Apex Legends Season 20: Breakout - changes to armour evo

With Season 20 of Apex Legends just around the corner, new changes are on the horizon for the Titanfall-inspired battle royale. It's just celebrated its 5th anniversary, and the best way to keep things fresh in live-service games is to shake things up lest they go stale.

Fans have been saying for several seasons how the game no longer feels exciting to play, and so the devs at Respawn have been working overtime to bring in some major changes when Season 20: Breakout goes live on February 13, 2024. One of those changes is how the armour evo system works, and we'll be going over everything you need to know to keep yourself protected from long-range Sentinel shots and up-close Mastiff explosions alike.

For more on Season 20 of Apex Legends, check out everything we know about the new legend upgrades, as well as all the changes coming to the ranked system.

Apex Legends armour evo changes

There was a time several seasons ago when armour didn't have an evolution in Apex Legends. It was left entirely to RNG, and so there were times when you could very well be walking into an end-game with nothing but white armour and hopes and prayers to keep you alive.

The concept of armour evo appeared way back in Season 6 but has remained in the game relatively unchanged since then. Evo shields were part of an LTM event back in Season 4 and proved so popular that they were introduced to the core game. So 14 seasons later, we're finally getting another major alteration to how armour evo works.

With the new legend upgrade system, the devs wanted to tie the concept of armour evo more closely with how upgraded the player is at any point in the game. This means that as you upgrade abilities, your armour will upgrade in tandem. The biggest change to come from this is that armour is now no longer a lootable object.

The only way to upgrade your armour is to gain legend upgrades. It serves to remove the randomness and the fickle beast that is RNG from the armour system, and rewards players for getting into fights or supporting their team. So dealing damage will, of course, still serve to get you those precious purple-coloured Epic armour sets, but it won't just be the pub-stomping hot droppers that gain them in the early stages of the match.

How to gain armour evo

Obviously, the main way to gain armour evo is to play the game and take fights. In much the same way as the old system, you'll still earn armour evo, as well as legend upgrades, by playing the game as intended and fighting with your team. Support class players, do not fret, because it isn't just scrapping with an under-kitted shotgun in the first 30 seconds of the game that will allow you to upgrade yourself. Playing your part in the team fight, like Lifeline using her healing drone, or Wattson using Survey Beacons, will serve to reward players with evo.

So to support this concept, the devs have brought in a few new ways to gain evo. The first new way is the Evo Harvester. These are stations randomly placed around the map where players can get armour evo from directly, and much like collecting harvesting materials in older seasons of the game, this perk is distributed amongst your entire team.

The second new way to gain armour evo is through the use of Evo Caches. These are gold Rare-tier items that will give a whole bunch of evo but will be harder to find than Evo Harvesters.

Armour swapping with new armour evo

Although armour is no longer a lootable item in Apex Legends, there is still a way to pull off a quick armour swap. It's a tried and tested method and can come in incredibly clutch when you're trying to survive a fight, and the devs didn't want to completely do away with such a core mechanic.

So instead of being able to swap from white armour to red-tier armour because you were lucky enough to stumble across a death box, Apex Legends is introducing a new item called Shield Cores. So when looting a death box, you'll no longer see their armour available, but instead a Shield Core that represents that fallen enemy's shield charge.

So if that Shield Core is from an enemy that was the same level as you or lower, picking up their Shield Core will set your armour to the current charge. If the lootable Shield Core is from a player that was a higher evo than you, then you'll be granted Overshield to account for the difference.

Overshield is a temporary shield buff on top of your existing armour, and so once it's gone, it's gone, and you'll be left with your same armour evo based on your upgrade status. This means that armour swapping in high-octane fights is still available, just when all is said and done, you won't necessarily be left with that red armour, but with armour that reflects your current upgrade level.

Breakout is sure to be an exciting season to ring in Apex Legends' 5th anniversary, and we're looking forward to seeing how the meta adjusts to such major changes. If you're after more info on Season 20, be sure to check out everything we know about the new Straight Shot LTM, as well as all the ranked changes that are coming.