Everything to know about Apex Legends season 13

Season 12 of Apex Legends is drawing to a close, and with two weeks left of Defiance, that means season 13 is just around the corner. Titled “Saviors,” the new season also promises plenty of changes in store for the legends, games, and maps players will be dropping into.

Here’s everything you need to know about Apex’s newest season, Saviors.

When does season 13 start?

Season 13 of Apex will launch on May 10. In the meantime, Respawn will continue to release new trailers teasing the next season, such as the new Stories from the Outlands trailer, “Hero,” which is set to be revealed on April 28.

New legend: Newcastle

The newest character to join the Outlands’ favorite bloodsport is a familiar face. While he qualified for the Apex Games as Newcastle and has apparently been going by that moniker for quite some time, Newcastle is in reality Bangalore’s brother, Jackson Williams. Thought to be dead after Wraith found a death certificate for him on Solace, Bangalore’s plan to leave the games and tell her family of Jackson’s death is abruptly interrupted by her realization that the new legend she fights beside in the launch trailer is her brother.

Information on how and why Jackson became Newcastle is still scant. The launch trailer did show off plenty of his abilities as a playable character, however.

Newcastle’s kit is built around shields and being able to protect his teammates. His passive appears to be the ability to drag downed teammates, getting them to cover faster than they can crawl, and he deploys a small personal shield to protect himself while doing so. 

His tactical ability is a larger shield, able to provide cover for multiple teammates while standing. This shield appears to work in a similar manner to Gibraltar’s dome shield, which does not allow any bullets or other projectiles to pass through it, as opposed to Rampart’s amped cover, which allows bullets to travel through the top portion of the shield in one direction.

Finally, Newcastle’s ultimate ability is the biggest shield of them all. The character leaps forward to deploy a giant wall, with gaps and places for characters to peek through and fire. If the launch trailer is any indication, this wall can take quite a beating since it completely protects Newcastle and Bangalore from a sea monster breathing fire at them.

The season 13 splash page calls Newcastle “the Hero of Harris Valley,” but little else is known about Newcastle or how Jackson took on the name. The page notes that Newcastle will have to “shield his squadmates and his secrets.” If a legend has secrets, players tend to find out about them sooner or later. We’ll likely learn more in the next Stories from the Outlands.

Storm Point map changes

The changes teased by the Apex social accounts and through in-game teasers appear to come to fruition in the launch trailer.

That “deep sea anomaly” turns out to be a giant lobster monster that can breathe fire. Don’t worry, it’s dead now. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon, however. The season page alludes to treasures on the shores of Storm Point in reference to “the downed beast” and warns players that “even dead beasts hold dangers.”

A new sea monster POI on Storm Point was leaked several weeks ago alongside footage featuring assets of new characters and weapons still in development. The footage is clearly an early build, as it mostly lacks textures, but players can get an idea of what a new POI featuring a sea monster could look like.

Everything contained in that video is subject to change, of course, but it looks like players will be able to explore inside, around, and on top of the sea monster, while also enjoying some building compounds and other places to gather loot around the giant corpse. The new POI takes up residence on the western edge of Storm Point, with The Mill close by to the east and the North Pad POI to the north.

The same leaked footage also showed off the existence of the new IMC weapons caches, similar to the one that emerged from the sand in the trailer. It stands to reason that the weapons caches, as well as the Spectre units defending them, will also be making their way into the game, providing a little extra loot and cover in various areas of the map.

Changes to the ranked system

The splash page also confirmed that changes are coming to the game’s ranked mode, while not specifying exactly what those changes are. The wording of the announcement seems to indicate at least one hotly-requested ranked change will come to the game in season 13: rank demotion.

For the entirety of the ranked mode’s lifespan, players could move up or down within ranks like Bronze, Silver, Gold, and so forth. But the system didn’t allow them to fall below a ranked tier once the player achieved that rank. In the higher ranks, this meant that the bottom levels of Platinum, Diamond, and Masters became filled with players who made it over the ranked threshold but couldn’t progress any further. The game essentially held them in the same ranked place, but they couldn’t gain any more ranked points. 

There is no guarantee that ranked demotion will actually take place in season 13, but the phrase “rise and fall through the ranks together” seems to indicate that the concept could make its way to Saviors. 

Will season 13 have a battle pass?

Season 13 will have a battle pass. The season page promises the Saviors’ battle pass will contain “legendary weapon skins, reactive skins, and more.” The page also confirms the presence of daily and weekly challenges, which usually accompany the battle pass. The premium battle pass will be available for purchase when season 13 launches on May 10.