Apex Legends Season 19 meta explained

Curious about the Apex Legends Season 19 meta? As always, a new season in Respawn Entertainment’s flagship battle royale brings with it a variety of changes. Some are big, some are small, but all are guaranteed to have some impact on how the game is played, and what strategies, tactics, weapons, or Legends dominate the gameplay landscape.

Here, we’re going to cover what the Apex Legends Season 19 meta might look like, and how the various changes that Ignite brings might shape the way people play following the close of Apex Legends Season 18. From the new Apex Legend Conduit, to the rework of the Storm Point map, to weapon changes altering our calculus on the best guns in Apex, there’s lots to catch up on.

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Here’s a breakdown of the changes coming in Season 19 which will affect the meta in Apex Legends.

• New Legend
• Legend buffs and nerfs
• Weapon changes and rotations

Let’s go through each one-by-one and explore what they bring to the table, and what it might mean for the ways that players choose to play.

New Legend in Apex

Conduit is the newest Legend arriving in Apex. A big time fan of the games, she aims to support her struggling family financially, expending her health and longevity by powering her advanced tech suit with a radioactive and unstable Monarch Titan battery.

Conduit is a support Legend, but while she does primarily fit this role, there’s a lot of nuance to her abilities which allow her to walk a fine line between being a primarily defence-oriented and primarily offence-oriented character. We’ve done a full breakdown of her in our dedicated guide, but here are the basics as you need to understand them.

• Passive – Saviour’s Speed. When distant from her teammates, Conduit gains a temporary sprint boost while running towards them.
• Tactical – Radiant Transfer. When activated, Conduit can grant a temporary shield charge to nearby allies. These shields don’t last, the transfer can be interrupted if they take damage, and Conduit always gains a minor boost from the ability too.
• Ultimate – Energy Barricade. Conduit throws out up to 7 Shield Jammers in a line. After a moment, they’ll activate, and any enemies inside their radius will be slowed and take continuous base 10 damage per tick.

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Did you know?

As powerful as her Shield Jammers are, each device is destructible and can be destroyed by continuous fire.

These abilities are obviously geared towards a primary support function, but they showcase some other potential applications, too. Her passive should allow her a significant mobility advantage when separated from teammates, depending on the specific conditions and duration of the boost. Her tactical, while certainly useful to regain a defensive footing, showcases potential to maintain an aggressive push from one team against another. And although her ultimate may be easily avoided, it acts as a powerful control feature regardless, giving her team the ability to bottleneck approaches, cut them off entirely, and corner unprepared or disorganised enemies.

Legend buffs and nerfs

Alongside a brand new Legend, several existing legends are going to undergo some changes this season. Here’s a total breakdown of what’s going on.

• Catalyst will be seeing significant nerfs. Her passive will no longer block bullets or projectiles, she’s dropping from three to two tactical charges and seeing a cut on her throw range, and her ultimate will last for a shorter duration, and won’t see ultimate recharge begin until it ends.
• Bangalore will also be seeing some nerfs. Her Double Time passive will have a shorter duration, and the stun time on a hit from her ultimate is also shortening.
• Wraith will see a small buff, with her passive slightly reworked to be clearer.
• Vantage will see a small buff to her ultimate, gaining 6 total shots up from 5 for her sniper rifle.
• Newcastle will also see an ultimate buff. He’ll have a higher leap height when he deploys it and a reduced recovery time on landing.
• Pathfinder is getting a small utility buff. He’ll now be able to scan care packages even after an ally has already scanned it, recharging his ultimate.
• Revenant will be seeing a significant ultimate nerf. The extension time to his ultimate’s duration from downing an enemy combatant will be reduced from 30 seconds to 3 seconds.

These changes seem to suggest a general attempt to rebalance operators, and it looks likely that Apex is eventually heading for a stable balance between offensive and defensive Legends. There’s an argument to be made however that these changes will once again shift power towards defensive playstyles, with Catalyst’s place as one of the best controllers comparatively weakening, Revenant’s ultimate being sledgehammered, and a number of defence characters seeing ultimate buffs.

Weapon changes and rotations

The other half of the picture is weapon changes, as well as crafting and care package rotations. There’s a lot to be said about all of these.

In terms of weapon changes, fans of the Sentinel, Boeck Compound Bow, and Charge Rifle will be pleased. All three will have larger projectiles to improve hit rate at long range. The Bow is getting some especially close attention, and will receive a faster draw rate and tighter blast spread to make it a more competitive mid-range weapon.

It’s not good news for all weapons though. The 30-30 Repeater will get a wider spread on hipfire, making it far less accurate when used like this. The Hemlock is also going to receive a damage reduction.

If you’re a fan of the L-star or Wingman, you’re news for this season is the best of all. These are Season 19’s care package rotations. Yes, that means a red tier Wingman. The Wingman is of particular note, and it’ll boast a Digital threat holosight, a Skull Piercer Elite attachment, and a Boosted Loader attachment. The former mod will ignore headshot damage reduction modifiers, and the latter will boost reload speed and overflow the magazine when reloading near the end of a clip.

Last but not least, the R301 AR and the Volt SMG will be in the crafter, making them just a bit harder to get your hands on.

These changes all showcase a move toward empowering mid and long range weapons this season, with some choice adjustments to try and moderate the impact to the current meta.

What do these changes mean for the Apex Legends Season 19 meta?

Taking Conduit, the Legend rebalances, and the weapon changes as a whole, what can we expect to see in the landscape of the game’s meta in the coming season?

It looks like Respawn are still working to find that elusive balance between offence and defence in-game. Following the success of Revenant Reborn during Resurrection, the meta is once more going to shift to a defensive posture. Long and mid range weapons will become better candidates, making distance battles and careful planning more rewarding. We expect weapons like the Red Wingman to absolutely dominate the battlefield. With a weaker popular controller, a less overwhelming ultimate Revenant, and more capable defenders, the arrival of a versatile support option in Conduit is likely going to reward more cohesive play. A disorganised or disparate assault team is going to struggle this season, but good cohesion and tactical sense will open opportunities to exploit unprepared foes. In all, expect a broad but shallow improvement for defensive play, with the potential for smart attackers to shine this season. It’ll be interesting to see how this is then built upon following the Season 20 release date.

That’s everything we’ve got for you on the Apex Legends Season 19 meta. If you want an overview of the Apex Legends Season 19 start time, end date, cross progression, battle pass, Post Malone collaboration event, the Uprising event skins, and more, we’ve got you covered in extensive guides. Alternatively if you’re curious how we’ve placed Conduit against the best Legends ranked in Apex, check out our tier list.

Are there new weapons arriving in Apex Legends Season 19?

No. There won’t be any new weapons coming in Season 19 of Apex Legends.

What’s the best weapon in Apex Legends Season 19?

The best weapon in Apex Legends Season 19 is the Wingman, which is now a red-grade care package weapon. It ignores head armour and can overflow the magazine when reloading near the end of a clip.