Respawn has announced that the much-beloved Kings Canyon map will be returning to Apex Legends.
Alongside World's Edge, the map that has been in place for the past couple seasons of the game, Kings Canyon will be playable from Friday, February 21 through Monday, February 24.
Respawn previously announced that Kings Canyon would return for the second half of Ranked Series 3 (beginning March 24), but with this announcement the map will be available for unranked players over the next few days.
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Apex Legends is currently in Season 4, titled "Assimilation". A new legend (Revenant), new weapon (the Sentinel bolt-action sniper rifle), along with a Battle Pass including skins, music packs and more were added.
With a healthy mix of genuine admiration for the map, the fun gameplay experience it provided and a sprinkle of nostalgia, a Kings Canyon return was high on the list of requests among Apex Legends fans. But as always, everyone's got their most- and least-favorite parts of the map.
"I'm super excited to jump back into the map that started it all for me with Apex," competitive player Mac "Albralelie" Beckwith told ESPN. "I can't wait to drop back into Skulltown and have some hectic fights like the good old days."
The multiple-time Apex Legends tournament champion with TSM said his 3 favorite drop zones in the game were Skulltown, Cascades and Bridges.
"Least favorite drop would be Pit because the fights off drop would be largely dependent on RNG," said Rogue's Jordan "HusKers" Thomas.
So this got us thinking again: Kings Canyon ... where were the best places to drop?
Skulltown
According to Apex Legends commentator Bil "Jump" Carter, #1 is no debate.
"Skulltown is the best close quarter combat zone in a BR," explains Carter. "Similar to Tilted Towers in Fortnite. tight corners, good loot, plenty of action."
Bil said it best. During the first month of the game, from February to March 2019, Skulltown was by far the most popular drop zone. Massive area, lots of loot. Dropping on a roof with loot and securing high ground, waiting for opponents to run by ... good times.
Swamps
Massive. Just a giant lump of land on the East side of the map. The New York of Kings Canyon. I liked the ability to hide in this area, with the possibility to flank your opponents as they zip from building to building.
Airbase
I appreciated the two runways because if one was already populated, you could hit the other one and there was enough water to ensure a period of safety from the other side. The one thing is, as I recall, if you don't get a good early drop here, you're pretty vulnerable going into mid game. It was dreadful, especially if you run back from the runway and other teams are there to greet you with better weapons. This was always a buyer beware area for me, despite being high in popularity.
Cascades
Centralized position with many outs. I never felt claustrophobic at Cascades. Also provided the opportunity to hide and surprise.
Market
Caustic used to reign supreme here, because of the layout of the indoor market. There was a large open area and rooms flanking it, so Caustic could gas trap the two rooms with opponents happily waiting to pick them off in the aftermath.
Artillery
A nice central northern location. The Minnesota of Kings Canyon, except it's anything but nice. I always felt like this got a ton of action early on because of how the buildings are organized. If you're an early fight fan, this is high on your list.
The Bunker
I hated the Bunker. Not gonna lie. I'd always get picked off around the corners. Forget that cramped hallway, I'm dropping somewhere else.
Water Treatment
More my pace! Tons of buildings, decent loot, usually not that popular. Drop to the south, enjoy the weather for a while, stock up and head north.
Relay
As I recall this wasn't the most popular drop point so it was a good place to go for people like me who were newer to the game. It gave me time to move around, explore without too much of a threat or pressure, find decent loot and then rotate towards the center in a pretty confident state. But it was in a corner of a map so it always left me open to people anticipating my rotations.
Thunderdome
SEVERAL TEAMS ENTER! ONE TEAM LEAVES!
THUN ... DER ... DOME!!!!!!
Purely from a psychological perspective, there will be some players that just want to drop here because of the meme. If you get to the quality loot first, you can pick off the poor souls that dared challenge you in Da Dome. But if you're not first, you're definitely last (that's another movie, but you get it). A massive drawback to T-D is that you're very close to Skulltown, which is very popular, with decent loot, so be prepared for Thunderdome 2.0 once you leave Thunderdome 1.0