Apex Legends Season 14 Start Date, New Legend Vantage, And Everything We Know

Apex Legends Season 14, Hunted, is set to begin just under a week from now. Naturally, as the current season winds down, players are growing more curious about the contents of Season 14, especially as theories and questions overtake social media in response to some shocking leaks that appear to be somewhat accurate.

Not much information on the upcoming season is currently available, but between the series of leaks posted to the /r/ApexUncovered subreddit, some hidden hints from Respawn, and various Season 14 trailers, we've managed to piece some of the picture together. Keep reading for a rundown everything we know is coming to Apex Legends with the release of Season 14: Hunted.

When does Season 14 start?

Season 14 is set to launch on August 9 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET, with official patch notes likely following shortly thereafter.

A new ranged-weapon legend, Vantage

Season 14's new legend was recently confirmed to be Vantage, a sniper-focused legend whose appearance and abilities were leaked alongside eight other upcoming legends back in March. Respawn has shared some details about her personality (as well as her rule-breaking tendencies), and her abilities have now been confirmed.

We also know a bit about who Vantage is as a person. Her full name is Xiomara Contrares and she was born to Xenia Contrares, an escaped inmate who was a passenger on a Gaean detention ship that was most likely on its way to a prison facility. For reasons unknown, it crashed on the icy, abandoned planet Pàgos, leaving the pregnant Xenia as the only survivor of the crash. The ship's name--the G.D.S. Vantage--is where Xiomara's callsign comes from. As a result of deciding to go against her mother's wishes and explore the ship's wreckage, Xiomara discovered that nearly everything her mother had told her about the world and her family's past was a lie. After barely escaping the ship's vicious security system, Xiomara's mother activated her personal distress beacon, resulting in Vantage and her mother being picked up by the authorities. Xenia was sentenced to prison--interestingly, this is the same prison Mad Maggie spends her time in between matches--and Vantage joining the Apex Games with the goal of bringing attention to her mother's legal plight.

The resurrection of Skull Town

Kings Canyon is getting a complete makeover this season, with the Season 14 map update page on EA's official Apex Legends website reading, "Time changes everything, and Kings Canyon is no exception. What will rise from the ashes of the past?" until the day the launch trailer was released. After this, it became a blog post detailing all of the changes Season 14 will bring to Kings Canyon.

These changes include the popular POI known as Skull Town quite literally rising from the grave. Players have lamented the loss of Skull town since Loba blew it off the map in Season 5, especially due to how much smaller its destruction made Kings Canyon. The area has been under construction since Loba destroyed it, with a massive animal skull (possibly a Leviathan) dangling from a crane and a few small building serving as a replacement for the obliterated part of the map.

Many players are glad to see the POI restored for both nostalgic and strategic reasons, as well as happy to see the map size expanded to give squads some extra breathing room. The location has also been given a new name: Relic. Whether the playerbase will adjust to this new name or continue referring to it as Skull Town remains to be seen.

But Skull Town isn't the only POI getting some attention in Season 14--Cage, Hillside Outpost, and Broken Relay will also be transformed in an effort to prevent third-partying, with Broken Relay receiving a new name: Basin.

Another interesting map-related detail is the fact Skull Town has repeatedly been described as "rising from the ashes." Lots of lore-heavy discoveries--from Singh Labs to the Revenant factory to Ash herself--have been found beneath Kings Canyon, and the repeated mentions of "ashes from the past" could suggest some Ash-related environmental lore may also appear in Kings Canyon this season.

Wild cosmetics

A hunting- or safari-themed event appears to be in the works, as dataminers have uncovered a collection of cosmetic items that reflect a wildlife theme. Cosmetics include character skins, weapon charms, and banner frames. These could be battle pass items, but there are relatively few of them, so most players and dataminers assume these items are part of a limited-time event.

A mobile crossover

Gun Game recently debuted as one of two new limited-time modes in the mobile version of Apex Legends. The mode requires players to work their way through a collection of weapons, gaining points as they kill other players. The team with the most points wins--but that can be bypassed by executing three melee kills, which instantly wins you the game.

Recent leaks have suggested that both Gun Game and some form of Capture the Flag will be headed to Apex Legends in Season 14. If mobile-first game modes are potentially heading to console and PC, who's to say the same can't be said for the mobile-first legends?

A level cap increase

The Apex Legends website also confirms some information that was leaked earlier this season: The level cap is finally getting an increase. While the official site doesn't mention how many levels are being added, leaks suggest the cap is being raised by 200, for a total of 700 levels as opposed to the current 500. This is welcome news for longtime players who have been stuck at level 500 for an extended period of time, as players no longer receive Apex Packs for leveling up once they reach the level cap.

Any reports of new features and gameplay changes that are based solely on leaks should be taken with a grain of salt until they are verified, but it's hard to deny that many of them would make excellent additions to Apex Legends. So far, players have reacted to many of the leaks with optimism, but until Season 14's additions to the game are confirmed, you might just want to stick to practicing your Gun Game skills in Season 2 of Apex Legends Mobile.