Season 14 of Apex Games will begin on August 9 with the arrival of the survivalist sniper. What do we know about the newest member of Apex’s cast?
Season 14: Hunted of Apex Legends is almost around the bend. We already have a good idea of what to anticipate from the new season thanks to the recent publication of the teaser, but Season 14’s premiere legend, Vantage, deserves a closer look.
Vantage, who was first disclosed in a major leak in March 2022, is an expert marksman and hunter who was raised alone on the ice world of Pàgos, part of the system known as The Fringe Worlds. The Fringe Worlds are a group of planets that are located outside of Syndicate Space and are not part of the Outlands. When it comes to both gameplay and mythology, Vantage’s background sets her apart. Here’s what we know so far about the newest member of the Apex Legends cast.
The powers of Vantage and the other future legends disclosed in the March leak were uploaded online, but it wasn’t immediately obvious how accurate the leak’s contents were. Vantage’s skills have not been officially confirmed, but further leaks and the Season 14 trailer appear to suggest that they are essentially identical. We’ll know for sure when we see the Season 14 premiere trailer.
This is what we know about Vantage’s powers based on datamining leaks and the Season 14 Launch trailer:
a sniper’s toolkit
When ADSing, you have access to enemy tactical information. Their squad’s size, how many members are still alive, and how far they are from each other are all factors to consider.
The Echo Launch is a tactical option.
It’s quite possible for Vantage to direct Echo to a precise point while simultaneously launching herself to the same spot.
Mark of the Apes
To aid Vantage and her fellow soldiers, Vantage employs an advanced sniper weapon. The amount of damage done by Vantage grows as the number of strikes rises. Everyone in her squad has a 15% damage bonus when they attack foes who have been marked with Mark to Kill.
Her rocket-boosting her way to Echo and detecting other legends while ADSing are all shown in the Season 14 launch trailer. She also seems to be using her Ultimate ability to shoot at other legends.
She isn’t a rule follower.
As a child, Vantage—real name Xiomara “Mara” Contrares—lived by a single rule: Survive. This has been a challenge for her thus far, but in her episode of Stories from the Outlands, she defied her mother’s wishes by investigating the stricken cargo ship G.D.S. Vantage. As a consequence, Xiomara comes dangerously close to death, and her mother Xenia, a wanted Gaean criminal, is apprehended by the authorities. Even though Xiomara is clearly sorry for her actions, it isn’t obvious if she has learnt her lesson.
Vantage will stop at nothing to release Xenia, her mother.
She is adamant about rescuing her mother Xenia from her prison.
She refuses to quit her first Apex Games bout, despite Fuse’s objections to “a pup” participating in the Games. Fuse’s statements about Vantage hint that she might be one of the legend squad’s youngest members, but he could also be alluding to her naivete and lack of life experience as a result of her sheltered upbringing. Her age is unknown.
However, just because she prevailed in her maiden Apex fight doesn’t mean she’s a future legend in the making. There was no way Xiomara could lose that match, no matter how hard she tried. It was all rigged, using the same algorithm that Crypto uncovered in his episode of Stories from the Outlands.
Once again, Vantage flouted the official Apex Games Rulebook by allowing pets to participate in the tournament. There’s no mention of Echo, Xiomara’s bat-like companion from the episode of Stories from the Outlands when she saved Xiomara’s life, by going to the games.
To be fair, Echo did attack a fellow competitor’s eyebrows at Vantage’s qualifier match, but still, this “no pets allowed” rule is a bit bizarre given the fact that Bloodhound’s pet raven, Artur, has been a mainstay of the series since it launched in 2019.
Echo’s inclusion in the Apex Games was contingent on Vantage being granted permission to challenge the regulation many times.
Her mother is a treat to learn about.
Xiomara’s mother, Xenia, is an enigmatic figure who spent years lying to her daughter about every detail of her past until Vantage finally uncovered the truth: her mother was a wanted criminal who was the sole survivor of the crash of the G.D.S. Vantage–a cargo ship carrying prisoners to a detention facility.
Both ladies were apprehended by the Gaean Space Authority when her mother’s name was accidentally revealed.
Since then, Xenia–whose crimes are unknown, though promotional material refers to her as “wrongly accused”–has been living in a prison while her daughter competes in the Apex Games in the hopes of bringing attention to her mother’s case.
However, a closer look at the table where Xiomara and her mother have their visits reveals an interesting detail: Xenia is being held in the same prison as Mad Maggie, who is returned to a cell when she’s not participating in the Apex Games.
There is a table in the prison where Xenia is being kept with the message “Mags Wuz Here.”
‘Mags wuz here’ can be seen etched into a table in the prison where Xenia is being held.
The launch trailer contains a series of flashbacks to Vantage’s visits with her mother. There’s one in which she’s prepared to take on an entire prison’s worth of Syndicate guards with nothing but a sharp stick in her hands. However, Xenia removes the improvised weapon from Vantage’s daughter’s hands before he may act rashly.
But interestingly, the countdown leading up to the launch trailer’s release (the same one that revealed the Games are actively being rigged) depicts a conversation between two prison guards that’s interrupted when a prison riot breaks out. Mad Maggie is the most likely perpetrator, but she may not be operating alone. The scene in which Vantage’s mother confiscates the shiv is clearly a flashback, while the conversation taking place between the guards in the pre-trailer countdown may take after Vantage’s mother has obtained a weapon. This means it’s possible the riot that interrupts the guards’ conversation was caused by both Maggie and Xenia–or even Xenia herself. Whatever the case, it’s hard to deny that Xenia is every bit as interesting as her daughter Vantage.
That’s all we know about Season 14’s debut legend at the moment, but stay tuned–we’ll be updating this page as more information is released. Be sure to keep an eye out for the Season 14 gameplay trailer which premieres on August 1 at 8 AM PT / 11 AM ET.
Apex Legends Season 14: Hunted launches on August 9 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM PT.
Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available for download on Android and iOS devices.
