Season six of Apex Legends released just a few days ago and there is a lot to be hyped about. From map changes to new guns, permanent evo shields, and most importantly the new legend, Rampart, there is a lot to discuss. All of these changes have made for a very interesting start to the season and have made the game a lot more chaotic and fast-paced.

The change that has altered the way Apex is played, is the change to the shields. Moving from the standard shields to loot to now evo shields (a shield that when damage is done to enemies levels it up granting you more protection), it encourages to take more fights more often in order to evolve your shield into the highest level otherwise you will find yourself behind when it gets to the late stages of the game. Starting off with an evo shield that needs just fifty damage to evolve into the first bar of shields allows for a much safer early game if you do not manage to find a shield yourself when there are fights almost instantly after you drop.

The map changes, while do not really affect the overall gameplay for Apex, it makes for players to experience different areas and see what they are like in their first few games. The biggest map change, however, the replicators, a crafting station located on the map allow you to craft items based on what is available that day. For the most part, they do not really add much to the games but you might be able to craft certain items that before you would not have been able to find otherwise.

It is still early days with the new guns, but so far having the Volt and Devotion as lootable items is really exciting. These two guns fall into the energy category (weapons which have very little bullet dropoff and make the quickest pew pew), with the Volt being an SMG (Submachine Gun) and the Devotion an LMG (Light Machine Gun. Both of these guns seem to be really powerful and will very likely be highly sought after by players. For me, the saddest part of the gun changes is the R-99, a light SMG with an extremely high fire rate moving over to an item you can only find in care packages. The R-99 is a gun I enjoyed using due to its high fire rate and overall ease of use, it is one I will miss not being able to loot often.

The reason that everyone is excited about this new season, is the addition of Rampart, a bubblegum popping badass who rocks a minigun. The part I enjoy the most about Rampart has barely anything to do with her kit and gameplay itself but rather with her voice lines. Her sassy and just sometimes brutal comments never fail to make me laugh. She will often make a comment while you are running around and looting while searching for enemies that will hamper your focus.

In terms of her kit, it is very interesting and does require quite some time to get used to. The amped damage walls allow for some really strong artificial cover if used correctly but they require great timing since their setup time is quite long and can be destroyed pretty easily before it becomes setup. On top of that, her ultimate, Shiela, the minigun, set up in an optimal way can be extremely potent. I’ve found that you should always set up Shiela behind amped cover to give yourself protection and make Shiela a lot scarier and almost impossible to peak without being knocked. Her passive, the ability to increase the magazine size and decrease the reload time of LMGs as well as Shiela is not the biggest addition but can help in those clutch fights.

Overall, the changes that have been made to Apex in season six are all welcome ones. Changing up the playstyle of Apex making it a lot more fast-paced and more active is a change that I am genuinely excited for and decreases the amount of camping potential to be successful. Whenever a new legend is added it is always going to be interesting to see how they influence the game and with the game being more fast-paced, seeing how a defensive legend like Rampart fits in is something I am excited to see.