Apex Legends’ Season 10 brought with it many, many changes. So much so that in a span of just a little over a week, the amount of new ways to play the game sharply increased. Everything’s still in flux, but that’s the exciting part. With everything still up in the air, and the meta’s not set in stone yet, there is no better time than now to experiment to your heart’s content.
New Legend Seer may be the most unbalanced Legend ever released, but he’s a lot of fun to play as (for now). Joining the artist are a few underperforming Legends from seasons past. Now buffed up in ways that make them fun to play as, yet annoying to go up against. We have the new Rampage LMG that’s been tearing up the competition. The pre-nerf Spitfire is now in the care package alongside the alternator with disruptor rounds. Changes to many of the existing weapons in the loot pool. Oh, and World’s Edge is forever changed.
Here is our list for 10 of the biggest changes in Apex Legends Season 10. In no particular order.
Seer’s Emergence
Seer walked into the scene with a singular purpose – to make miserable the lives of campers and rats. For those who aren’t in the know, ratting is when a player decides to hide all match long. Usually staying out of sight of enemy teams. But we probably won’t be finding many of those anymore since Seer’s kit is designed to flush enemy’s out of cover.
Seer’s Heart Seeker passive gives players an indicator as to where an enemy could potentially be. You don’t even need to have a gun out to use it. Every time you aim down sights, the sensor goes up. It goes hand-in-hand with the tactical ability, Focus of Attention. A channeling ability, any legend caught within its 70 meter range will take 10 points of damage and interrupts any actions, including heals and revives. More importantly, it reveals crucial information like shield color and remaining health. Try not to miss too though. It’s got a lengthy 25 second cooldown to it. Exhibit is Seer’s Ultimate. When it goes up, it covers a wide spherical area that tracks the movements of any enemy caught inside it. Not moving can work, but then again the combo of heartbeat sensor and Focus of Attention will force you to move. Best to stay clear of any Seer ults, unless you’re confident in winning that gun fight.
Seer’s kit is the reason why his pick rate is through the roof right now. They are practical and interconnected in pretty much every way. I wouldn’t be surprised if Seer got a nerf in an upcoming patch. Perhaps lessening scan uptime while decreasing ult build up rate. That’s what I think is going to happen at least. It needs to happen.
Changes to World’s Edge
Climatizer replaces the Refinery. Lava Siphon, Sorting Factory. Train Yard’s basically annihilated and replaced with Landslide. If you’ve had a soft spot for any of these Points of Interest. You may have your moment of silence… But hey, World’s Edge has never looked more impressive.
There’s gondolas going between stations on both Climatizer and Lava Siphon now. It’s not much but they do change things up, especially in providing some distance between teams… before they commit to gun fights. And the inevitable 3rd party that arrives from the low ground.
And while we’re on the subject… Landslide is a horrible place to loot. I’ve only ever landed there a handful of times. Not by choice, btw. And the loot’s just BAAAD. I guess all the good stuff went on the gondolas in Climatizer and Lava Siphon.
Arenas Ranked
Can’t understate how impactful having an actual ranked mode can be for Arenas. Not only will we have less one-sided matches, but skilled players may actually have to start trying now. At least that’s what the idea’s supposed to be. In practice, however, that doesn’t always seem to be the case.
No one really knows if kills and assists factor into your placements. We’ve been told that it doesn’t, and that only wins and losses factor in. But after watching some streamers, the results just go all over the place after 10 games. It’s still gonna need some fixing. But I guess, for now, there’s some rewards to work towards. Even if they are only cosmetic.
The Season of the LMG
I think it’s safe to say that LMGs are meta now. And not just the spitfire this time, mind you. With the addition of the new Rampage LMG and the L-Star changes, LMGs are taking over the battlefield.
The new and improved L-Star now takes on energy mags, allowing it to fire more shots before overheating and allows it to cool-off slightly faster. Now imagine having a gold mag there. With the right timing, you can potentially have a near endless stream of suppressing fire; provided you have the energy rounds to spare. It also takes in barrel mods too. Coupled with the improved visuals means you’ll be shooting pellets sized balls of destruction without blinding yourself every half-second. Very accurately too.
The Spitfire’s in the care package now. It’s extremely accurate and precise. AND hits like a truck. There was a reason why they nerfed this gun in the first place.
The Rampage LMG is the new toy for this season. It’s a slow firing LMG that uses heavy rounds. Also hits like a truck but the recoil is likely tear your shoulder apart. If you pop a thermite in this bad boy and the fire rate goes Super Saiyan. This gun is leagues better than the Bocek Bow, in my opinion. And I sort of liked the Bocek too for what it brought to the table. The Rampage is just too damn fun to pass up. Might probably receive a nerf down the line.
Prowler is the best 2-handed heavy weapon
Already out of the care package, the Prowler is already eclipsing the Flatline and Hemlock in terms of usage. I don’t if it’s because the Flatline is getting harder to find as floor loot or everyone’s just picking up the Prowler more often. Maybe a combination of the two. Either way, there’s no denying that the Prowler dominates in 1v1 combat. Precision bursts with little to no recoil, I sometimes forget how good of a weapon this actually was.
Go to the firing range and tell me which gun you’re more likely to pick up – the Prowler or the Flatline? Playstyle aside, the Prowler’s just objectively better. Even with its burst fire rate reduction. The damage numbers tell the complete story.
Oh, and if you’re wondering where the Hemlock factors in… Maybe you’d consider picking up a Hemlock over a Prowler if a boosted loader is nearby. Or you somehow find a 2x-4x scope and feel like putting it on a gun.
The Alternator w/ Disruptor Rounds
Disruptor rounds was/is the bane of all shields. Not even red shields last very long against it. If you’re not careful about your positioning, it’d only take half a magazine’s worth of bullets to take you down.
It’s like we’re back in Season 2 all over again. I hate going up against the Alternator, and yet I wouldn’t think twice about picking it up. Thankfully, it’s a care package weapon now. Don’t have worry about it until the second ring starts closing.
New Wingman
I absolutely love the new Wingman. This is one of the changes in Season 10 I didn’t know I wanted, but Apex Legends delivered. So, the quickdraw hop-up is now built into the weapon. Meaning that it handles slightly better than before.
What gives this gun the absolute edge in combat is the new legendary hop-up, the boaster loader. How it works is that the closer you are to emptying your magazine, your more bullets there will be after you reload. Time it just right and you reload even faster.
The reason why this hop-up is so handy is because of the potential damage it can output. Imagine a purple and gold mag, 9 bullets in the chamber. With the boasted loader, you can have as many as 11 bullets in the chamber with less reload times. That’s a plus in DPS in my book.
Respecting the Recon Legends
Recon legends are the way to go this season. Any team running a combination of Bloodhound or Seer should be respected. If both of them are on the same team, however. I hope you’re better at running than you are at hiding. If they also have a Crypto running long range surveillance while Seer is looking for heartbeats, then prepare to hunker down. A fight’s rolling in very soon. Oh, and let’s not forget that Fuse’s ult tags enemies while they burn. Probably not the best idea to contest while you’re taking damage at the same time.
I’m not sure if anyone else picked up the fact that this amount of scanning is actually a big nerf to Bangalore. Not only do her smoke grenades do nothing now, her passive actually doesn’t account for much within Seer’s sphere of influence.
I’ve found that Revenant can crouch walk and bypass Seer’s ultimate. It’s a good way to encourage ‘outside-the-box’ thinking. Also, it’s very satisfying sneaking up on a Seer team as Revenant. Other than that, Legends with high mobility like Octane and Valkyrie have a better time maneuvering out of danger. While these aren’t the best solutions so far. They are still A solution to all the reconnaissance going around.
The Return of King Caustic
The KING is back! After a brief stint in the cooler for ruining ranked play and last rings alike, Caustic makes a triumphant return in a cloud of nox gas. Respawn saw fit to make changes to the way Caustic’s gas works in Season 10.
The gas damage starts at 5, and increases by 1 every other tick indefinitely. You’ll most likely be fine after a few seconds of exposure. But once that starts hitting for 10-11 damage a second, not even a medkit can save you. Personally, I like this change. Makes it so that you don’t want to be fighting in the gas. I remember last season when I just went into the gas without a second thought because I know the gas wasn’t actually doing much damage. And many players thought the same.
Nowadays, you’ll find Caustic traps littered throughout Fragment. From market all the way down to the train tracks, expect to run into a gas trap at least once. The King cares little for this slight inconvenience. Oddly enough, Caustic can be a good counter to all the unchecking scanning in games. Even if its just to keep enemies at bay. It’s nice to do something other than running away for a change.
New Pick Rate Trends
So looking at current trends over on apexlegendsstatus.com, it’s no surprise at all that Seer has taken the top spot away from Octane. I was expecting there to be massive dip in Bloodhound players, but that wasn’t the case. It seems like the Bloodhound mains are standing firm at the moment.
Valkyrie continues to take a hit in terms of pick rate. Her numbers seemed to have stabilized at the tail end of Season 9, but her slow descent hasn’t stopped since. I think she’ll hover around 3% – 4% from now on.
Fuse and Caustic are enjoying steady rises in popularity. Caustic for the new way his gas traps work, of course. And Fuse, well… his tactical lasts longer and his ult tags enemies. Surprisingly, you can rack up high damage amounts with the tactical alone if placed in the right spots. You can also toggle throw power now too. Helps with throwing sky nades. And the passive allows Fuse to carry more thermites for the Rampage LMG. This guy’s a regular swiss army knife.
With all the changes in season 10 of Apex Legends, it seems most Legends experienced a dip in pick rates. Except for Horizon, she’s on a rapid rise. I’m pretty sure it has everything to do with her tactical being rebalanced. I was just surprised at how many players now choose to play as Horizon. She definitely deserved a little lovin’, especially after what happened to her last season.