Apex Legends Reveals New Sniper Rifle

Respawn Entertainment shared with its Apex Legends community the first details about Season 4 on Thursday, and with that information came the reveal of a new sniper rifle that's being added to the game next season. It's called the "Sentinel," and it's a bolt-action rifle which has a charge mechanic associated with it as well as the ability to "cut through your enemies' armor," according to the limited details Respawn has shared so far.

The video below from Respawn served as the promised dev stream on Thursday that gave a first look at what to expect from Season 4. It was around 13 minutes into the video that the team talked about the plans for the next weapon and hinted at what the Sentinel was capable of.

Sentinel is a new sniper rifle. It's a bolt-action sniper rifle," said Chad Grenier, game director on Apex Legends. "It feels really powerful, it's got that whole animation when you cock it back. It's a little different than our other sniper rifles because it has the charge mechanic."

The game director said they didn't want to go too deep into the breakdown about the Sentinel right now but added that the gun allows for some extra decision making on players' behalf. It makes players decide between taking their most powerful shot or taking a weaker one at different times, though without knowing the full details of the weapon, it's unclear what the costs and benefits are to the different decisions.

Jay Frechette, community manager on Apex Legends, added that it feels at times like it has an alternate firing mode. A description of the weapon found on the Apex Legends site appeared to suggest it'd have some kind of ability to cut through armor, though it's again impossible to tell without knowing the full details.

"Cut through your enemies' armor before they ever see you coming with this bolt-action sniper rifle," the site said about the Sentinel.

That kind of mechanic might make the weapon more valuable in players' arsenals when it's released. Sniper rifles are situational in Apex Legends with combat generally favoring close-quarters encounters since players can reapply their shields easier when damaged from a distance, but penetrating armor would pose a new threat.

The same developer stream also revealed a new Legend that's coming to the game, though like the Sentinel, we don't yet know the scope of his abilities.