Apex Legends Season 14's Vantage will bring sniping like no hero has yet

Sniper rifles and characters that can reposition well are no strange thing in Apex Legends, but we’ve never had a character that was built to specialize primarily in both. Enter Vantage as part of Season 14. Electronic Arts and Respawn Interactive treated me to an early look at what’s going on with Season 14 and its newest Legend, and she’s looking like she just might be a key part of long-range meta in the game this coming season.

The hunt is on

You may have seen previous posting on the upcoming Legend Vantage, but we got a much more detailed breakdown of what she and her little bat companion Echo can do here. Vantage’s kit is as follows:

Passive - Spotter’s Lens

When looking down the sights of any scoped weapon, Vantage can gain and call out unique information on any opponent squad, including the legend type, their shield rarity, how many squaddies they have left, and the range to them.

Tactical - Echo Relocation

For her active ability Vantage brings Echo into play. On a first cast, Vantage sends Echo out to a targeted location some distance from her. Echo will stay there until called back, or you can activate the ability again to utilize Vantage’s jetpack and fly to Echo’s location. This can be used to gain advantageous positions on your opponents. It can also be used to get her to an appropriate sniper nest in a jiffy.

Ultimate - Sniper’s Mark

Vantage deploys a custom sniper rifle. This rifle can be used to reveal enemies with its scope and ammunition. By hitting an opponent with a shot, the target will be highlighted with a diamond marker for squad mates for 10 seconds. What’s more, Vantage gets bonus damage from multiple hits on the same target.

Vantage is going to be big for players and squads that like to operate from a distance. She’s built to supply a variety of information, reposition herself to get good angles on foes, and kill effectively at range. Her abilities even tell her how far a bullet will drop on its way to a target, which can be hugely helpful to those who aren’t good at judging Apex’s bullet physics.

There are a lot of characters that are going to be great in sync with Vantage’s long-range specialization, too. Rampart can give Vantage some extra defense and bonus damage for her sniping, Newcastle can follow her with his shield ultimate to both join her in sniping and give her a big nest to work from. Meanwhile, fast characters like Mad Maggie and Octane can push hard on enemies she points out to them. Simply put, Vantage will fit into a lot of squads with her kit.

Take ad-Vantage of Season 14

Vantage is cool as all get-out, but she’s not the only big thing coming in Season 14. For one, the King’s Canyon map that kicked it all off is returning as well with some unique changes. Where Skull Town used to be is an all-new and interesting point of interest known as Relic while much of the map has faced a terraforming to allow for more ambush points and engagement opportunities.

Just in time for Vantage to take full use of it, the G7 Scout rifle is coming out of the Supply Drops in Season 14 to be part of regular looting, as well as the Volt SMG. In their place, the Bocek Bow, which has been performing quite well, will be going into the crate with the Kraber sniper rifle and Mastiff shotgun. There’s a new rebalancing of all weapons on the way too. SMGs will get a new attachment that makes for interesting choices in close-quarters while the EVA-8 shotgun will be reworked altogether to bring it up to performance with other weapons in its class.

Allowing players to take advantage of all these good new things will be an extended progression system. Apex Legends Season 14 will bring a level cap increase, allowing players to advance past 500 and earn a massive new collection of Apex Packs and Legend Tokens to customize their cosmetics as they’d like.

Grab your rifle, we’re hunting victory

Apex Legends Season 14 is shaping up to be an eventful one. It’s always good to see King’s Canyon back in the rotation and we’ve got plenty more to explore. Between new Legend Vantage, her bat sidekick Echo, weapon swaps and reworks, an upgraded progression system, and more, you’ll have plenty to hunt alongside that sweet Apex Champion win. Just keep your eyes peeled when Season 14 launches. You’ll never know when someone’s got their scope trained on you.

This preview is based on a hands-off showcase of Apex Legends Season 14 content. Apex Legends Season 14 and the new character Vantage launch on August 9, 2022 across PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.