Apex Legends has been in a bit of a lull for this season, but we’ve gotten proper details about what’s coming next. We’ve got the full Apex Legends Season 17 patch notes! There’s a new character, new weapons, and big changes to ranked mode arriving this season.

Source: Respawn

While Apex esports has had a few problems lately like ALGS server lag, the game itself has been focusing on improving the current content for the season. Now that we’re ready to move into a brand-new season, Apex Legends Season 17. This is what’s coming.

Apex Legends Season 17 Update

New Legend Ballistic

Ballistic is the new headline change for the season. He’s a brand-new assault class Legend. On top of the support class’s general perks, Ballistic has some cool abilities shown off.

• Passive Ability Sling – Ballistic gets to carry a third weapon in his inventory without attachments
• Tactical Whistler – A smart projectile that applies weapon overheat to opponents that it hits. It can be locked on, and will overhead their gun.
• Ultimate Tempest – Tempest applies an AoE buff to himself and teammates that are close by. This gives them unlimited ammo, faster movement speed and reloads. It also temporarily makes his third weapon into a gold gun with all attachments. It takes around 3 minutes to charge, lasts for 30 seconds, but can be extended when you grab kills.

Weapon Mastery

Weapon Mastery is a new mechanic for Apex Legends Season 17. It’s giving players a level system for weapons. Once you level a weapon up through level 100, you’ll get a Legendary skin for the weapon.

Map Changes in Apex Legends Season 17

Source: Respawn

Apex Legends Season 17 is refreshing the map pool for a few of the older inclusions. World’s Edge is getting a huge rework. There are new POIs, ziplines, sniper nests, the whole map has been brought up to date. There’s even a new vault. This map is going to be much more fun with these new changes.

The firing range has had even more changes this season too. There’s a duelling pit, different buildings, a whole map is now here.

Map rotation for Season 17 is going to be World’s Edge, King’s Canyon, and Olympus. Although keep an eye on Apex Legends news as the rotation and maps can change.

Evac Tower

Elsewhere in the Apex Legends Season 17 patch notes, we’ve got some new items. The biggest is the Evac Tower. This is a redeployable balloon. You can use it to send your team upwards, an alternative to Valkyrie’s Ultimate.

Ranked Mode Changes

Apex Legends Season 17 is making a big overhaul to Ranked. The Apex Legends Ranking mode is going to work differently now. It now works through a hidden MMR value. Players will have to play ten different placement matches to get their initial rank.

In every game, once you have a rank, you will have the same cost to enter, 35 LP. In each game you’ll receive LP based on your performance, to potentially rise up the ranks and reach the top of competitive mode. This new system is less transparent in how you move ranks, closer to the Overwatch ranking system.

Those are all of the major changes coming in Apex Legends Season 17! It looks like the game is getting a decent batch of new content. With the hotfixes Apex got recently, it’s looking a lot healthier than Season 16’s launch.

Source: Respawn

Apex Legends Season 17 Release Date

We’ve got the full reveal of everything for Season 17, but when is it actually hitting the game? The new content is going to launch on May 9th! Players can jump in then and see how the new season plays.

The last season of Apex saw Respawn focusing on the game’s existing content. This was a welcome change. Although, the title has plenty of bugs and problems which don’t seem to be getting resolved, including a broken Collection event that still hasn’t been fixed for affected players. While some players have some problems with the game trajectory, a new season is a chance to see how the quality-of-life changes in Season 16 work once we get more Legends added into the pool.