Apex Legends season 13 pushes teamwork with a new kind of hero and ranked mode changes

theverge.com:

Over the last few seasons, the developers of Apex Legends have worked on opening up the game, both with a massive new map and adding a temporary game mode that swaps out battle royale action for a more traditional team deathmatch. On May 10th, they’re introducing another new legend to the arena with Newcastle and making changes that might help players focus on teamwork.

Season 13 of Apex Legends carries the title Saviors, which matches Newcastle’s kit of abilities that are about keeping his teammates alive longer to help them win fights. While a slew of leaks in the past few months spoiled some of the surprises, seeing him in action is an entirely different thing. He has a passive ability that is unlike any character we’ve seen before, with the ability to not only shield downed teammates while reviving them, but he can also drag them to safety. The shield’s power level increases if Newcastle is carrying a higher-tier knockdown shield, which adds another tweak to an often overlooked item.

His tactical ability that players can use periodically between cooldowns is a hovering energy shield. We didn’t get any playtest time to try it out, but from what developers said during a briefing, it sounds like it will be easy to control during a fight, allowing players to turn and move the shield to advance on enemies or guard their back while retreating. In a game where “third parties” are attacking whenever shots are fired, having a controllable shield to cover additional angles could change things a lot.

Finally, his ultimate ability sees Newcastle jump long distances, slam his shield into the ground, and quickly build up a “castle wall” for defense. It was highlighted in the new season trailer where he was introduced, but a key