When is Apex Legends Season 20? Start date & what to expect

Apex Legends is rapidly approaching its 20th season, which will also coincide with the game’s 5th anniversary. Here’s when the next season of Apex will start, and what it will include.

Apex Legends launched all the way back in February 2019, and almost five years on, there’s been a full 19 seasons worth of updates and additions to the battle royale.

But, time has also taken its toll on the game, with the player count dropping in the last 12 months, with lots of new games stealing the spotlight – most recently, Palworld.

So, Season 20 of Apex is a big one for the game, as Respawn will aim to bring back old players and interest brand-new ones. Here’s what you need to know.

When does Season 20 of Apex Legends start?

Apex Legends Season 20 will start on Tuesday, February 13, 2024. This has been confirmed by the developers.

New seasons roll out at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT, although pre-loading the update is usually possible for PlayStation players.

What to expect in Apex Season 20

There is no new legend, map or weapon this season – instead, Respawn are making some major overhauls to existing sytems, including the Legends, armor, ranked, replicators and more.

The update also releases one week after the 5th anniversary, so there is anniversary collection event to grind through too.

Legend Upgrades and armor changes

The big change this season is the introduction of the Legend upgrade system

This will allow you two opportunities per game to add new tools to your Legend’s arsenal, earned through gaining evo points. Here’s a full explanation of the new Legend upgrade system.

As a result of this new system, shield will no longer be a loot item, and can also only be upgraded through evo points. You can still perform shield swaps from deathboxes though thanks to ‘shield cores’.

Ranked overhaul

In Season 20, Respawn is moving the Ranked mode back to a Season 13 style system.

That means RP is returning in place of RP, and there is no more hidden MMR. Instead, matchmaking will be entirely based on your current RP level.

There’s also a new, more in-depth, match summary screen, so you can see exactly where your RP came from. Check out a full break-down of the ranked system here.

Respawn Entertainment

New LTMs

Respawn is doubling down on new modes this season, with the highlight being Straight Shot. This is a sped up version of the standard battle royale mode. With only 30 players total, the matches will take place on a smaller section of the maps, and the final ring will arrive at around the 10 minute mark.

There’s also a new “TDM-Style” mode called Lockdown, and Three Strikes will return later in the season.

For Mixtape, there’s a new Thunderdome map, inspired by the old Kings Canyon POI, with a live audience watching on as you battle it out.

There’s more to look forward to as well, including the 5th Anniversary collection event, legend and weapon balancing, and a lot of lore to dig into for fans of the Apex story.

The new Season of Apex will go live on all platforms on February 13.