Apex Legends just kicked off Season 30, and the whole Legend roster got reshuffled by a genuinely hefty update called Marked.

If you want a second opinion before committing to a main this season, this rundown from worstguidesever.com covers a lot of the same ground and makes a decent gut check alongside anything here.

The short version is that Bloodhound finally got the rework fans have been asking for since launch, Loba and Rampart picked up real buffs, and three of last season’s strongest picks, Valkyrie, Axle, and Seer, all took a step back.

No Legend left the roster and none joined it either, so this is purely a balance season rather than a new character drop, and that makes the tier list below unusually easy to compare against what you already know.

Apex Legends

What Changed in Season 30 Marked

Marked launched on August 4, 2026, and Respawn published the patch notes a day earlier.

Reading through them makes it pretty clear this was meant to be a full reset of the Legend hierarchy rather than a light touch up.

A few changes stand out enough to shape almost every squad composition right now.

  • Bloodhound’s passive, tactical, and ultimate were all rebuilt around a brand new ability called Allfather’s Cloak.
  • Loba’s tactical now equips faster and reaches further, and her ultimate cooldown dropped by a full thirty seconds.
  • Rampart’s walls got noticeably tankier and her minigun turned genuinely mobile for the first time.
  • Valkyrie, Axle, and Seer all lost pieces of what made them dominant last season.
  • Energy ammo disappeared from the ground loot pool entirely and now regenerates inside the magazine instead.

Weapons and loot shifted just as hard, and that indirectly reshapes which Legends look strong on paper. Close range time to kill got slower across several fan favorite guns, the R-99 and Alternator both lost base damage, and the Hemlok’s Breach Charge attachment now cools down five seconds slower.

Corrupted Attachments also arrived as a brand new top rarity, trading a real upside for a real downside on a single slot per weapon.

None of that touches a Legend’s kit directly, but it shifts which playstyles get rewarded, and that ripple effect is baked into the tier list below.

Apex Legends Season 30 Tier List

Pulling all of that together gives a tier list that looks different from Season 29, even though the roster did not change.

Tier Legend(s) Role Why
S Axle Assault Top pick at the highest ranks
S Pathfinder Skirmisher Inherits the top rotation slot
S Mad Maggie Assault Rewards the drill and push style
S Conduit Support Cheap, fast shields, default support
A Valkyrie, Seer Skirmisher, Recon Strong, just no longer untouchable
A Loba, Lifeline Support Buffs make Loba a solo queue pick
A Bangalore, Octane, Wraith Assault, Skirmisher Reliable all-rounders, barely touched
B Bloodhound Recon Strong on paper, unproven at high elo
B Rampart, Wattson Controller Better now, still a build-around pick
C Crypto, Catalyst Recon, Controller Need coordination or a specific comp

Bloodhound’s Rework, Explained

The most talked about change by a wide margin is Bloodhound. Allfather’s Cloak throws down a dome that turns everyone inside invisible for eight seconds, and the effect lingers for another twelve seconds after stepping out, plus a speed and threat vision boost while active.

Naturally, a large chunk of the community called it broken within hours, which happens to pretty much every reworked Legend. For anyone who wants the exact numbers rather than forum opinions, the Apex Legends Wiki entry on Bloodhound lays out the full kit in detail.

Three days of pick rate data already show the split clearly: Bloodhound is the most picked Legend in the game across all ranks, yet still barely registers at Master and Predator, which suggests the high level ladder has not caught up to the rework quite yet.

Best Legends for Beginners by Role

Picking a main gets easier once you match the Legend to your role and skill level instead of chasing whatever tops a chart.

  • Assault players should start with Bangalore since her kit barely changed and nothing learned this week goes stale later.
  • Skirmisher players tend to get more mileage out of Octane early before eventually graduating to Pathfinder.
  • Support mains should lean on Conduit for point and click shields that forgive a lot of positioning mistakes.
  • Recon players can genuinely try Bloodhound now since the new cloak is forgiving even when a scan gets read wrong.
  • Controller players should hold off on Gibraltar until they can already hold an angle without a wall backing them up.

Legends to Avoid Right Now

On the other end, a handful of Legends are still waiting on a buff Marked did not give them.

  • Crypto still demands more squad coordination than most ranked lobbies are willing to offer.
  • Catalyst currently holds the lowest pick share of any Legend in the entire game.
  • Newcastle’s revive utility gets read easily by squads that already know the timing.
  • Ballistic remains stuck without a comp deliberately built around his tactical pistol.

What Could Change as the Season Matures

Ranked ladders are also getting a shake up this season, running five days instead of three, with the first one opening on August 11.

That extra runway matters, since three days of data is not enough to fully trust for a freshly reworked Legend.

Anyone who wants the full breakdown, including exact weapon numbers and map changes, can find it in the official Marked patch notes.

  • Bloodhound’s high elo pick rate could climb sharply once players nail the new scan timing.
  • Rampart might keep rising if her wall buffs hold up against coordinated pushes later in the season.
  • Axle’s slide nerf could slowly chip away at his current lead the longer the season runs.
  • Valkyrie could recover some ground if the map rotation starts favoring vertical plays again.