Apex Legends Season 16 leads to dramatic shift in legend pick rates

Season 16 has been the biggest update in Apex Legends since the game's release. The reworked classes and overall updates to the meta have led to a dramatic shift that affected Apex Legend pick rates.

Season 15 did the game no favors since the infamous "scan meta" was frustrating for all players. With the conclusion of the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) Playoffs, Respawn Entertainment pounced on the opportunity to release a dramatic update that changed the game radically.

A series of nerfs saw Wraith drop down the pecking order over the last few seasons. However, she got a couple of major buffs in Season 16 and got placed in the Skirmisher class. This was enough to boost her pick rate to the top of the table, leapfrogging Octane as the most picked legend in Season 16. She has a pick rate of 11.6%,and her pick rate increased by 12.8% over the last few weeks. Wraith, however has consistently been one of the more popular picks because of her diminutive profile making her hard to hit.

Season 16 is also a great place to start for new players. Especially because they get to unlock Crypto and Ash for free. So naturally, this has led to the legends enjoying a boost in their pick rates. This has been the case whenever the game offered locked legends for free as login rewards. Both of these characters retain their previous classes in the class rework, but enjoy their new class perks. Crypto can scan beacons even with his drone for enemies in the area and Ash can carry larger stacks of ammunition as an Assault class.

Meanwhile, Seer was universally considered the most oppressive legends in the game by the community until Season 15. His ability to not only reveal enemy positions but also interrupt heals and provide recon around a large radius was extremely frustrating to fight against. Additionally, Valkyrie continued to dominate competitive pick rates at the ALGS Playoffs thanks to her ability to rotate effortlessly.

Season 16 led to major nerfs for both of these legends, and neither of them can reveal the next ring locations thanks to the class rework. Additionally, some of their abilities took significant nerfs, reducing their effectiveness in combat.

So naturally, both of them have fallen down the pecking order in terms of pick rates. Surprisingly, Seer is close to the bottom now, even though his abilities remain effectively the same in function. Valkyrie is still relatively popular despite a significant drop in pick rate at 4.4%. Seer, however, is languishing at 2.1% with only four legends beneath him.

Other legends that have seen their pick rates spike this season include Bangalore at 6.6%, Lifeline at 5.3%, and Mirage at 4%. Lifeline and Mirage received buffs to their kit, and with Lifeline getting additional utility from being in the support class, she's quite useful now. The full pick rate stats can be found on Apex Legends Status.

Apex Legends Season 16 has been a massive success. For more esports news, stay tuned on Esports.gg.