We're halfway on the way to Apex Legends Season 11, and the ranked ladder has reset for Split 2. This season that means Kings Canyon is the only option for your matches at the highest level of play. Whether you choose the best character on our Apex Legends tier list or pick up one of the best guns in the game, sometimes the map just doesn't play ball. And more often than not, that map is Kings Canyon.
The game's first map felt good in Season 0, don't get me wrong, but map updates have left it in a weird state, with disproportionate loot and too many free rotations. What's more, its small size means that bullet sounds travel across the map - it's third party central.
Apex Legends pros are never shy with their opinions, especially not TSM's Philip 'ImperialHal' Dosen. And to be fair, they've got the right to their opinions, as they've worked hard to be the very best players of the battle royale. So, when Respawn's associate live balance designer John 'JayBiebs' Larson tweeted asking what makes Kings Canyon worse than the other maps, the pros immediately weighed in.
ImperialHal, Snip3down, and More Apex Legends Pros Explain Why They Hate Kings Canyon
Imperial Hal believes that the changes to Kings Canyon have made the map worse. You can keep up to date with the changes in the Apex Legends patch notes, but it's not the POIs themselves that he's disappointed in - just the distribution of loot within them.
While Hal had a few problems with the map, Snip3down focused on one: POI proximity.
The POIs on Kings Canyon are practically next to them, and the number of redeployment balloons on the map means that you can hop across half the map in a matter of seconds to third party a fight that you hear.
Whether tinkering with the sound is a good idea or not remains to be seen, however. Footsteps already cause problems at every level of gameplay in Apex Legends, with some not appearing to make a sound until they're firing a Mastiff into your back.
BenchWarmers player Beau 'RamBeau' Sheidy agrees, but also points out that Charge Towers are a poor addition to the map if it wants to be seen as competitive.
Do you remember the last time that Kings Canyon was in ranked, and every team dropped directly on Charge Towers and unleashed their Ults immediately? It's not a fun experience, that's for sure.
What do you make of Kings Canyon and the criticisms that pros are leveling? Do you agree, or are you happy to have the OG map back?
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