Apex Legends Season 27 massively buffs three characters, but devs promise "Octane has not been forgotten"

Apex Legends Season 27 might be light on totally original new content, but that doesn't mean it's a dud of an update. Olympus is getting a revamp, the advanced movement mechanic of 'supergliding' is being officially adopted and supported, and there are some incredibly spicy weapon changes coming to the FPS game. In lieu of a new addition to the roster, there's also legend reworks arriving for Horizon, Valkyrie, and Rampart due to their low pick rates. An incredibly popular legend whose pick rate has also plummeted recently is Octane, and fans of the speedster have been calling for him to get similar treatment. In a group interview with several Respawn developers, we learn why this particular trio was selected, what's changing, and get reassurance that "Octane has not been forgotten."

Apex Legends has taken its foot off the new content throttle recently - I remember when every season would welcome at least one all-new legend, map, or weapon. But as is the case with the upcoming Season 27, Respawn knows it can bring just as much value to players reworking and improving what it has. In the legend department, that takes the form of buffs to Horizon, Valkyrie and Rampart, which are all around four or five years old at this point.

"The thing that they share most in common is they're not really popular right now," says legend designer Ian Holstead. "I think that some legends, especially Rampart, have some play at some levels […] But ultimately, all of them share relatively low pick rates. They're all legends that we haven't touched in a long time, and [we] felt like they needed some love. Valkyrie, in particular, was the one sort of suffering [the most]. She introduced a moving passive in a way that we'd never seen before in the game. I think that at the time, we built her for the Apex that we were, and I think where the game has evolved and we found [new] limits on what we can and can't do, I think Valkyrie had kind of been left in the past."

Her makeover features reductions in cooldowns and takeoff times, an increase to flight speed to make her harder to hit in the air, and a Super Sonic option for her ultimate. Another legend that felt incredibly dynamic way back when, but feels less so in the modern meta, is Horizon. Similarly to Valkyrie, the goal is to make her movement mechanics more rewarding, so her Gravity Lift cooldown has been reduced and launches her vertically more swiftly. Her Black Hole ultimate also has more health, making it harder for teams to destroy.

Rampart, however, is a different legend altogether. She's always been a situational, static character that I've always found a bit stale to use. Knowing she needed a buff, Respawn initially focused on making her already potent minigun, Sheila, even stronger. However, those efforts "made Rampart completely overpowered." Going back to the drawing board, it decided to focus on other ways to increase the protection of her walls and offer more utility to teammates. Her walls now include a roof to protect from grenades being lobbed over the top or enemies positioned in high vantage points. The health of her walls increases as she climbs up Evo levels, and can regenerate outside of combat. Plus, teammates positioned behind them get a speed boost, faster reloads, and infinite ammo.

However, given that the age of these legends and their declining pick rates were the main reasons why they received such powerful reworks, many might wonder why Octane has been left out in the cold again. While his pick rate is higher than all of Season 27's focus legends, the decline he's suffered in recent months is far more severe - the debut of Sparrow, an extremely agile and more useful character, has compounded this. Octane's always been a fan-favorite, now his pick rate sits at a lowly 3%.

"Pick rate is an important part of what we look out for when we're changing characters," Holstead says. "But it's not the only thing that we look at. Historically, Octane has had really high pick rates. I think that at the moment, his pick rates are nowhere near where they once were, and I think that that's a sign that people are looking for changes. And we hear that. So rest assured, Octane has not been forgotten. But that's, you know, not [for this] season."

Josh Mohan, Apex's lead legend designer, also tells us that Respawn is aiming to be more transparent in the future about what those other parameters are away from pick rates.

"In the coming year, we're looking to try to share more and more of our logic behind these picks," he says. "I mean, you're asking great questions about why [we chose these legends], and I think we get those questions a lot, so we're realizing, 'Hey, we need to be sharing a bit more about what goes into these picks, why we chose them, what are the what's the data we're looking at, so everyone can be on the same page.'"

Apex Legends Season 27 goes live on Tuesday, November 4. You can get an overview of what's changing in the new season right here.

For more, be sure to check out our lists of the best battle royale games and best free PC games.

When it arrives, you can also come and discuss what you think of the new season in the PCGamesN Discord server.