Apex Legends Season 16 Brings Team Deathmatch, to Be First Season Without New Hero

Apex Legends season 16 is right around the corner, and ahead of that, Respawn Entertainment has revealed some new changes to the game. For the first time ever, the new season will not introduce a new hero/ character to the game. Instead, the studio is adding the much-requested Team Deathmatch mode, which pits six players against each other in high-stakes combat. The new season, titled ‘Revelry,' will also rework classes for its Legends, whilst adding a new energy class weapon called Nemesis. Apex Legends season 16 kicks off February 14 across all major platforms.

Team Deathmatch, much like precious limited-time modes in Apex Legends, will be accessible for the first three weeks of the new season. As per Kotaku, the new game mode will be similar to deathmatches in other games — devoid of downtime, with quick respawns as the players rack up kills for their team. With six players on either side, the first team to get 30 kills wins the round. It's a best-of-three scenario, where winning two rounds perches your team to victory. At the start of the match, players will get to pick a loadout comprising a slew of weapons, alongside a grenade. That said, if your team is at a disadvantage, you can switch between heroes as you wish — akin to Overwatch — and use their skillset to your advantage.

That said, Respawn Entertainment is removing the Arenas game mode from Apex Legends. “At its core, Apex Legends is a Battle Royale and the team wants to help players master the core game mode, and in its current state Arenas is not meeting our goals,” the blog post reads. The idea behind incorporating non-battle royale modes in Apex Legends is to get new players to be familiar with the game's core loop, which involves cycling between weapons, characters, and skills, whose knowledge can then be transferred to the main game. Otherwise, you'd see most new players getting absolutely rolled by experienced ones, within minutes of landing on the map.

Respawn is also bringing a rotating mode playlist for limited-time events. Dubbed ‘Mixtape,' the new feature is slated to arrive in early March and will allow players to select from a rotation of TDM, Gun Run, and Control modes — intense situations with low downtime. Additionally, there's a new weapon — Nemesis — coming in, but the studio hasn't revealed much besides confirming it is energy-based.

As stated before, in season 16, the developer is breaking with tradition and won't release a new hero. Instead, the team is reworking their Class system by assigning each Legend to one of them. For now, there are five classes: Assault, Recon, Controller, Skirmisher, and Support. “Each class will now have some kind of meaningful, unique perk—whether that be the way a Legend can interact with new loot bins or new ways to revive teammates,” the blog reads. Previously, all 23 characters from the roster were classified as Offensive, Defensive, Recon, and Support. Further information on the same will be revealed in time, according to Respawn.

Apex Legends season 16 — Revelry — kicks off February 14 across PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X. Earlier this month, the studio announced that it is shutting down the mobile version.