The Apex Legends season 17: Arsenal update is changing up World’s Edge with a number of map adjustments, including two new POIs, fresh lighting, and a bit of chasm removal. Much of the lava will now be traversable on foot as the region cools down and becomes less volatile. Beyond that, a few fan-favourite spots in the FPS game have been either shifted or replaced to give World’s Edge a fresh feeling for the first time since season 10.
During a recent press event attended by PCGamesN, Respawn’s lead map designer, Jeff Shaw, provided plenty of info on the map update from a design standpoint.
“We’ve tweaked, and tuned, and balanced a bunch of the map’s components, even down to changing the map’s lighting and sky,” Shaw said. This time around, World’s Edge has received the Kings Canyon treatment from season 14 in terms of visual improvements.
World’s Edge is in the process of healing, which means that the fissures and floaty chasms found across the map are being filled in to allow for quicker movement. The remaining lava has risen, allowing you to walk across it at the cost of a bit of health.
The most notable changes, however, are the new Monument and Stacks POIs. Monument is a structure that acts as a sort of museum bunker, and it mixes Fragment with the map’s center – you can see it in the header image above. Stacks, on the other hand, is a group of tall construction buildings that fully replace Lava City to the southeast.
“We knew we needed to do something to shake up the map’s center,” said Shaw when outlining the changes made to the ever-popular Fragment hotspot. “It’s been a long time coming [and] that brings us to Monument… it’s a museum that celebrates Apex’s past, present, and future.”
Shaw describes Monument as a reminder of how far Apex Legends has come since launch. From a gameplay standpoint, it serves as an underground bunker with a sniper nest up top, and a glass ceiling separating its top and bottom halves to provide intel on what’s happening on both ends.
In contrast, Stacks is a much more vertical POI with interconnected rooftops. The Fragment construction building is the heart of this new location, and it’s the perfect playground for crafty Legends like Wraith or Octane.
You’ll be able to learn the ins and outs of the World’s Edge map changes for yourself when the Apex Legends season 17 release date rolls around on May 9. Ahead of then, be sure to check out our Apex Legends tier list to see where your faves are currently ranking.