Apex Legends S20 Breakout: Legends Upgrade System Explained

Apex Legends Season 20: Breakout is set to see the biggest overhaul to gameplay since Season 16's Legend reworks. With the game having celebrated its 5th anniversary, what better way to shake things up than with some brand new mechanics. Enter Legend Upgrades.

This new in-game system is set to give players the ability to customize their Legend, and in turn their gameplay, in each match. It's essentially an in-match progression system that will have players selecting ability upgrades to suit their individual playstyle. 

Apex Legends Adds New Legend Upgrades System For Season 20: Breakout

Respawn have confirmed that these new Legend Upgrades will be available across the entire roster of Legends. While all core abilities for each Legend will stay exactly the same, it provides players with ways to augment their Legend in each match. One person's Crypto might have different 'other' abilities to someone else's. For example, you might select a Legend Upgrade that allows you to revive teammates with more health for that match.

Upgrade Tree

Each Legend will have their own available upgrade tree, consisting of passive or active abilities that can be used in the current match. These upgrades will also become available at different points in the match, from early to mid-game, and are unlocked by earning EVO. By late-game, the match will likely be playing out far differently to what we're used to. 

EVO is earned through combat, exploration, assists, or collecting EVO caches. Once you reach a new level, you'll be able to select from a new ability for your Legend, an armor upgrade, or both. Progression is reset after every match.

From what we've seen so far, this Legend Upgrades system appears to operate somewhat similarly to Fortnite's Reality Augment system, which allowed players to select different perks at various intervals to use within a single match. 

EVO Shield Tiers

The Legend Upgrades system is tied directly to shields through EVO, since the only way to upgrade your armor is to level up your Legend in a match. This also means that armor will no longer be a lootable object. No more scrambling around trying to find the good stuff. Instead, this all aims to serve the late-game far better. 

So what about armor swapping? This can still be done, but now through the new "Shield Cores"  which enemies now drop instead of armor. The color of a Shield Core corresponds to the charge value level it has. If you pick up a Shield Core that's the same level as your current one, you'll be set to full charge. If you pull one oif a higher level, you'll get a temporary additional health bar to compensate. Essentially: 

• Less or same level Shield Core — recharges your shield to that amount
• Higher level Shield Core — temporary overshield. Note this overshield will decay over time.

The introduction of the Legend Upgrades system could shake things up for those of us who have gotten a little too comfortable with the current meta. Players will also see these changes expanding into Ranked, so even the competitor level will need to adapt fast. 

Apex Legends Season 20: Breakout is set to arrive on February 13, 2024.