With Apex Legends Season 15: Eclipse wrapping up and Season 16 just a few days away, speculation about the upcoming season’s content has reached a fever pitch. Players want to know who the new legend will be, what kind of battle pass cosmetics players can look forward to, and what kind of gameplay changes to expect going forward.
Although we don’t have all the answers, we’ve compiled a list of info about the upcoming season’s content (including both confirmed facts and speculation based on leaks), and will update it as we uncover more information. Here’s everything we know about Apex Legends Season 16 so far.
Unconfirmed: Launch date
Apex’s current battle pass ends on February 14, but Season 16’s start date has not yet been confirmed. If the battle pass timer is correct and this season follows similar patterns as previous seasons, Apex Legends Season 16 is likely to launch on February 14, 2023 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM PT.
Rumor: No new legend
According to various sources–including reliable Apex Legends leakers like iLootGames, KralRindo, ThordanSmash, and iLootGames–there will be no new legend coming to the game this season. If true, this will mark the first-ever time that an Apex Legends season has been launched without a new legend to accompany it.
This may sound rather far-fetched, but there’s actually a good chance it could be accurate. Last May, Respawn confirmed that it may slow down or space out legend releases in the future. While this could mean the pre-season hype train takes a bit of a hit, it could actually be a good thing. It would likely go over well with a great deal of the playerbase, as it would give Apex developers a chance to focus more energy and resources on the parts of the game that need attention, like sound design, next-gen console optimization, and cross-progression.
Rumor: No cross-progression
Speaking of cross-platform progression, iLootGames also said he could personally confirm that the highly requested feature will not be coming to Apex Legends in Season 16, much to the chagrin of console players who want to swap. Unfortunately for Playstation 4 players who decided to purchase an Xbox X|S over a Playstation 5 (or vice versa), no news of cross-progression is on the horizon.
Rumor: A party-themed battle pass may be setting the stage for the next legend
Dataminers have apparently gotten their hands on the Season 16 battle pass, which appears to have a rave- or party-themed aesthetic. Some Apex players and content creators think these cosmetics may be setting the stage for Rhapsody–a deathmatch-loving DJ from Apex’s recently canceled mobile game–to make her grand entrance. But Lifeline is also a notorious lover of music, and it plays a major role in her backstory, so it’s possible these cosmetics are just hinting at more Lifeline lore.
Rumor: TDM
The Apex Legends dataminer known as ThordanSmash has allegedly gotten his hands on a great deal of information about Season 16–possibly including the patch notes. Among the first details the popular Apex Legends leaker revealed was the reported addition of Team Deathmatch as a new permanent mode. Apex Legends Mobile launched with a permanent TDM mode last March, but console and PC players have never gotten to experience it–not even as a limited-time mode. If true, the new mode would be the biggest permanent feature to hit the game since Arenas debuted in Season 9. This could just be hearsay, but with Apex Legends Mobile scheduled to shut down in May, it’s possible the developers want to make sure Apex’s playerbase still has access to TDM.
Rumor: New Weapon
According to ThordanSmash, a new assault rifle called the Nemesis will appear in the game once the new season goes live. The dataminer claims that the Nemesis is an AR that takes energy ammo and deals 17 damage per hit (headshots are presumably higher). The weapon’s existence was initially uncovered last March, when an unknown individual leaked a massive amount of information about future Apex Legends content on reddit. That leak accurately predicted the arrival of Newcastle, Vantage, and Catalyst, along with Valkyrie’s Heirloom Weapon and the Broken Moon map, so it’s very likely that Nemesis is going to make an appearance. The real question is when, not if.
Rumor: Legends are getting a major makeover
Multiple leakers are reporting that a large number of legends will be receiving a buff or nerf this season. Notable changes allegedly include a 50% increase to the length of Wraith’s portals and a serious nerf for both Valkyrie and Bloodhound. According to the individuals who are leaking info regarding Season 16, when the new season goes live, Valkyrie will no longer be able to scan enemies while skydiving from the dropship, and Bloodhound will only be able to see static images of enemies scanned by their powerful Eye Of The Allfather. The latter nerf would affect the game’s meta quite heavily, as many players rely on the character’s X-ray vision to survive firefights. Displaying only a static image of an enemy’s location when they’re scanned is far less useful than Bloodhound’s current ability to see where an enemy is headed after they’ve been scanned.
Rumor: Kunai knife redesign
Another tidbit uncovered by dataminers is what appears to be a redesigned version of Wraith’s Kunai knife. Called Wraith Kunai 2.0 in the leaks, the weapon features a curved blade with a red glow–a sharp contrast to Wraith’s original Kunai throwing knife, which has a symmetrical arrow-shaped blade with a blue glow. The original Kunai lacks the plethora of unique animations that the other legends’ Heirloom Weapons feature, and it seems that the majority of the playerbase (or at least those who own the Kunai) want the weapon reworked. The Kunai’s comparatively lackluster design has evidently left some players disappointed after seeing the wildly creative animations displayed when players inspect other characters’ Heirloom Weapons.
It’s unclear exactly how the new Heirloom Weapon might be made available to players, but because the original Kunai design plays a major part in Wraith’s backstory, the new Kunai 2.0 is unlikely to be a replacement weapon simply handed out to current Kunai owners free of charge. It’s also possible that the new and improved Kunai may instead come as a reward for completing a future Collection Event, or simply appear in the Mythic Store when the season launches.
That’s all we know about Season 16 for the moment, but stay tuned–this page will be updated as more information becomes available.
Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available to play on Android and iOS devices, but will be sunset on May 1, 2023.
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