In season 16, Revelry, Apex Legends saw some of the biggest improvements to the firing range yet, with vastly expanded settings to support better practice routines for players warming up inside of it. Heading into season 17 on May 9, Respawn is taking things a step further with a “totally overhauled” firing range that players have come to be accustomed to.
Taking place on an entirely refreshed map, Apex’s second take on the firing range features new areas such as a dueling pit, a town, and a section dedicated to honing your movement skills.
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Josh Mohan, Respawn’s lead game designer, walked us through the changes for the firing range during a recent press event. With both the new season, Arsenal, and the new legend Ballistic so centered around the weapons we wield in the battle royale, it was only fitting to the team at Respawn that the firing range receives some love as well. But the needs of an ever-evolving player base were outgrowing the small map Apex started with, so it was time for something entirely new.
“We’ve added a new map, there’s a bunch of new areas,” Mohan said. “We’ve expanded what’s in the existing targets and dummies area and we’ve also added combat options to the dummies so they can now fire back at you.”
The combat options being added to the dummies are an evolution on what the last season already began, with settings introduced that allowed players to customize the health and movements of the dummies on the field. With the targets now able to fire back, both new and experienced players will be able to better simulate actual encounters for their warm-up session.
The ability to better simulate the play-by-play action in an Apex game was a large influence on the rest of the firing range changes as well. “The new areas are a town in the back that will simulate more, you know, doors and windows and buildings—more realistic scenarios,” Mohan said. “We’ve added a dueling pit that allows players to fight one-on-one. And then a movement area which allows players to practice movement tech.”
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Much-requested quality-of-life updates are on the agenda too, as the new and improved firing range will finally let players join their friends in a firing range session that’s already in progress. No longer will you need to return to the lobby and re-launch the firing range to get new people in.
Players will be able to try out all the new bells and whistles that come with Apex’s upgraded firing range when season 17 launches on Tuesday, May 9.
