Apex Legends is gearing up for one of the most significant overhauls to what we know of Kings Canyon in its upcoming season. The Apex Legends Season 8 Kings Canyon map will have a ton of changes and a departure from what we knew about it the last time we saw it. 

Kings Canyon is the original battle royale map that Apex Legends launched with basically two years ago when the game shadow dropped onto modern consoles and PC. So, there is no better way to celebrate the two years since its launch than to bring back the fan-favorite map. 

That is what developer Respawn Entertainment will do with the Apex Legends Season 8 Kings Canyon map, as it will be returning from the dead for yet another opportunity. Fans of this map have missed it dearly as it has been gone for several months and an entire season. 

That was because Season 7 saw the launch of the third map in the game: Olympus. This new location meant that Respawn decided to make Kings Canyon take a backseat while it and the second map World’s Edge, were the seventh season’s focal points.

But that is all changing with the eighth season of content that will be dropping very soon. In this new season titled Mayhem, we will see the long-awaited return of Kings Canyon to the game. It will be the focus once more as the main map for the season. 

Or, at least, the first half of the season. During the first split for Season 8, it will be the ranked map that all ranked players will have to play on for that game mode, while Olympus will be the other map available this season. But players won’t just see Kings Canyon return familiarly.

Instead, the Apex Legends Season 8 Kings Canyon map will be very different from when we last saw it. With the launch of the new Fuse legend, this explosive character has taken it upon himself to make a splash in the Apex Games and blow up much of the map, opening up new areas and reshaping old ones. Here’s everything you need to know about the Apex Legends Season 8 Kings Canyon map. 

When it comes to the Apex Legends Season 8 Kings Canyon map, Respawn Entertainment helped us out by breaking down what it is all about. When the developer revisited this fan-favorite location, some goals were in mind with what it wanted to do with the map. 

For starters, there is the fact that the team wanted to ensure that it was telling a story with the Kings Canyon map, one that would be told over the entire course of the eighth season. This would expand the size of the map and give new options for players all around it. 

The focal point for the changes happening to the beloved location in Season 8 is the crashed ship that landed on the part of the arena. The northern section of the map has been shaped by this, offering new gameplay for players, new locations that have never been seen before, and a story to roll out over time. 

Respawn focused on making sure that the new Apex Legends Season 8 Kings Canyon map has more interesting drop points in the northwestern corner of the arena that will be appealing to players than before and better rotations of areas like Artillery, the Pit, Containment, and Runoff.

Another goal in this was to add an entirely new section for new places for teams to drop at the start of the map and spread out the more densely-packed areas with smaller points of interest to make sure there is room on the map and fewer chokepoints. 

Another goal for the team was to create a new map mechanic for players to use to create a higher ground for them to use and gain a powerful combat position. And the final goal was to give new armories so that players can gear up quickly and have more thought into what they are doing.

The result is the new Apex Legends Season 8 Kings Canyon map that players will be able to check out when the new content drops on Tuesday, Feb. 2. It all begins with the massive gunship crash site and how it has changed the Kings Canyon location forever. 

As mentioned already, a large ship has crashed onto the Kings Canyon map in Season 8. Fuse did this as his debut into the Apex Games was met with a final act of sabotage in his grand entrance that blew up part of the map and brought down a massive gunship. 

The Fuse character is an explosive grenadier who specializes in explosions, so this act is no surprise. When his entrance brought down the ship, it came down and took out an entire mountainside of the arena with it. This mountainside was previously blocking players from going there. 

But the destruction has opened up a massive, previously unplayable portion of the map and expanded Kings Canyon in the process. The lingering smoke from the ship can be seen around the map, and the ship’s contamination has altered the water. 

This has all turned into a new named location in the north known as Crash Site. At this new location, players will find the downed ship sticking out of the ground. This massive ship is seemingly explorable, at least on the outside, with numerous ramps and scaffolds to fight on. 

Respawn is touting the Crash Site as one of those classic King of the Hill locations with the ship as the main hill. This tall power position is one that is ready for someone to take it. Teams can approach it and fight on there in various areas as you climb around it and look for loot to pick up. 

The Crash Site’s varied and complex gameplay will likely make it the most popular location in Season 8 on Kings Canyon and potentially beyond that. When you aren’t on the ship, there are multiple Echo stations (more on these soon) on the sides of the ship with even more loot and some breathing room as you plan your attack on the ship itself. 

While the Crash Site will be a significant focus of Kings Canyon in Season 8, it is far from the only thing happening on the map. Beyond that, there are other changes to the arena. Much of it is directly caused by the crash of the gunship in the north. 

One of these changes is for Artillery, a location that was one of my favorite landing spots in the past on the Kings Canyon map. The explosion has affected this point of interest and resulted in an exciting new back door entrance that you can enter through.

Where players would previously have a simple deadend location to find some loot, and that is it, there is now the entrance to the northern region where the Crash Site is located. This is an impressive entrance that should make heading to Artillery more reasonable and viable in Season 8. 

But the fun doesn’t stop there as it would be unfortunate if this were all when it comes to entering the new area. Having only one entrance would not be enough, so another one is found in the tunnel to the east of Artillery.

This location where you can head to Containment will now have a hole in the wall that leads to the northern region. So, players can pick which way they want to proceed after landing somewhere like Crash Site and having multiple options for going next. 

Though Skull Town’s destruction made Kings Canyon a bit smaller in the past, Season 8 is making sure that it gets bigger and more complex than ever before. With the ship’s crash, much of the water in the arena has been contaminated by the fuel and other parts of the ship. 

This resulted in the Slum Lakes wiped off of the map and something new showing up in its place. This new named location is known as Spotted Lakes, named after the unusual spots found in the flooded, contaminated waters in this point of interest. 

New buildings are here for players to explore in this swampy area. There are some Echo camps set up around the location to find out a way to decontaminate it. There is even a dam created to reverse the damage that has been caused. 

Because of this, the Leviathan creatures appeared near the new Spotted Lakes location to see what is going on here. The dam is in the middle of the new point of interest and is the power location for teams to fight over at point of interest. 

It also divides the named location, with one camp on each side where teams can gear up and take the fight to the central dam. Players will find some close combat scenarios in the indoor areas here and a new rotation that takes from the Pit to Spotted Lakes. There is even a point where you can ride a long zipline to the crashed ship. 

One of the more scenic changes to the Kings Canyon map is ensuring that players have more options when rotating between points of interest. One of the issues with the previous Slum Lakes was accessing the other locations like Runoff and Airbase. 

That changed with part of the mountainside brought down in the middle of the explosion and uncovering some Leviathan bones. These uncovered bones have brought with them a unique new pathway that will take you to Runoff, making the entire northwestern corner more accessible and appealing. 

Also joining the uncovered bones in Season 8 is the crossing of the river. Three Echo outposts are near there, trying to check the contaminated water supply down the river’s length. This organization is trying its best to ensure that the water is drinkable on the map. 

With the addition of the Echo outposts down the river in the Kings Canyon map’s main part in Season 8, some bridges will add new focal points and new combat chokepoints for teams to fight each other across. 

When it comes to the Echo camps, some observation towers have been set up at some of them. There are four of these towers in total on the map. They are there to give the players a nice view of the surrounding area. 

They are high up, overlooking much of the Kings Canyon map. But the problem is that you can only raise these observation towers by interacting with its wall panel to raise them. However, this comes at the cost of revealing your position, as nearby players will be able to hear them rising. 

That said, the risk might be worth it, especially in those later circles when you might want to snipe the other players who are on the map. But you will also give away your position. There is a zipline that gives easy access to your point if someone wants to take you out. 

And the final locations added to the map are several Mobile armories. These are known as explosive holds. They are scattered around the arena. They are explosive because using a well-placed explosive item will allow you to blow open the doors to its goodies inside. 

Inside of the explosive holds, you will find weapons, ammo, and valuable attachments to win the match. These will also take the bunkers that were previously on the map and have since been caved in due to the explosion from the crashed ship.