returning the light SMG to floor loot. That’s the only change in that department, though, and the G7 Scout, Kraber, and Spitfire are still crate weapons.

Related: Here are Apex’s Defiance patch notes

Players who want the Longbow DMR and the VK-47 Flatline, however, will need to stop by Replicators. These two weapons will be exclusive to crafting in season 12, so make sure to grab some Crafting Materials—or, you know, steal the guns off death boxes like in the old days.

The new hop-ups include the returning Hammerpoint Rounds, compatible with the P2020, Mozambique, and this time, the RE-45. Players can also test out the Kinetic Feeder, an attachment that reloads the Triple Take and Peacekeeper when sliding and boosts their charge rate considerably.

Lastly, Crypto and Caustic saw major adjustments in the season, with the Toxic Trapper’s gas traps becoming destroyable after activating with 150 health and the Surveillance Expert now throwing his drone forward quickly to make him more reactive.

Sabotaged Olympus

Players may notice that Olympus looks a bit bigger from the dropship. Olympus now has two new POIs, effectively expanding the map. Since Olympus is a self-organizing system in the lore, the developers could just stretch out some areas and add in two areas: Phase Driver and Terminal.

Of course, sometimes those systems glitch—and sometimes it may have to do with Duardo Silva. In season 12, players will notice differences in the landscape outside of the two new areas. With the changes, the developers hope to mitigate the impact of some pain points in Olympus, particularly around the middle of the map.

Control

Alongside Mad Maggie, Control has been one of the highlights of Defiance in the build-up to its release. This nine-vs-nine mode divides players into teams and has them control areas to gain points. It’s a drastic departure from the usual Apex experience, but if casual modes or Arenas aren’t exactly your cup of tea, diving into Control could be just what you need.

Control will only be available for the first three weeks of Defiance, from Feb. 8 to March 1. It won’t be a permanent mode for the time being, Respawn revealed, but it could eventually enter the game as a full-time addition.