Everything we know about Apex Legends Season 6, from start date to Rampart

Apex Legends Season 5 introduced us to the master thief Loba, but the splashy new Season 6 is nearly here, bringing with it a brand-new Legend that's unlike anyone that's come before her.

Here's everything we know about Apex Legends Season 6, including Rampart, the latest Legend to enter the Apex Games.

Apex Legends Season 5 end date

Based on the in-game battle pass for Season 5, the current Apex Legends season is slated to end on or around August 17, 2020.

Season 5 began on May 12, 2020. Every Apex Legends season thus far has lasted around three months, so a mid-August matches up with our previous expectations. This also means that the transition between seasons will be almost seamless.

Apex Legends Season 6 start date

The official launch date for Apex Legends Season 6 is August 18, 2020.

Is there a trailer for Season 6?

Yes! Respawn Entertainment released the Season 6 launch trailer on August 6, 2020.

The trailer opens on a rocket about to blast off into space, but then it proceeds backward in time showing the many Legends fighting one another and dying in all sorts of ways. We do see Bangalore standing behind some kind of energy shield that protects her, but she's able to fire her gun through it. The last character shown is Ramya Parekh, aka Rampart, as she fires some kind of huge mounted minigun.

"Right on!" she says at the end of the trailer aboard the dropship. "Sheila and I are ready to dance." And with a colorful neon splash, the trailer confirms the Season 6 launch date of August 18.

What is the Apex Legends Season 6 theme?

The season's launch trailer confirms that the Season 6 theme is "Boosted."

Who is Rampart in Apex Legends Season 6?

After her debut in the Season 6 launch trailer, Rampart became the focus in a new "Stories From the Outlands" video published August 11. "While running her own modding shop, Ramya Parekh (aka Rampart) built her rep in underground gauntlet circuits," the description reads. "But success has a way of making enemies. Good thing she knows how to use all those fancy weapons she’s upgraded…"

In the animated mini-episode, Rampart hangs out at a bar with Bangalore and Gibraltar, and she has a competitive rivalry with Bangalore that's entertaining to watch as the badass women challenge each other in an amicable way. Later, members of a gang attack her, knock her out, and set fire to her shop. During the confrontation, she deploys an energy shield that's the same one we saw Bangalore firing from behind in the Season 6 launch trailer. When she comes to, the villain from Titanfall 2, Kuben Blisk, shows up and offers her a ticket into the Apex Games.

"Recruited by the Outlands most ruthless mercenary Blisk, Rampart is never one to back down from a fight -- and so this street modder's journey into the Apex Arena kicks off following an ambush in her small shop," official materials from Respawn read. "And while Rampart’s cheeky, humorous demeanor might differ from other vendetta-driven Legends, her hunger for victory is no laughing matter."

A long-standing rumor had confirmed Rampart as the next legend many months ago. This was deduced using a development sheet that leaked shortly after Apex launched in 2019.

The sheet lists Crypto, Revenant, and Loba at the top, meaning they were in testing phases when the sheet leaked. The top row has acted as an effective queue for the last year. We can certainly continue to trust it for characters in the pipeline. With that in mind, Rampart is placed directly after Loba, implying they were the next to be implemented — except the early concept looks very different.

What are Rampart's abilities in Apex Legends Season 6?

According to some data-mined files, Rampart's abilities were initially leaked in June 2020 but have since been clarified.:

• Amped Cover (Tactical) – Build cover with an upper barrier that blocks incoming shots and boosts the damage of outgoing shots.
• Gunner (Passive) — Boost to light machine gun (LMG) mag capacity and reload rate.
• Fixer (Passive) — Swapping to melee allows you to repair any friendly structures.
• Cover Fire (Passive) — Firing from cover overcharges your gun damage.
• Emplaced HMG (Ultimate) — Place a mounted machine gun that anyone can use. High ammo capacity, long reload time. Requires heavy ammo. (This ability was previously named "My Friend Maxim".)

Three active and two passive abilities seems a bit unbelievable at face value. Most characters have 1 active tactical ability, 1 passive ability, and 1 ultimate ability. A number of Legends also have other perks mixed in as well, so for her to have this many abilities could mean that most Legends are getting a rework as well.

Every single one of these abilities theoretically stacks, but they also virtually require that Rampart always focus on carrying LMGs, namely Devotion and Spitfire. One potential drawback is that all of these abilities are only useful in a fight and have no utility outside of a firefight.

In theory, Rampart can deploy some cover (that she can repair at will), and if she fires an LMG from behind it, that weapon will have a boost to mag capacity, reload rate, and damage will be overcharged — even more so if that LMG is her Ultimate's LMG.

What else is new in Apex Legends Season 6?

Based on the trailer including a rocket launch, Season 6 may go to an entirely new map, but that remains to be seen. The Season 5 storyline does hint at characters traveling to a new planet, so it seems possible.

There will also be a new crafting system: "Don't like your gear?" the season's official site reads. "Collect materials around the map and build something better!" That certainly fits with Rampart's aesthetic as a weapon modder. This will definitely change how people play the game. Rather than hunting down your favorite weapons that spawn randomly, you could instead collect the materials needed to build whatever you want. But how plentiful will be those materials? And how expensive will all the various items be?

In another potentially huge shakeup, one Apex Legends developer hinted on Reddit that Evo Shields — that offer increased protection the more damage you deal — could become the default in Season 6.

Apex Legends Season 6 will launch later in 2020.