How does Control work in Apex Legends? 9v9 mode in Season 12

Andrew Highton
control in apex legends

Apex Legends Season 12 has introduced a brand new gameplay variation – Control. It welcomes a classic online multiplayer vibe to Respawn Entertainment’s shooter and spices things up.

Battle Royale and Arenas already give players a chance to vary up their gameplay in Apex. BR is the traditional large-scale game mode where players fight to be the last team standing, whereas Arenas are games of 3v3 fought on smaller maps over multiple rounds.

Apex Legends doesn’t have a fast, free-flowing game mode in the traditional multiplayer sense. However, this has all changed with Apex Legends Season 12 and the new Control mode.


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apex control zones
Control is a whole new way of playing Apex Legends.

How does Control work in Apex Legends? How to win

Apex Legends Season 12 has introduced Control, and here’s how Respawn Entertainment describe it: “Defiance kicks off with Control, a limited-time 9v9 mode. Pre-select your loadouts, drop in, respawn infinitely and fight for Control.”

The huge difference here, especially for an Apex Legends game mode, is that there is now infinite respawning. Meaning it’s more akin to a typical, fast-paced Call of Duty (or Titanfall) match. You can change loadouts and characters as the match is going on.

As well as all the usual gameplay and shenanigans taking place during a match, there are also other factors such as Timed Events that will “shake up where the action is.”

Capture Bonuses are special zones that appear on the map and will reward the successful team with a huge amount of extra points. Airdrops will occasionally pop in and provide super-duper weapons to the opportunistic captors, and it’s also key that teams emphasize the acquisition of zones as players will be able to spawn on captured points.

Winning a game of Control

Here’s how you can win a game of Control in Apex Legends:

  1. Players need to fight to capture and control the zones
  2. Taking possession of a zone earns you points
  3. The more zones you control, the more points you’re given
  4. It’s then the first team to reach the 1,250 score limit

It’s well and good having this new concept to dive into, but where will you get to play?

Control’s maps take existing sections of current maps and rejigs them to fit. Here’s where you’ll be able to tussle: “Outlands – Hammond Labs on Olympus. Barometer on Storm Point, with extra cover and updated traversal options to support dense firefights.”

Apex Legends Control trailer

Respawn dropped a new trailer for Apex Legends: Defiance on January 31, 2022, and it showed off gameplay for Control. It properly demonstrates how players need to work together to prevail in Control, and how it works.

Is Control a permanent game mode?

At first, Control will only be temporary – but we doubt it will stay that way.

Even though the conception of the idea dates back almost a year and this will be a fun, new variation for players, Respawn have said: “For the first 3 weeks of Defiance, see whether you can handle the madness in the new Control mode.”

We can only think that Respawn want to gauge the interest in Control, see how much it’s missed once it leaves the game again, and we will surely see it return later down the line. The three weeks should be used as a good testing period for the mode.


We have lots more Apex Legends content and guides for you to take a look at:

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About The Author

Andrew Highton is a former Games Writer for Dexerto. He has a Creative Writing degree from Liverpool John Moores University and has previously written for games websites such as Twinfinite and Keengamer. With 13,000+ PlayStation Trophies to his name, Andrew is a fan of a huge variety of video games, his favourites being God of War and Metal Gear Solid. Contact him at andrew.highton@dexerto.com, on Twitter @AndyHighton8 or at www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-highton.