EA and Respawn have dropped the first gameplay trailer for Apex Legends’ upcoming “Legacy” season, and it confirms the rumored Arenas mode. A new permanent addition to Apex Legends, Arenas is a 3v3 competitive mode that will play out over the course of several rounds. Reviving teammates is out, but you can upgrade your weapons and jump back into the action next round. You can check out Arenas mode in action, below.

　　Here’s a bit more detail on how Arenas matches will work…

　　Arenas is a new permanent game mode coming to Apex Legends. It condenses the chaos of 20-squad Battle Royale matches down into more focused 3v3 combat. You’ll face off against the enemy without any other squads coming to crash the party—allowing you to focus on surviving and winning the fight. You’ll compete over multiple rounds, striving to be the last squad standing each time.

　　Before every round starts, you’ll use materials earned during the previous round to get and upgrade weapons, as well as ordnance and healing supplies. After customizing your loadout and preparing for the round, you’ll jump straight into the action with your gear. If you’re eliminated in a round, your squadmates won’t be able to respawn you, but you’ll be ready to fight again at the start of the next round. Of course, you can still revive knocked teammates. Rounds are won when you kill all players on the enemy squad. Then the next round begins, and the cycle repeats until an overall match winner is crowned.

　　Winning an Arenas Match

　　To win an Arenas match, you need to win at least three rounds and be ahead of the enemy team by two points. Let’s talk about what that looks like in practice!  The easiest way is to win three rounds without dropping more than one round to your opponent. In other words, go 3-0 or 3-1 and the match is over.

　　However, if your opponent is able to win at least two rounds, things get interesting. You’ll have to pull ahead by two full rounds to win. Going 3-2 or 4-3 won’t cut it. Instead, you’ll have to go 4-2 or 5-3 to secure victory. Rounds will continue until one team pulls ahead by two rounds. If this continues all the way to the ninth round (by going 4-4) the game kicks into sudden death mode. Whoever wins round nine takes home all the glory.

　　Gear Up for Battle

　　Win or lose, each round starts fresh with base equipment and some materials to use. Decide how you want to approach the upcoming round by using your materials to get weapons, upgrade them, and pick up any additional supplies you need. The bar is raised every round as more materials are awarded than the previous round, giving you more options and letting you upgrade further as the match progresses. (Don’t worry, materials can’t be purchased—you’ve got to earn them by playing and completing rounds.)

　　Use your Ultimate and Tactical abilities wisely, as you’ll have a limited number of uses each round, instead of recharging indefinitely like other modes. Legends start with some Tactical charges, but additional charges and Ultimate abilities can be purchased with materials when customizing your loadout. This allows more Legends to be made viable in Arenas, and forces characters with very strong tacticals (like Bloodhound) to make choices between weapon upgrades or more tactical charges. Don’t worry, unused Ultimate and Tactical charges will carry over to the next round.

　　Sounds like an interesting new twist on Apex Legends as we know it! Arenas matches will take place on a rotating selection of battlegrounds, some carved out from Apex Legends’ existing battle royale maps, some completely original. Here’s what to expect…

　　Party Crasher

　　Party Crasher takes place in a luxurious, downtown plaza where players can choose to engage on the crashed Voyage, or the opulent two story buildings that make up the plaza. The map is varied, with each side playing to different strengths and offering a wide range of options. The downtown plaza is well connected, pushing players to make quick decisions within its many flanking options, while the Voyage sits up high, offering great sightlines and positions for those that wish to play from further distances.

　　Phase Runner

　　Phase Runner is a hidden, experimental zone at the peak of a mountain. The large center is very open, offering plenty of long sightlines to find your enemy. This contrasts the industrial points of interests, which focuses combat to be mid/close range. From either spawn, players can take the prototype phase runner to gain almost immediate access to an area and begin combat quickly. Construction wasn't completed on the other side, so players will fight through the abandoned space that offers various engagement ranges and multiple flanking options.

　　BR Arena Locations

　　In addition to the two new maps, other areas from our three BR maps will be thrown into a bi-weekly rotation, giving you five maps total for Arenas. At the start you’ll get Artillery from Kings Canyon, Thermal Station from World’s Edge, and Golden Gardens from Olympus.

　　Apex Legends Arenas mode will launch alongside the rest of the Legacy season, which also includes the new Legend Valkyrie, the usual battle pass, and more. Get the details on the update, partially developed at Respawn's studio in Vancouver, Canada, right here.

　　Apex Legends is available now on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Switch, and is playable via backward compatibility on Xbox Series X/S and PS5. The Legacy update drops on May 4.