“Allow me to reintroduce myself my name is…”
DARIENCREDIBLE! And if you haven’t seen me pop up in your kill feed yet, then all you need to know is that Apex Legends Season 7 is upon us, and I’m one of the many “legends” stomping around our new lavish paradise of destruction – Olympus. If you’re here, then I’m going to assume that you are already one of the Apex faithful (or you at least know what this game is all about), so I’m going to skip the recap and get right down to business.
Apex Season 7 was a huge update. The devs at Respawn showered us with a variety of new features, including a brand-new map, character, progressions system to earn rewards, and player clubs to build a roster of loyal devotees. My job, as your friendly neighborhood murder tour guide, is to walk you through what to expect when you load into that 20 squad deathmatch!
So, without further ado, here are my early impressions of the new additions to Apex Legends Season 7.
There’s a new Legend on the Horizon!
Horizon may look like a cooler version of your high school science teacher, but her kit is anything but innocuous. This is a high-pressure offensive character, capable of vertically flanking unsuspecting opponents with her tactical and drawing them into slaughter with her ultimate.
Horizon’s passive, Spacewalk, provides her with weapon stability in the air and allows her to move normally after dropping from nearly any height. Combining Spacewalk with her tactical, Gravity Lift, allows Horizon to jump over unsuspecting opponents and engage enemies at any level.
Whether you decide to strike from above with steady aim or land behind the opponent without worry of a lengthy animation or the loud audio cues of other characters, Horizon provides the opportunity to change the angle of your attack in a game where positioning is everything.
Her ultimate, Black Hole, drags unwitting Legends toward it, making them as easy to shred as the practice dummies in the shooting range. Horizon players can also use it to block enemy pursuit or obscure their vision, securing an escape path for you and your squadmates.
I’ve dabbled in Ult combinations with Black Hole. Some early favorites are:
- Caustic – Gas Bomb or traps – group them up and gas them to death
- Gibraltar – Bombardment – group them up and rain down fire
- Bangalore – Creeping Barrage – group them up, actually hit them with the ult, and slow them down if they manage to survive.
Horizon’s kit allows her to be a chameleon of sorts and fit an assortment of playstyles. My personal favorite is high-pressure offense, but she can also flank or be an effective zoner. She’s extremely versatile, and I’m having a ton of fun experimenting with new ways to use her.
Olympus – “The City of Dreams”
At least, that’s what it says on the brochure, and it definitely lives up to the billing. Whereas King’s Canyon resembled a desolate wasteland and World’s Edge had all the makings of a massive excavation site gone wrong, Olympus is a technologically advanced vacation spot with futuristic trimmings.
It’s a lavish, state-of-the-art playground where the only obstacles on your way to the top are 59 other players – including your teammates – and a perpetually closing ring of death that forces enemy encounters each time it reduces in size. Sounds great, right? Good, let’s talk about some (not all, because I haven’t been paid yet) of the locations and how you’ll be getting around.
Best Place to Drop in Season 7 – Elysium
Architecturally magnificent, it is one of the best high-tier loot areas with an increased chance of dropping gold weapons.
This area did have guaranteed drops, but the latest patch seemed to have reduced the chances to a randomized percentage. Still, even at the mercy of RNG, this area produces an above-average chance at gold weaponry, and its status as a high tier loot area makes it one of my favorite spots to land.
There really isn’t much resistance here – as you’ll generally only face competition from one other squad – so looting is a breeze, but that isn’t even the best part. Elysium sits on the map’s outside edge, next to another high-tier but well-traveled loot area – Hydroponics.
So, not only do you drop in a high-tier loot area, but there is another next door with third party potential. Loot up quickly, handle your business in Elysium, third-party the unfortunate winner of the Hydroponic skirmish, and suddenly you’ve almost racked up enough points to cruise through the rest of the game.
Should the need to escape or move swiftly arise, this Elysium/Hydroponics is a straight shot away from the always lively Estates or a nifty Phase Runner (think a gigantic Wraith void tunnel) to relocate toward the center of the map. In other words, you have options. Loot, fight, rotate, or escape – the choice is yours from Elysium.
Thank me later.
Second Best Drop Spot – Sub-locations
I got greedy here, but it’s the new sub-locations! So far, I’ve only found three, but all three of them are well worth the competition you are about to face in these areas.
Ranked from brave, braver, and bravest; these areas are Oasis Café at Oasis, Research Basin at Hammond Labs, and Reverie Lounge at Tilted Bonsai Towers. These areas are stocked with great weapons and gear, and you’ll probably face plenty of competition. However, a win here will put you in the driver’s seat for the rest of the match.
Top Sub-locations
1) Oasis Café is the safest, but it’s out of the way of everything unless the dropship flies over it. Located on the bottom floor of Oasis, the Cafe section is a good source of loot. There will probably be one other squad contending for the loot in this area, so it’s a relatively easy way to loot up and get your first kill. Safe is boring but effective… at times.
2) Research Basin sits at the top of the waterfall above Hammond Labs. This area can get a bit sticky, but finishing up the fight here means controlling the high ground in this area and escape paths in every direction. Did I mention Estates is right down the street? High ground control or clean up duty?! This area provides you with as many options as my first pick. Did I mention that it is gorgeous? Because it is.
3) Want to be a true Legend? Situated at the top of Bonsai Towers are two lounge areas connected by two bridges and a bunch of chaos – this is Reverie Lounge! Get ready for a showdown because half the teams land here or try to land here (disclaimer: I’ve made it to Gold 1 this season, Diamond on the way). Some teams will cower and drop below, some teams will stay above and try to win the war, and some teams will feign bravery before dropping to the underground levels. This place is dangerous, and I love it… when I win anyway. Your only option is to fight bravely and swiftly because someone will rotate to whichever level you are on until there is only one – be that one, brave soul.
Quick intermission through your Season 7 tour!
How do you get around this massive map? Surely, you don’t crawl jog around the map like you did in World’s Edge?! Nope, the good folks at Respawn have blessed us with two modes of transportation – the Phase Runner and the Trident.
The Phase Runner is the Wraith-like rift tunnel that runs through the middle of the map. Like Wraith, you can enter the Phase Runners at any entrance, and they will deposit you at one of the exits (depicted as a small flower-esque icon on the map) depending on the direction you traveled. It’s a quick and easy way to get around but be mindful of the exits because players camp outside of them at higher levels (you could do this too).
The Trident is the futuristic hovercraft that can shuttle your squad around the map with minimal effort. Damage done to the Trident is divided among each driver/passenger in the vehicle, so exercise caution while riding around and taking in the sights.
Another great spot to land in Olympus!
No surprise here, but it’s Rift, the large area enveloped in a ball of rift energy that’s settled in the Northeastern part of the map. The technological marvel that once was has an ethereal beauty to it that you can’t find anywhere else on the map.
Its ghastly magnificence tells a story of people that allowed their hubris to get the best of them, losing control over their creation and watching in horror as it tore their world asunder. But enough of my musings, it’s an excellent area to drop in.
Not only is it home to the Rift, which can instantly transport you to the center of the map, but there’s a vast open area that allows you to control engagements no matter where you land. There’s a concentration of high-tier loot all over the place. It also has a trident to take you anywhere you want to go after murdering the unfortunate souls that decided to drop here with you.
Landing in a great location is the easiest way to secure some points in Apex Legends Season 7, and superior positioning is the key to ensuring your victory. Hopefully, this quick and dirty map guide has helped you in both areas!
You get a star and you get a star!
Apex Legends Season 7 has a new but familiar progression system that awards stars for daily and weekly challenges depending on the task’s difficulty. For instance, “playing two games with Loba” would net you 1 star, while “killing 15 enemies with Horizon” would earn 3.
The old XP system is still there, but filling a bar at each level (I believe it takes 5000 XP to fill the bar) only awards one star. Earning 10 stars will increase your battle pass level by 1. What does all that mean?
Simply put, grinding. Specifically, daily and weekly challenge grinding.
There’s been a lot of discussion on the Interwebs over the past couple of days about this system’s unfair nature because some people believe that Apex is making obtaining battle pass levels (and therefore their rewards) more difficult. It’s fair criticism because earning battle pass levels felt natural in past seasons, and the need to chase challenges only popped up when you needed that extra boost.
Now, challenge chasing is a necessity if you want the best rewards. Rewards are directly tied to how well you can play the game while challenge chasing, which may or may not interfere with your playstyle. I’m not a huge fan of that, but it’s early, and the folks at Respawn still have time to tweak it. I hear they’ve already committed to lowering the difficulty of the challenges themselves, so that’s a step in the right direction.
How about those clubs?!
Have you ever wanted to start up a band of miscreants, rock a cool badge, and let everyone see the completely original tag appended to your username? Well, now is your chance!
Clubs (basically clans) are available to create and join in Apex Season 7. Right now, it’s nothing more than a badge, tag, and the illusion of creating a community, but I like the potential it has. A solo player like me will probably stay away from the whole club thing but check it out! Maybe you find “the one” or whatever you do at these shindigs.
That’s all folks!
I hope that I’ve helped you in your journey to becoming the number one murdering psychopath in Apex Legends Season 7. If you want to learn more about Season 7, exchange some crazy Apex stories, or talk about other games, hit me up on my socials:
Twitter: @dariencredible
Instagram: @dariencredible
Twitch: @dariencredible
Well, that’s all for now! Maybe we’ll run into each other on Olympus… but as a wise Murderbot would say:
