Apex Legends is storming the battle royale genre. Already, Respawn Entertainment CEO Vince Zampella announced that the game has had a million players within the first eight hours. Being a free-to-play game certainly helped. Perhaps not being too demanding on your PC rigs was also a factor, as we’ve noted in our technical review. If you’re keen on trying it out, you’re probably wondering which heroes are best to take for a spin. Well, wonder no more! We’ve got a guide listing character abilities, tactical usage, and which ones are best for beginners.
Too sweet, woop woop! Too sweet, woop woop!
Click on each character image to see their respective passives, tactical skills, and ultimates. Let’s start, shall we?
Gibraltar – The Main Tank
The big man is one hulking behemoth and is someone who might remind players of Overwatch’s Reinhardt. Why? Well, that’s because he can pop a personal barrier, the “Gun Shield.” As this is a passive skill, you don’t even need to worry about activating it from time to time. It’s automatic whenever you aim down your sights unless you disable it. Careful, though, because it’s not going to save you as much as you’d want it to.
Gibraltar’s “Dome of Protection” is a godsend since you can use it to block projectiles when you’re reviving, healing, or even guarding a care package. His ultimate, “Defensive Bombardment” has an unbearably long cooldown. That makes sense since it lasts over 15 seconds and obliterates everyone in a large radius. All three unique skills complement a defensive-oriented play style.
- Skill Level: Beginner-friendly
- Rating: 5/5
Lifeline – The Medic
The clinical caper from the Carribean might seem like a pushover due to her carefree nature, but she can be integral to your group composition. Her passive “Combat Medic” allows for faster health item usage and an overshield when reviving, perfect when you’re in a pinch.
The tactical “D.O.C. Heal Drone,” meanwhile, gradually heals teammates nearby. It certainly helps when you don’t want to spend your stimpacks or medkits. Unfortunately, the range is so abysmal that it’s most useful when you’re hiding inside the room or behind boxes. Out in the open when you and teammates are running around, it’s of little use. It’s also stationary which means you can’t Lucio your way to victory.
Lifeline’s “Care Package” ultimate can be hit or miss due to RNG. Care Packages drop in the King’s Valley map from time to time but her ultimate plops one right beside your team. Again, though, RNG can rear its ugly head and you might not get something that you need. Or that one random teammate could pick up an upgrade that they’d never use (and we’ve all met someone like that).
- Skill Level: Beginner-friendly
- Rating: 4/5
Bloodhound – The Scout
I feel like more could’ve been done for Bloodhound to make the character more viable than just “Mr. Ping-the-map.” His passive “Tracker” simply shows clues on the map which can range from spent shell casings to how long ago a player has died. It hinders more than it helps due to additional clutter on your HUD.
Bloodhound’s tactical skill, “Eye of the Allfather” is his bread-and-butter ability. By pinging the area in front of you, you’ll spot traps (poison canisters) or enemies that may be hiding. The effect’s radius may be small, but it’ll help you immensely when entering new areas or buildings. You never know if there are opponents hiding in a corner. In fact, my first win in Apex Legends was due to a lucky ping that revealed the last enemy squad hiding behind a door. A few grenades later and our team had a “Chicken Dinner” moment.
Unfortunately, Bloodhound’s ultimate is next to useless — or, at least I haven’t figured out a way to actually make it viable. It makes you move faster and lets you see more tracks which is probably not a good combination if you run into a firing squad.
- Skill Level: Beginner-friendly
- Rating: 4/5
Pathfinder – The Hanzo-Widowmaker-Roadhog-Bastion
Pathfinder is an addbot in every sense of the way. His passive, “Insider Knowledge” lets you see where the next safe zone would be. Cool, because anyone can figure that out. His tactical “Grappling Hook” is very handy when trying to reach the high ground and not much else. It could also pull enemies towards you but this is more luck than anything else (especially considering latency). More often than not, every Hanzo Pathfinder player I’ve seen just grapples to get close to enemies and attempt a shotgun blast.
Don’t even get me started on the “Zipline Gun” ultimate which is primarily used for giving you a vantage point. That helps if everyone’s got a sniper and opponents haven’t spotted you yet (not likely). Or, you could use that to plan your escape (which means your team is losing a firefight).
- Skill Level: Intermediate
- Rating: 3/5
Wraith – Symmetra’s Goth Cousin
If you’ve checked out Apex Legends’ trailers, you’ll probably notice how often Wraith is featured. Her skills are some of the coolest looking ones in the game. Sadly, they’re more for show than practical application. For starters, her “Voices from the Void” passive lets you know if there’s a nearby threat — which is promptly made useless if a teammate manages to ping it (or gets shot), drowning the voice out with other dialogue.
Her tactical skill, “Into the Void,” is immensely convenient. If ever you’re in a jam, pop it, become invulnerable for a few seconds while relocating to a safer area. It’s saved me in multiple occasions. Alternatively, you can use it as a more offense-oriented skill — going invulnerable and rushing an enemy, shotgunning when the effect dissipates. It’s a bit like Bastion Pathfinder except better since you’re not taking damage.
Her “Dimensional Rift,” though, is something that makes me scratch my head. Activating it once (default Z) pops a portal beside you. Next, you’d need to find another area to place the connecting portal. Now you and your teammates can travel back and forth at your leisure. Sounds great! Well, no, not exactly.
You can do some cool tricks with Wraith’s portal ultimate. This is NOT one of those.
You have a limited time to place the second portal. After that, you only have 60 seconds to use both until they disappear. Unlike Symmetra’s will-be-here-forever-until-they-get-destroyed portals, Wraith’s does not last indefinitely. The nature of battle royale games where you need to keep moving to the safe zones, along with having to get in close to a spot to drop your portal, means that enemies might end up getting the drop on you instead of the other way around.
- Skill Leve: Intermediate
- Rating: 3/5
Bangalore – The Straight Shooter
Bangalore, like Gibraltar, is about as straightforward as you can get when it comes to play style. The key difference is that she’s more offense-oriented. Her passive, “Double Time,” lets you run faster when you get shot while sprinting which helps in the heat of the moment. Still, it’s nothing to write home about.
Meanwhile, her “Smoke Launcher” is ridiculously useful in a variety of situations. Directly assaulting an enemy position? Smoke launcher. Flanking? Smoke launcher. Reviving? Smoke launcher. It even does a little bit of damage.
Lastly, her “Rolling Thunder” ultimate functions much in the same way as Gibraltar’s “Defensive Bombardment” except that it carpet bombs slowly across an area. A good time to use it is when enemies are pushing your position out in the open — watch them get blown to smithereens when they realize it’s too late to retreat.
- Skill Level: Beginner-friendly
- Rating: 5/5
Mirage – The Drifter
Mirage is one of two heroes you need to unlock with currency (earned in-game or premium). He actually reminds me of Destiny 2’s Drifter not just with his looks but also his happy-go-lucky personality. Naturally, his decoy abilities require a bit of luck (and your opponent’s lack of skill) to manage well. His “Encore” passive cloaks you while popping a decoy in case you’re knocked down — which means you’re already playing the game wrong.
As for “Psyche Out,” get ready to have fun because this ability will drive newbies insane. You can direct your decoy to run at a straight line towards a point, and opponents are likely to keep shooting it and give away their position. “Vanishing Act” is also amazing as a “panic super” of sorts or even as a utility skill. When surrounded, pop it and reposition, or use it when you need to revive a downed teammate. Anything that makes opponents second guess their target is always helpful.
The downside is that once you encounter more experienced players, your tricks will probably no longer work. Decoys are easy to spot since they either (a) stand still when they hit a solid object; (b) keep running straight to a wall. A perfect idea during a firefight is to use one to distract an enemy while you carefully take potshots.
- Skill Level: Intermediate
- Rating: 4/5
Caustic – The Toxic Crusader
The diabolical Caustic is another hero that you’ll need to unlock by way of in-game or premium currency. He may also have enemies worrying because he’s suffering from gas buildup. Although Caustic is classified as a tank like Gibraltar, his focus is primarily in area denial.
The “Nox Vision” passive is useful but situational. When using your “Nox Gas Trap,” enemies will get marked if they pass through the toxic clouds while suffering roughly six HP damage every few seconds. Multiple gas traps can also be used to blanket corridors and rooms in deadly vapors. His ultimate, “Nox Gas Grenade,” unleashes a fart cloud poison nova that covers a large room or open field — although it’s quite possible for opponents to move out of it.
Caustic’s most obvious shortcoming is the limited range of his abilities and their effects. Area denial means you’re defending a point, likely indoors. Thus, you’re of no import when traversing wide, open fields. You probably can’t throw your stink bombs like a quarterback anyway.
- Skill Level: Beginner-friendly
- Rating: 3/5
Good thing your hyperacidity does not harm your teammates.
Pick Your Poison
There you have it, all eight characters from Apex Legends, and their unique capabilities, in one convenient guide. Please take note that the ratings are subjective. It will always come down to the play style you’re comfortable with, as well as the relative skill and coordination of your teammates. Wraith may be a pain to use, but under the proper circumstances and skillful hands, she can be absolutely devastating. Meanwhile, Gibraltar might be a clear-cut pick, but if you’re not using him to the fullest then he’d be as useless as a bot.
How it all plays out, in the end, is entirely up to you. We do hope that this guide has helped you out in starting your Apex Legends adventure.
Published: Feb 5, 2019 11:56 am