Apex Legends’ New Wildcard Mode Makes Chaos the Main Feature

Apex Legends is shaking things up in a big way with the launch of its newest permanent mode. Wildcard, the latest addition arriving in Season 26: Showdown, breaks some long-standing rules and pushes the action into faster, more unpredictable territory. One of the biggest changes: squads can now pick the same Legend multiple times. Yes, full Mirage teams are now real.

The idea behind Wildcard is simple. Respawn wants to create a faster, low-stakes environment that keeps players constantly in the action. Instead of the standard 60-player battle royale format, Wildcard uses just 30 players per match. Each game drops squads into much smaller versions of Apex’s usual maps, with the action kicking off inside a tight starting ring. That means more fights, less waiting, and a lot more pressure right from the first minute.

“The goal was to create lower stakes, a high-energy experience that lets players jump right into the chaos.”

That’s how lead designer J.J. Williams described the mode ahead of release.

But Wildcard isn’t just about tighter maps and duplicate Legends. It introduces actual Wildcards — craftable tools that shake up the standard rules mid-match. These can be made using Replicators and give players temporary powers, like wall-running. That movement upgrade was teased earlier this week in the Season 26 trailer, where Ash and Alter were shown sprinting sideways down a building.

Another key feature is the automatic respawn system. As long as one squad member is still standing, fallen teammates will come back after a short delay. This system first appeared in the Revivals limited-time mode, and now returns here in full. To make things more interesting, players can collect a new item called EVO Orbs from defeated enemies. These orbs not only shorten the respawn timer, but also give small boosts to shield, weapon levels, health regen, and Ultimate charge. Most loot is auto-picked up, but weapons still need to be grabbed from Death Boxes manually.

Wildcard’s focus on speed and recovery means there’s less downtime between fights and more pressure to keep moving. Respawn has confirmed this mode will stay in the game permanently. Unlike past limited-time additions, Wildcard is designed to last and evolve with future updates.

One thing leaving for now is the Arenas mode. It was first added in Season 9 as a permanent feature, removed in Season 16, and brought back as a temporary mode during Season 25. Respawn said Arenas is being retired again, but they gathered plenty of player data during the last season and plan to revisit it later down the line.

Season 26: Showdown begins August 5 at 10 AM PT/ 1 PM ET. With new tools, faster gameplay, and more ways to mess with the meta, Wildcard is aiming to be the most aggressive Apex mode yet. Whether it's Mirage trios or full Octane squads zipping around the map, the chaos is only just beginning.