Season 6 ofApex Legendslaunches later today at 10 p.m. PDT, or early tomorrow morning depending on where players are located, and as with every season, a new face is joining theApex Legendsroster: Rampart. This wild-and-crazy character has been rumored to be coming to the game for some time due to previous datamines and leaks.
Now, this heavy weapons expert is finally joining the fight. To help players get ready for Season 6, here is everything we know aboutRampart leading up to the Season 6 launch.
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Who is Rampart?
Ramya Parekh, under the code-name Rampart, ran a modding shop on the planet Gaea before joining the Apex Games. Prior to her rising to Legend status, she did many jobs for organizations of all kinds, whether on the up-and-up or otherwise, as her modding skill was, and still is, unmatched across the system. Once she made a name for herself and her gear, she was eventually approached to join the Apex Games, which players can see in thelatest Stories from the Outlands video. Eagle-eyedApex Legendsplayers will recognize Rampart’s signature “R” symbol from several weapons in-game currently.
Rampart designed some of the evolving skins that are the rewards for completing a season pass, while her symbol is perhaps most prominent on Season 5’s Wingman evolving skin. Teasers for Rampart’s arrival began a few weeks before her official announcement, culminating in several acts of vandalism across World’s Edge and the introduction of the graffiti hop-up for the Spitfire. She officially debuted as part of the Season 6 announcement, and her abilities were showcased in the Season 6 Gameplay Trailer and the Season 6 “Meet Rampart” video.
Rampart’s Tactical, Passive, and Ultimate Abilities
Rampart seems to be joining the roster as a defensive powerhouse, capable of heavily fortifying a position and holding it through a hail of bullets. Rampart is the heavy weapons expert of theApex Legendsroster, and her abilities all revolve around that and providing cover for her team. Her tactical ability is Amped Cover, which deploys an amp shield that absorbs incoming bullets and charges outgoing shots. It’s currently not clear how much health the deployable cover has, or how much of an increase the damage is, but it’s definitely going to be great for fighting off a team that is pushing up. The Amped Cover saw plenty of use in theSeason 6 Gameplay Trailerfor this very purpose, and it’s confirmed that Rampart can have up to five Amped Covers deployed at any time.
Rampart’s passive ability is Modded Loader, which grants her increased magazine capacity and faster reloads when using LMGs and her ultimate, Sheila. This will also slow the heating up and improve the cooling of the L-Star LMG, since it does not have a magazine size but instead an overheat mechanic. With the Devotion returning to the regular loot pool, and the Spitfire always being a solid workhorse weapon, this perk is going to make the alreadyhigh-tier weapons inApex Legendseven more powerful.
Lastly, Rampart’s ultimate ability is the Emplaced Minigun, lovingly named “Sheila.” Rampart can deploy her minigun anywhere, and anyone can use it. This powerhouse weapon can fire quite a lot of bullets, but has a very slow reload (thankfully slightly offset by Rampart’s passive). It’s not currently known how much damage-per-bullet this minigun can pump out, but if it’s anything like in the gameplay trailer, it will certainly be shredding down enemies - especially if placed behind the Amped Cover. Hopefully, this will be strong enough to put Rampart high up on theApex Legendstier list, unlike Revenant when he first launched. Considering she can have three “Sheilas” out at a time, she may be a solid candidate to stockpile Ultimate Accelerants.
Possible Team Pairings and Strategy
Being a Defensive Legend means that Rampart benefits from locking down key points on the map. However, unlikeCausticand Wattson, Rampart can deploy cover for her team to defend out in the open. With multiple Amped Covers out, her team can fortify a position fairly well no matter where the fight takes place. That being said, if paired with Caustic and/or Wattson, that team can make nearly any enclosed location an absolute deathtrap for anyone trying to enter.
If players are looking to play more offensively, pairing Rampart with Octane or Wraith could be good to get a tactical position above/behind the enemies to set up a defensive wall. Bangalore could also work in this instance to give Rampart visual cover while she sets up the Amped Cover and Sheila. Both Bangalore andGibraltar’s ultimate abilitieswould be good to force enemies to rush out into the open to avoid being bombarded, only to walk right into Sheila’s spray of bullets.
In terms of strategies while playing as Rampart , the theoretical best choice would be to run at least one LMG to capitalize on Rampart’s unique passive ability. If the Devotion+Turbocharger is indeed coming back in Season 6, then that would certainly be a phenomenal choice for Rampart to run. With the introduction of the Crafting mechanic, players may be able to craft the rare Turbocharger hop-up and not have to search everywhere for it.
However, replacing the Devotion for a Spitfire would not be a terrible choice, especially if players have a Level 3 Heavy Magazine. With that, the Spitfire can pump out an obscene amount of bullets, perfect for combining with the Amped Cover. Or players could go the opposite route and use a Sniper like the Longbow or the Sentinel to absolutely shred enemies from a distance from behind Amped Cover for bonus damage.
Fans don’t have long to wait until Season 6 officially kicks off, featuring plenty of new cosmetics to earn and map changes to explore. While some fans are disappointed that a new map isn’t being introduced this season, at least they have a flashy and potentially powerful new Legend to try out, as well as a fan-favoriteTitanfallweaponcoming to the Apex Games. One thing is for sure, it’s not going to be easy locking in this Legend on day one, but hopefully her kit will prove to be as powerful as it sounds.
Apex Legendsis available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with a Switch version also in development.
