Apex Legends Season 28 brings breakable windows and Evo knockdown shields

Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment has revealed every update coming in Season 28, Breach, including new content, balance changes, and more.

Launching on February 10th, 2026 at 10:00 AM PT, the new season celebrates seven years of Apex Legends with cosmetics, a new map element, Legend updates, and other tweaks that will impact both casual and professional scenes.

Season 28 brings a new map element called Hardlight Meshes, destructible windows offering new ways for teams to breach or fortify a building. These windows can be broken by using weapons, melee attacks, ordnance, and other sources of damage.

The addition of Hardlight Mesh also comes with an update to Controller Legends, such as Wattson and Rampart, who will be the only class that can repair and reinforce these windows.

In a release, Eric Canavese, Lead BR Designer at Respawn Entertainment, said: “With the new Hardlight mechanics, we’re opening the door (and window) to new creative gameplay and combat routes in a way that will have you seeing the maps and the whole roster of Legends with fresh eyes.”

Season 28 also brings a wave of balance changes, bringing less popular Legends up to speed with some of the top meta picks of 2026.

Fuse’s ultimate ability, The Motherload, has been reworked to drop a series of explosives to clear out dug-in positions. Additionally, he gains new upgrades, including an explosive leap (Knuckle Jumper), the option to recharge his ultimate by dealing explosive damage (Reignition), and the ability to drop flames from his ultimate (Pyro Techniques).

Recon Legend Bloodhound is the next character receiving changes this season. They will receive an improved tactical scan alongside a reduced cooldown for their ultimate, Beast of the Hunt. Furthermore, the ultimate’s duration is now extended after knocking down foes. New upgrades include Raven’s Flight, giving white ravens in the Tracker passive a longer range, and Taste of Blood heals Bloodhound when knocking down enemies while the ultimate is active.

Finally, Catalyst will see changes to her kit. Her tactical, Piercing Spikes, can be thrown further and deploy faster, and her Dark Veil ultimate can now be deployed horizontally to obscure chokepoints. She also has two new upgrades, with Hidden Spikes keeping her tactical hidden until activated, and Sole Piercer makes her tactical trigger faster and deal more damage.

The ALGS Year 5 Championship in Sapporo, Japan, exposed the top weapons used by pros in Season 27 of Apex Legends.

The second most popular weapon by kills secured was the G7 Scout marksman rifle, revealing the power of long-ranged weapons in 2026. The new update will move this gun to the care package, while other marksman weapons such as the Bocek Bow, 30-30 Repeater, and Triple Take sniper will be nerfed.

On the other hand, shotguns will see changes in Season 28. The Dual Shell hop-up returns for the Mastiff, the Peacekeeper will receive Disruptor Rounds, and EVA-8 will be reunited with Double Tap.

Outside of weapons, the overall loot pool has been changed. Knockdown shields can no longer be acquired from the map or through bins, and instead will grow alongside the Legend Level with the Evo system, similarly to armour. White (level one) backpacks have also been removed, as players will now start with one equipped at the beginning of each game

Respawn Entertainment will revert changes made to the ranked playlist in Season 26, foregoing the ALGS-style drop-zone format and reverting back to the drop ship. This means that starting from Season 28, players will no longer start in a designated POI at the beginning of a ranked game.

“Our initial intention was to make the ranked experience a bit closer to the ALGS experience by giving you a POI at the beginning of the match,” Said Clement Bachellerie, Lead Designer at Respawn Entertainment, in a release.

“The goal was to reduce early game chaos and achieve cleaner pacing at the beginning and throughout the match, and in that regard, make ranked feel more ‘competitive’.

“After listening to community feedback over two seasons and observing its impact on match dynamics, we decided to roll back this change.”

Elsewhere, the Bot Royale mode has been improved by the developers in Season 28. It now supports up to five full squads of players, while the rest of the lobby is filled with improved bots. Caps have been removed for earning XP, and players can now progress through challenges unrestricted.

Apex Legends commemorates its seventh anniversary with a series of new cosmetics to unlock. Four in-game Legends can be unlocked permanently through community-created challenges, alongside other unique items such as SWAT Pilot skins.

A new Mythic skin will be available for the Peacekeeper shotgun, alongside Legendary cosmetics for a variety of Legends, though Seventh Anniversary Event Packs.

Season 28 will also come with a battle pass at launch, featuring Legendary skins and variants for Octane and Seer, alongside a reactive Bocek bow skin at tier 60.

Season 28 brings some bold changes that will impact the professional scene. The new Hardlight Mesh map element will make controller legends such as Caustic, who was a popular choice in the ALGS Year 5 Championship, even more viable for professional esports athletes.

Only time will tell how the recent changes to Legends and weapons, alongside the new Knockdown shield mechanic, will impact professional players competing at the highest level. The earliest indicator of the state of the meta will be through the ALGS 2026 Open regional qualifiers, where teams will play for a spot in the first international event of the ALGS Year 6 roadmap.