‘Apex Legends’ season 14 to bring major Kings Canyon map changes

Respawn Entertainment has provided an update on the reorganised Kings Canyon map in Apex Legends, as part of the battle royale’s season 14.

Called Apex Legends: Hunted, season 14 is set to launch on August 9 and bring with it a new character, changes to the map, and an increased level cap.

First up, senior level designer Michael Shannon recently penned a blog post about the changes coming to Kings Canyon next week. The biggest change is the increase in the maps size, as both Skull Town and Thunderdome are back in the game, with the sunken areas refilled with sand.

The cage has also undergone a change, as the walls towards the top have been removed, which Shannon says should allow for “additional pressure on the dominant squad” whilst still letting the area be a power position.

The hillside point of interest near containment has undergone a similar change, with many of the walls and buildings removed.

There’s also been some changes to rotations, as Shannon wrote: “This major rotation in the centre of the map connected Destroyed Bridges, River Center and Hillside. We felt that this rotation was too fast, contributing to a high amount of third parties at River Center and Hillside. To help make the flow of squads more predictable, we’ve removed the connection to Destroyed Bridges.”

Loot has also undergone some major changes, with the spread of drops being altered, Crash Site and Spotted Lakes will drop less loot, whilst Runoff, Hydro Dam, Swamps and Octane’s Gauntlet have been bumped up.

The quality of loot should also feel much more “intuitive” across the whole map according to Shannon, with loot quantity also increasing to be “roughly comparable to Olympus” as well.

Lastly, the light and skybox has been improved, which Shannon says will bring “a much more immersive, vibrant environment and we think Kings Canyon has never looked better!”

Apex Legends’ level cap is also essentially being increased by 2,000, as players will be able to loop through levels one to 5000 three more times. Finally, season 14 will see new character Vantage introduced, who’s been described as a “sniper savant.”

In other news, Activision Blizzard King has lost around 11million monthly players since March of this year.