Apex Legends Evo Shields could become starting armor in Season 6

Apex Legends may be set for an armor overhaul, with dynamic Evo Shields potentially in line to become starting equipment heading into the battle royale’s sixth season, according to a cheeky tease from a Respawn developer this week.

Evo Shields have been widely regarded as a fairly strong addition to the Apex Legends battle royale metagame since their debut back in the System Override event in March 2020.

The Apex Legends shields were added to promote fighting; players earn level-ups for their armor sets with every elimination. Evo Shields improve from a single armor bar to two, then four, then five, depending on your kills.

After a brief time in the “Deja Loot” limited-time mode, the power-up shields were added to a raft of Apex Legends’ playlists. This included the battle royale’s ranked modes on Kings Canyon and World’s Edge.

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Evo Shields may be going one step further, and becoming one of Apex’s core armor items that players drop with in every match from Season 6 onward, according to a recent tease on Reddit from Respawn developer Daniel Klein.

Apex Legends could make Evo Shields starting armor

The upgradeable armor plates have been a fan-favorite since their Apex Legends debut. In a recent discussion on the new ‘Always Be Closing Evolved’ LTM, one Apex fan even suggested they should be “mandatory,” and dubbed them the “best addition to the game by far.”

Enter Apex Legends developer Daniel Klein, who has been working for the battle royale since mid-Season 3.

He responded that he thought Evo Shields becoming “mandatory” would be a fairly “good idea” heading into Season 6. There are a few kinks Klein said Respawn would want to work out before making a permanent armor, however.

Potential issues with teased Evo Shield changes

One issue is the chance a player drops far away from where the majority of the lobby has landed. That means there’s no chance to level-up your starting Evo Shield, which is “100%” a problem, said Klein.

“I’d love to attack [read, solve] ‘I wanna fight another squad but I can’t find anyone’ in the game,” he continued, “but even outside of that we’d find a way to fix the ‘I never met anyone so my Evo sucks’ problem if we were to ship Evo only.”

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The other problem is handing players starting armor right off the bat reduces the “opening scramble” battle royale players have come to know and love. Respawn would aim to “find a way to maintain that,” Klein promised.

When could Evo Shields become starting armor?

The Apex Legends dev didn’t mention any kind of potential date for this to begin, though that does make sense; he was just responding to the suggestion, after all. Respawn may have it planned, but they’ve announced nothing just yet.

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If the armor change does go through, it wouldn’t be until the start of Season 6. That is likely to arrive on Tuesday, August 18, so nothing would be officially swapped over before then. 

If you can’t wait to get your fill of Evo Shields, though, they’ll also be back as starting items in the “Always Be Closing Evolved” LTM. That upgraded limited-time mode is expected to begin on August 11 as part of the last Season 5 event.