Apex Legends has been running with constant updates for over seven years, a difficult balancing act that requires new content, gameplay innovations, and major system changes to keep players coming back. For Season 29, those changes arrived in the form of a speedy new Legend, Axle, alongside major adjustments to core mechanics like Deathbox Respawns and the removal of Tridents.
In an exclusive interview with Dot Esports, developers at Respawn Entertainment discussed Axle’s development, the growing focus on movement in Apex Legends, and the philosophy behind some of Season 29’s biggest gameplay changes.
Creating a New Legend in a Crowded Game
Apex Legends is a fairly crowded battlefield now after 29 seasons, which makes creating a new character with a unique set of abilities more and more difficult. For designing Axle, we wanted to know what aspect of Apex’s gameplay the developers were looking at when creating her. Interestingly, the popularity of Valkyrie in the competitive scene, combined with the domination of Octane in pick rates across unranked matches, inspired the team to create a movement Legend that could appeal to both groups.
Dot Esports: How did the idea for Axle begin in development? What is the specific space in the gameplay you guys wanted to fill with her kit?
John Larson, Legend Designer: “Axle was born after a big-picture assessment of the state of movement in Apex following Valkyrie’s two-year reign in the ALGS. Valk was a popular pick among competitors, and on the other side of the competitive spectrum, Octane was a perennial pubstomper. An early goal during Axle’s development was to add a tool to the movement toolbox in the form of a Legend that appealed to players in all modes/skillbands. For Axle, this is enhanced sliding.”
“An early version of the ult had Axle transforming into a Trident that teammates could hop onto as a macro rotation option.”
John Larson on developing Axle
Axle’s kit is heavily focused on movement, but her Ultimate initially feels more explosive than mobility-driven. Respawn explained that the ability originally leaned even further into map traversal before the team pivoted away from making her too one-dimensional.
Dot Esports: For a Legend so focused on speed and movement, Axle has a very explosive Ultimate. What was the developer philosophy behind giving her what’s essentially an exploding homing beacon?
John Larson, Legend Designer: “An early version of the ult had Axle transforming into a Trident that teammates could hop onto as a macro rotation option. And I’ve seen some disappointment online that her motorcycle isn’t incorporated into her kit.”
“The biggest reason we pivoted away from this tripling-down on movement was because it made her too one-dimensional and ultimately not very powerful or fun. Her Nitro Gate already offers some strong team rotational utility, especially when chaining a couple together, and having a big macro rotation option on her ult had her feeling lackluster within fights. Her offensive ult hopefully empowers her to focus on what she naturally does best: quick lateral repositioning. I’d argue (or I at least hope) the most meaningful parts of the Kickstart ult do revolve around movement in a way that may not seem obvious on first glance: (1) The chase sequence and (2) the strong vertical displacement are the main drivers forcing decision making around repositioning. The damage, stun, and reveal are secondary, and tuned as such.”
Balancing the Game as Apex Speeds Up
With Axle pushing Apex Legends even further toward high-speed movement, balancing slower Legends is becoming increasingly important.
Dot Esports: As Apex matures throughout the season, it seems a lot of characters are gaining speed and movement-based abilities (Axle’s whole kit, Fuse’s double jump, Conduit’s speed up), is there any concern that certain Legends and play styles will get left behind, namely those in the Controller class?
John Larson, Legend Designer: “It’s a challenge to strike the right balance of adding movement tools that lean into Apex’s strengths when it comes to fluidity/snappy feel, without compromising things like combat awareness, level design, and other Legend abilities. In my opinion, although Axle has more movement potential, I think holistically she offers healthier movement expression than something like the Fuse Knuckle Jumper upgrade that we added.”
“Axle is all about sliding, and that constraint makes her movement more readable on the receiving end.”
John Larson on Axle’s place in Apex
Respawn acknowledged that movement “inflation” may be becoming an issue as more Legends gain traversal tools and mobility upgrades.
“Expect some cleanup soon as we evaluate where we might have some movement inflation, and who might be falling behind in a world post Axle release,” Larson said.
Deathboxes, Zip Rails, and Tridents
Deathbox Respawns are one of Season 29’s biggest systemic additions, allowing squads to revive teammates directly from their deathbox. We asked Respawn why the mechanic was necessary and whether fast-respawn modes like Mixtape influenced the decision.
“We wanted to take this opportunity to help even the playing field for teams that earn it.”
Eric Canavese on adding another avenue for respawns
The answer came down to the developers wanting to reward teams for succeeding in the ultimate goal of the game, eliminating enemy teams, even if it cost them a teammate in the process.
Dot Esports: Could you guys explain why you felt another avenue for respawning was needed in the game with the addition of Deathbox Respawns?
Eric Canavese, Lead BR Designer: “Apex can be a pretty punishing game and we feel strongly that if players are able to finish the fight and claim space that they should be able to reset and prepare for the next encounter. While going on long quests to craft a banner and find a respawn beacon can be rewarding and exciting- it also has a pretty low success rate all things considered. Fighting from behind in Apex is incredibly difficult and we wanted to take this opportunity to help even the playing field for teams that earn it.”
As for any inspiration from mixtape, the answer was essentially no.
Dot Esports: Was the addition of Deathbox Respawns influenced by the popularity of the Mixtape game mode?
Eric Canavese, Lead BR Designer: “No not really, when we’re designing the Core BR we’re focused on what the best ideas and designs are for that space specifically. We’ve never really stopped prototyping and iterating in the respawning design space. Once we stood up the Deathbox Respawning prototype and played it we quickly felt like the game was more interesting and engaging with it than without it.”
Pivoting from death boxes to rotation around the map with ziprails and Tridents, the developers at Respawn revealed that the reason they’ve been so drastically reduced (or removed entirely) was to put more of the movement action on Legends’ shoulders.
“Relying on our Legends to transport teams around the maps puts that power where it should be- into the players hands.”
Eric Canavese on removing zip rails on Broken Moon
Dot Esports: Zip rails across Broken Moon have been drastically reduced: what was the reason behind removing so many?
Eric Canavese, Lead BR Designer: “One of the major reasons the Ziprails have been reduced in Broken Moon is to cut down on the number of silent third parties that are prevalent on this map in particular. Third parties are a part of Apex and we aren’t trying to kill them, but there are some concepts around third parties that we need to adhere to to maintain a healthy game that provides enough information to players to make meaningful decisions.
Ziprails transport teams quickly across vast distances and their hop-off nature empowers squads to roll up and third party engagements that they may not even have known were going on when they hit the Ziprail. Pulling these back and relying on our Legends to transport teams around the maps puts that power where it should be- into the players hands. When the major rotational options are mostly Legend focused (or have better in-world global tells) combat spaces become more predictable and fair.”
Dot Esports: With the removal of Tridents in Season 29, does this hint towards a future with more Legends with kits focused on map rotation like Valkyrie?
Eric Canavese, Lead BR Designer: “While I can’t speak to the future of Legend designs I can say that we absolutely are investing in our Legend kits as being a primary driver for Legend and squad based traversal and rotational mobility. We want squad composition to matter and for players to be thinking about what tools they are bringing into the Outlands.”
Axle’s Relationship to Other Legends: Lore and Gameplay
Since Axle was created with the intention of creating a new space for movement, we were curious about the team compositions developers expected to see Axle pop up in.
Dot Esports: Which team comps are you most excited to see Axle in this season? And do you think she’ll be a popular pick in ALGS as we get closer to the Split 1 Playoffs?
John Larson, Legend Designer: “Octane and Axle make for a fun high speed combo. In Ranked, I think Conduit synergizes well: they both look to push the tempo in fights. In the ALGS, she might find success on teams with a kill-hungry edge playstyle given her tac’s strength for micro rotates. Gibby and Newcastle are stronger than ever, but similar to other drones, Axle’s Kickstart ult does pass through their holo-wall tacticals. Hopefully it’s able to create some pressure to offset some of the ability cycling stalemates we’ve seen.”
Ability-wise, it makes sense that Axle would gel well with Legends like Conduit and Octane, especially in pub matches. Lore-wise, Axle is far less likely to enjoy the company of fun-loving characters, according to Ashely Reed, Narrative Lead at Respawn.
Dot Esports: Are there any Legends that Axle will really get along with or really hate? (She and Catalyst seem like they could be goth baddie besties.)
Ashely Reed, Narrative Lead: “Axle gets along great with Mad Maggie–who she sees as intense and driven–and Ash, who accepts nothing less than perfection. (Though whether that means they like each other or see each other as competition is another matter.) She also likes Conduit’s eye for strategy because it makes her an effective teammate. Axle’s not a fan of goofier Legends like Fuse, Octane, and Mirage. She sees them as unserious and a liability that she can’t tolerate.”
Across Axle’s design, Deathbox Respawns, and the removal of Tridents, one philosophy kept appearing in Respawn’s answers: Apex Legends increasingly wants movement and rotations to come from Legend abilities rather than the map itself.
Whether players embrace that faster, more ability-focused direction long-term remains to be seen, but Season 29 clearly pushes the game further down that path.
Season 29 of Apex Legends is already out for players to enjoy, with ALGS going steadily through its sixth year.
