Respawn Entertainment has done it once again and released the largest new season of battle royale for Apex Legends. Apex Legends Season 7 Ascension is almost here (or already here, depending on when you read this) and brings with it a new map, hero, significant changes, and more.

For starters, the Apex Legends Season 7 patch notes have already been released by EA ahead of the new season’s launch. That said, you can check this post out right now to see what is new and changing when the season does drop.

Apex Legends Season 7 will begin tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 8 p.m. PT for all of the various platforms the game is on. For those of you reading this, the season may be already here. So, read on to see everything that you need to know about this seventh season.

There is a new character to play in every new season of battle royale for this game, and that doesn’t change in Apex Legends Season 7. The new hero is Horizon, but that isn’t any surprise to anyone who has been playing the game and recently reading up on the lore.

Respawn didn’t let this be a secret or surprise this time around, but surprising is the skillset that this hero has available to her. Horizon is the newest legend in the game; a brilliant scientist focused on manipulating gravity to her advantage.

The Ascension name for Season 7 isn’t just for the new map that we will get into in a moment but also for Horizon and her abilities. She is connected to the new arena in battle royale and has deep motivations that have inspired her to do well in the Apex Games.

She isn’t alone either, as she has a robot companion named Newt, who helps her out with certain powers. Here is what we know about her abilities at this time. Her passive ability is called Spacewalk and allows her to manipulate gravity naturally as she plays.

With this passive ability, you can increase the air control that Horizon has and reduce fall impacts with her custom spacesuit. That is the vague description that we have from the patch notes, so we will have to wait and see how it works in practice.

The tactical ability that you will be mainly using most often is Gravity Lift. This tactical allows Horizon to reverse the flow of gravity and lift players upward into the air and boost them outward when they exit this strange gravity-defying space.

And then last but not least, we have her ultimate ability that is known as Black Hole. This one has Horizon deploy her Newt companion to create a little black hole that will suck in nearby players. Overall, it seems like she is the crowd control legend that we have been waiting for.

For now, though, we will have to wait and see until we can play her in Season 7. Stay tuned for our full guide to Horizon and how to play her online soon.

For only the second time since the initial launch of Apex Legends, the game is introducing a brand new map. The third map in the game, Olympus, joins World’s Edge and Kings Canyon as the next one. Olympus is a massive sky city where players can explore, fight, and hopefully not fall off of the edge.

It is a utopia in the clouds that floats above the planet of Psamathe and has been largely abandoned up until now. The once luxurious city was home to some of the most brilliant minds in the galaxy, but the creation of the Phase Rift left it abandoned.

There are various parts of the city, including the massive towers, beautiful gardens, restaurants, streets, and more that will make up your new battle royale map. Getting around this map will be interesting by introducing the first vehicle in Apex Legends: the Trident.

The Trident is a hover car that is exclusive to the Olympus map. You can fit your entire team inside the vehicle and zoom around the map, which is great for reaching the next circle. It has a boost available to it and is invulnerable to damage, so there is little reason to abandon it.

However, if players shoot at the vehicle, the players inside it will still take damage even if the vehicle does not keep that in mind. Given its indestructible nature, this could be like a mobile base for your team to use as even cover in those late-game fights.

To usher you into the new Olympus map in Apex Legends Season 7, a new limited-time mode will stick around for a little while known as Olympus Preview. This very special game mode is all about exploration rather than being the last squad standing.

There is no fighting in Olympus Preview whatsoever as you and up to 29 other legends will gather in this smaller game mode to explore the new map. Maybe you want to see what the new city is all about and learn its named locations and areas.

Perhaps you want to use this as a chance to figure out your favorite landing areas and how you will progress through the different circles in a match. Or you want a relaxing time to check out the map, see how the loot pool is designed, and take in the fresh sights and sounds of Olympus.

Circles are still on in this mode, so players can see how it will work in the main matches. After the fourth circle, players will skydive again to explore once more. You will have three runs in total before that match ends. The Olympus Preview mode will only be available for one week.

Clubs make their debut in Season 7 as well, offering a brand new community feature. You can make guild-like groups to connect, show your tag online in matches, and create a community of like-minded players. For more on clubs and how they work, make sure to check out our recent rundown.

You might be happy to know that the long-awaited release of the Steam version of Apex Legends is finally here. PC players who aren’t fans of the EA Origin service will no longer have to use that to enjoy some battle royale matches online.

You will now be able to download the game on Steam when the new season drops and play it there. The best part is cross-play with the Origin service and cross-progression, so you can log into your account and keep playing with the same account and cosmetics you already had on Origin.

Players who log into the new Steam version for a limited time after launch will receive the free Half-Life and Portal-inspired weapon charms. A new season of battle royale wouldn’t be complete without a new battle pass for you to progress through.

What is interesting about this season is that Respawn has made some major changes to the battle pass, especially when it comes to how progression works. The battle pass is more stars-based this season, with 10 stars giving you access to the next tier on the pass.

Challenges will no longer give points to you and, instead, give you stars as part of this significant change. Challenges will grant you between one and five stars, depending on the difficulty of the challenge. This should simplify the system in this new season.

Some general changes are being made this season, especially when it comes to quality of life improvements. One of these has to do with the attachments. When you pick up a better attachment for your weapon, the old one will automatically move to your other gun if it is a better fit for it.

When it comes to crafting, weapons have been removed from the crafting pool and replaced by shield batteries. You won’t be able to make guns anymore through crafting, but you will make other items. Also, no one will be able to pick up your crafted items until five seconds after finishing unless you ping it for them.

Air drops have changed colors in this update to give you a clear picture of whether it is a standard air drop, one from Lifeline, or one from the Replicator crafting. There are new voiceover lines for characters for things like using certain items. You can now ping ammo in your inventory to request some from your team.

Unfortunately, the addition of the new Olympus map in Apex Legends Season 7 means that Kings Canyon is being vaulted yet again. For the first two weeks, players will only have access to Olympus, with World’s Edge joining the game after that.

As for the ranked rotation, the first half of the split this season will focus on the new Olympus map, but the second half will switch to World’s Edge. Unfortunately, we are unsure when Kings Canyon will make its return.

There is quite a bit of balancing made in the new season regarding the various legends. There are significant changes to many of them. The first that we will cover is Bangalore. Her Rolling Thunder ability changed slightly in this update.

The time for the explosion to occur is now six seconds instead of eight seconds. That means that players have less time to get away before the explosion goes off, so players will need to be swift and flexible. Then there is Caustic, who has a major change.

The Nox Gas Trap/Grenade changed considerably. Players will no longer have blurred vision while in the gas, which is excellent news, but this change comes with the fact that the gas will now be more powerful in exchange. Damage will now be six-12, instead of four-10.

On the Mirage side of things, his decoys for all of his abilities now have 45 health, so they will take considerably longer to take out. This isn’t to make them shields for the legend, though, as bullets will pass through the decoys and still hit anything behind them, so watch out for that.

Octane has a minor change but an important one. The Swift Mend passive ability will now heal the character one health point per second, instead of half a point per second. This means that it will take about 100 seconds to heal fully if you are on the edge of death. Not a huge change, but it makes the passive more viable overall.

Most non-competitive teams don’t use Wattson, but there is a minor boost to her Perimeter Security ability to make her more interesting to everyone. Her fences will now damage players 15 points per touch, rather than 10, which is a decent improvement.

Loba’s Black Market ability has been improved some in this new season to, hopefully, make her a better character. Black Market will no longer count ammo towards the max that you can take. This allows the player to take all of the ammo within range without worrying about hitting the max.

When it comes to the second-most recent legend, Rampart, she has some nice improvements in this update. Her Sheila turret will now only take 1.25 seconds to set up rather than two seconds like it was before. And Amped Wall will now take three seconds to deploy rather than four seconds.

For Pathfinder, there are some interesting changes to one of the most popular legends around. He no longer needs to be on the ground for the Grappling Hook ability to be considered finished. The max cool down has been lowered to 30 seconds as well.

For more on the significant changes and additions released in Apex Legends Season 7, check out the full list, including weapon changes and more on the EA website here.