Apex Legends Season 17 Release Date, New Legend Ballistic, Weapon Mastery, And Everything We Know

Apex Legends Season 17: Arsenal is almost here, and while some of the season's details are still under wraps, developer Respawn Entertainment has unveiled the majority of the numerous new additions scheduled to hit the game when Season 17 goes live.

In addition to confirmation that players will get to meet a new legend for the first time in six months, we've got the scoop on Ballistic's background and abilities--plus details regarding all the changes coming to Ranked Mode, the introduction of the new Weapon Mastery system, and the enormous physical transformations of both the Firing Range and World's Edge. Dataminers have also uncovered some interesting tidbits, so keep scrolling for an up-close look at all the new content heading to Apex Legends in Season 17.

Apex Season 17 start date

Respawn has confirmed that Season 17 will go live on Tuesday, May 9 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, exactly one minute after the Veiled Collection Event comes to an end.

New legend: Ballistic

Everything we know about Ballistic comes from his official bio and the Season 17 trailers that have been released thus far. Respawn has revealed that he is an Assault-class legend, meaning he will gain the same class perks as the other Assault legends, in addition to his standard abilities.

Stories From The Outlands: Encore served as players' initial introduction to Season 17's 63-year-old debut legend--the animated short painted a picture of a lonely father who is estranged from his son, living a lavish but reclusive life for decades before deciding to step back into the spotlight. Encore explores the reasons he left his life as a bloodsport competitor in the first place, and reveals his interesting motives for returning to the ring.

But familial strife isn't the only demon he's battling--he appears to be addicted to alcohol and is implied to be dependent on an anti-aging medication produced by Silva Pharmaceuticals. For the full story on the new legend's background and abilities, check out everything we know about Ballistic--including his abilities, his past, and his personality.

Another Firing Range update

The game's Firing Range has seen several updates since its original debut in late 2019. But the various tweaks and additions the practice arena has seen over the years pale in comparison to the massive update hitting the range this season.

Respawn has rebuilt the Firing Range from the ground up, completely redesigning the map and drastically increasing its size. According to Respawn, the new range features a "reorganized Core" (the central location where all weapons, armor, and attachments can be found), a new Agility Course, a Duel Pit, and POI-sized town. Simulated death boxes are also scattered around the area, allowing players to access new gear wherever they happen to be practicing.

The new course also includes customizable Firing Range dummies that can be configured to spawn, move, and shoot at players in a variety of ways. That's right--players will no longer have to activate a complicated Easter egg to get the dummies to attack. Instead, the addition of a "Full Combat Mode" option gives players the opportunity to simulate a real match, fighting to survive as the dummies aggressively chase and fire upon them.

Non-humanoid targets have received an upgrade as well, with color-changes that give players a better idea of where their shots are landing. Additionally, players can turn on Hit Markers (located in the "Customize Range" section of the settings menu to familiarize themselves with shot patterns from each weapon. Lastly, the Dynamic Stats function can now be reset manually at any time, allowing players to track their real-time performance with more flexibility.

New Survival Item: Evac Tower

As seen in the Arsenal gameplay trailer, a new Survival Item will hit the loot pool when Season 17 goes live. Evac Towers can be found on the ground, inside Supply Bins, and inside Care Packages. When deployed, a rocket will shoot skyward, exploding into a yellow redeploy balloon. Once the balloon's anchor lands groundside, players can hop on the zipline and make a quick escape.

Evac Towers should be used with caution, however--they take a bit of time to deploy, and the massive explosion is bound to attract attention from enemy squads. Additionally, they don't last forever, taking damage over time before eventually disappearing altogether. They can also be damaged and destroyed by enemies, so make sure the coast is clear before you make use of Apex's newest Survival Item.

Massive World's Edge map update

As Revealed In Season 17's gameplay trailer, there are a lot of new aesthetic changes coming to Apex this season. World's Edge looks to be getting most of the attention, with two new POIs added to the map: Monument and Stacks. Additionally, the Harvester POI has been updated as well.

Monument

The Monument POI is home to the new Apex Legends Museum (funded, of course, by Silva Pharmaceuticals), and has been placed over the remains of Fragment East and Fragment West--two sections of the map that have polarized players for ages due to the massive lava fissures and and precariously positioned narrow bridge structures connecting both ends of Fragment.

Though the lava fissures still exist, they appear considerably smaller from what we've seen in the trailer. They also no longer have an updraft to blow players who fall over the edge back up to the surface. Instead, the depth of the lava fissures has been significantly reduced, and instead of being blown upward, players who fall in will land in the lava itself, taking damage the longer they stand in it. Luckily, there appears to be some boxes and crates available to help players climb back up to the surface.

The Apex Museum housed within the Monument POI tells the history of the Apex Games, from their original inception as the Thunderdome Games to the present day. The museum contains an expansive gift shop full of legend-themed merch, and is also home to several exhibits listing former Thunderdome competitors, along with bios for all of the current Apex Game competitors. Interestingly, each of these bios reveals what year each legend joined the Apex Games--an interesting lore tidbit that, until now, has never been revealed by Respawn.

"From a design standpoint, Monument is a deep bunker with a quick access sniper nest for positional control and scouting," Respawn's blog post about the new season said. "The glass ceiling brings an interesting component to the vertically layered fights this space offers. It’s a different pace to the familiar collapsed map center."

Stacks

Another major change to the Fragment section of World's Edge is the removal of the Construction Stack building, a popular hot-drop spot.

"In our efforts to balance the map’s landing distributions, the tower of the sweat lords had to go," Respawn stated in their Season 17 game updates blog post. "You know the one, built like a stack of pancakes with two ziplines on either end: Fragment’s infamous Construction Stack."

But technically, the structure hasn't disappeared--it's just been moved. Lava City is no more, with the "new" Stacks POI taking its place not far from Rampart's Big Maude Town Takeover. As the gameplay trailer revealed, "World's Edge is healing." It certainly looks like Torres "Duardo" Silva and the rest of his Syndicate goons have put significant effort into repairing the damage done to World's Edge by the Planet Harvester installed by Hammond Industries in Season 4. But an in-game transition screen has suggested that the Climatizer (located in the POI of the same name) Hammond installed to mitigate the damage is, in fact, for show. It's possible that the Climatizer has since been repaired and Silva is telling the truth, but based on everything players know about the main villain of the Apex Legends universe, the man lies like he breathes: constantly. Only time will tell whether the health of Bloodhound's beloved homeworld really is on the upswing.

Harvester

Speaking of Hammond's Planet Harvester, the changes to the lava mechanics on World's Edge necessitated a change to the planet-draining POI as well. The depth of the lava has been reduced here as well, and a tempting new feature has been added. Upon launching from the drop ship, squads who managed to "thread the needle" and land at the bottom of the building's central tube will find themselves in a safe landing zone, surrounded by high-quality loot. Unfortunately, they'll be surrounded by lava, so without a Skirmisher-class legend to safely transport a squad across the lava. Still, if you're quick, a few hits of lava damage won't make too much difference unless you're in the middle of a firefight.

The Harvester POI also has some new shortcuts, including a zipline that stretches across Havester's circular arena from below, and an open window that will allow players to jump down from the POI's center room, landing on the platform below. The latter is a risky move, but can be a life-saver when an instant escape route is needed.

New Skyhook Loot Vault

World's Edge is known for its Loot Vaults, strongholds full of high-tier goodies that are scattered around the map. As of Season 17, a new vault will appear in a tunnel located in a tunnel that leads to Skyhook. Additionally, Vault Key drops from shooting down Cargo Bots have been increased. Devs also state that "Vault loot has been relaxed," though it's not clear exactly what they mean by this.Skyhook is also experiencing a bit of chilly weather, with a layer of snow now dusting this portion of the map. According to Respawn, "Hammond’s Climatizer technology has made advances cooling the region down. Additional Climate Seeding Towers have been installed near Skyhook to further their efforts."

This seems to suggest that, against all odds, Torres Silva is telling the truth--the Climatizer is now in working order, and it appears that World's Edge is indeed "healing" after all.

Party POI

The last map update this season is small, but sure to bring a smile to the faces of Mirage mains: The rebuilt version of the holographic trickster's party ship--originally called the Mirage Voy'age-- is now known as the Mirage A Trois, and has resettled in its original home on World's Edge. Here's hoping Mr. Witt manages to keep track of his phone this season.

New Weapon Mastery system

Described by Respawn as the "first new long-term progression system outside of account level," Apex's new Weapon Mastery system is intended to make Apex Legends more approachable for newcomers, while giving long-term players something to grind for once they've finished their seasonal battle pass and maxed out their account level.

There are 100 levels per weapon in total, and players can gain Weapon Mastery XP by doing damage, securing kills, and even simply equipping the weapon. Every 20 levels, players will be presented with a weapon-specific trial, which will reward them upon completion. Players who reach level 100 and complete all five trials will earn weapon-specific badges, lifetime performance trackers, Legendary weapon mastery banner frames, and a guaranteed Legendary skin for each weapon mastered.

Ranked Mode reworked (again)

Ranked Mode will once again be reworked once the season goes live, and this time there are some pretty big changes. One of the biggest changes is the complete removal of the customary mid-season Ranked Mode split. From now on, players' ranks will only be reset at the beginning of a new season.

A new scoring system has also been introduced, with Ranked Points (RP) being replaced by Ladder Points (LP). According to Respawn's recent blog post on the topic, the new scoring system "revolves around Bonuses that amplify your LP gains and mitigate your LP losses."

There are several types of Bonuses, but perhaps the most interesting type are Skill Bonuses. Skill Bonuses are applied when a team is facing off with enemies that are significantly stronger than them, or when a team "performs exceptionally in an unfavorable match."

It's also worth noting that any players who have not yet received their Ranked Arenas rewards must log in before Season 17 goes live on May 9 if they wish to redeem their ranked rewards. Ranked Arenas will obviously not be returning, as the mode was permanently sunset, so anyone wishing to claim their final Arenas rewards should mark their calendar and make sure to fire up the game to redeem them before the end of the season.

An unorthodox new event is arriving in Season 17

As as announced by Respawn last week, a new seasonal event will launch shortly after the season begins (likely on or around Tuesday, May 23). It's not clear if the upcoming event is a new Collection Event or a Themed Event (sometimes referred to as a Thematic Event). But what we do know is that this event will feature a never-before-seen opportunity for players to have a say in how the event plays out. As explained by Apex devs last week, players can vote on the Season 17 event's LTM, which will be given its own dedicated playlist and be available for the duration of the event. If this event functions like all previous non-holiday-themed Apex events, it will most likely last for two weeks. Voting is open until Monday, May 8, at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET. The winning LTM will be announced Thursday, May 18, when the event trailer goes live and more information about the event's theme and skins will also be revealed.

Smurfs will get what's coming to them when Arsenal goes live

In previews, Respawn developers gave those in attendance a rundown on the new measures being implemented in Season 17 to keep bots and cheaters at bay. But one subject of particular interest is their new anti-smurf measures. Smurfs have been plaguing Ranked Mode matches for years now, but the issue has seemingly worsened in recent seasons. From smurf-detection to incoming ban-waves, Respawn did not mince words when it came to their opinion of cheaters--and their plans for dealing with them.

A lore bomb is dropping later this season

Also during Season 17 previews, Respawn directly responded to a question from GameSpot which asked what kind of lore players could expect this season, especially given the fact that Season 16's in-game story chapters were so short--and so few and far between. According to Apex devs, a "lore bomb" is going to drop sometime in the latter half of Season 17. Players will have to wait to find out if said lore bomb has to do with Ballistic's estranged son, Nathaniel (who lost his spot in the games after his father stole it from him), or if it's related to another one of the game's many loose plot threads. Either way, it sounds like something big is on the way.

A new ping wheel

The Season 17 patch notes have also revealed quite a bit of interesting info. In addition to all the other details in the patch notes, their publication also confirmed that the game's ping wheel will be getting an update. The original ping wheel options are listed below, followed by their Season 17 replacements:

Original

• We should go here
• Enemy spotted
• Looting here
• Attacking here
• I'm going here
• Defending here
• Watching this spot
• Enemy was here

Season 17

• Avoid this area
• Enemy heard here
• Looting here
• Attacking here
• We should regroup here
• Defending here
• Watching this spot
• Enemy was here

Ping while options available while in the dropship have also been changed.

Unconfirmed: Horizon's Heirloom Weapon

Dataminers claim to have found evidence that at least one new Heirloom Set is on the way for Season 17--this time for Horizon. With Ash (who is Horizon's former research assistant) receiving her own Heirloom Set in Season 16--and the last story episode of the season revealing Ash's Heirloom Weapon was a gift from Horizon's son, Newton--it's not too surprising that Horizon is next in line.

That said, all leaks should be taken with a grain of salt, and until Respawn confirms the existence of the new Heirloom weapon, fans of the time-traveling astronaut shouldn't get their hopes up--especially since dataminers have not yet been able to uncover an actual 3D model of the weapon.

We'll know more about Season 17's content as launch day draws nearer, so check back regularly (and take a look at the patch notes) for more updates on what players can expect from Apex Legends Season 17: Arsenal.

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.