Season 4 of Apex Legends is kicking off February 4 with a new Legend, a new weapon, and several gameplay tweaks. In a livestream hosted overnight, Respawn shared some early details of what’s to come next month. Season 4 is dubbed Assimilation, and will take place on the World’s Edge map added in Season 3. It will be changed a bit, though we’re not yet sure how. These changes have something to do with the new Legend: Forge. Forge is a Hyperfighting Federation champion (essentially MMA) who seems to mainly be a melee-based hero. Forge is equipped with Shatter Gauntlets, which form the basis of their gameplay. The arrival of Forge also brings with it the first in-game sponsor for a Legend, that being Hammond Robotics. This is a fictional manufacturer who should be familiar to Titanfall players, but again, it’s not clear what sponsor means in this instance. We’ve yet to see Forge gameplay, though that is likely reserved for a trailer closer to launch. Season 4 also adds Sentinel, a new high-damage bolt-action sniper rifle. Sentinel appears to have a slower, but more powerful charge attack that deals even bigger damage.
The launch of Season 4 kicks off Respawn’s celebrations of Apex Legends’ first anniversary. Players who log in February 4-11 will receive a free Anniversary Gift. This bundle contains Year One Origami Flyer charm, Year One Loyalty badge, and 10,000 free XP for your first match of the day. The final major update coming with Season 4 is a big tweak to Ranked mode. The season, taking place over three months, will now be split into two episodes. The first kicks off with Season 4, and will be played on World’s Edge. Halfway through, ranks will reset (one-and-a-half tiers down) and players will be required to grind it all again on King’s Canyon, the original map. Your overall rank and rewards will be based on your placement across both Splits. Series 3 Ranked will also see its tiers updated. Master Tier is taking Apex Predator’s place, and will be where players with 10,000 RP or more reside. Apex Predator, on the other, will now be reserved for the top 500 players on each platform. You can learn more about the changes to Ranked in Series 3 on the official blog.
