Apex Legends characters - the best abilities, playstyles and weaknesses

New Apex Legends characters arrive regularly. Bringing new abilities and options to the battle royale. Currently on its ninth season, Legacy, there's a roster of 17 Legends with unique abilities, playstyles, and personalities. The team-based battle royal has seen many changes over its nine seasons. New seasons mean new Legends but also nerfs and buffs to current Legends. This guide will break down all the Legends and their abilities, their strengths, weaknesses and their suited playstyles.

How to pick the best Apex Legends character for you

As this is a team-based battle royal, picking Apex Legends characters that complement one another gives you a tactical advantage. For example, Bloodhound & Bangalore work very well together because Bloodhound's Scan ability can see through Bangalore's smoke grenade ability, making it easy to pick off an enemy squad. Additionally, a supportive character like Lifeline can patch you up quickly, ready to carry on the fight.

Each Legend comes equipped with three abilities - a Passive ability which is always active, a Tactical ability with a short cooldown and an Ultimate ability which takes a long time to charge.

Each Legend also falls into a class. Recon, offensive, defensive and support Legends and having a mix of each class can provide a nice balance in a match and give you many gameplay options. All you have to do is decide which Legend suits your playstyle.

Recon Legends gather intel on enemy squads and traps, and can find the location of the next ring. If your playstyle is stealth, these legends may be for you.
Offensive Legends have abilities suited for combat. Their abilities are usually large-scale attacks or quick movement. If you like fast-paced combat you probably want to play offensive.
Defensive Legends can fortify an area and provide cover for incoming attacks. They can secure a building or create a safe space with traps, making it dangerous for enemies to enter. These legends are great for players who enjoy the strategic position.
Support Legends can provide health or loot. These Legends provide essential support for any match. Equipping you with the best loot and any medical care before or after a battle. If you’re a non-aggressive player these Legends may be for you.

Apex Legends characters

Bloodhound - Recon

Passive - Tracker. Bloodhound can see tracks left behind from other players who have passed through the area. The tracks reveal how long since foes have left the area.
Tactical – Eye of the Allfather. Scans the area to reveal traps, clues and enemies. Bloodhound's scan can see through walls and buildings.
Ultimate – Beast of the Hunt. Enhances Bloodhound's senses. Enemies are highlighted and tracked. Speed is also increased and tactical ability cooldowns are drastically reduced.

Bloodhound's abilities are great to get plenty of battlefield info but are balanced by a few cons. Scans can be seen and foes will know they've been scanned. Bloodhound's Ultimate is also quite loud allowing enemies to know you’re coming.

Gibraltar - Defensive

Passive – Gun Shield. A shield appears when aiming down. Giving your 50hp on top of the shield you have equipped. Additionally, Gibraltar also has Fortify which reduces incoming damage by 15%
Tactical – Dome Shield. Gibraltar deploys a dome-shaped shield that cannot be destroyed to protect his team.
Ultimate – Defensive Bombardment. A concentrated airstrike on a specific location.

Gibraltar is a defensive force not to be reckoned with. Although he takes 15% less damage, he does have a larger hitbox, making him an easy target. However, his shield and bombardment abilities can easily keep the opposition busy.

Lifeline - Support

Passive – A combat medic. Using her health drone D.O.C Lifeline can revive fallen teammates handsfree, allowing her to still fight. Additionally, she can open the hidden compartment in extended supply bins.
Tactical – D.O.C Health Drone. Lifeline can deploy a health drone to heal herself and her teammates.
Ultimate – Care Package. Lifeline can call in a care package, full of healing items and upgraded shields and attachments for her team.

To get the most out of Lifeline's revives always use a golden backpack if you can find one. Golden backpacks restore 50hp for both health and shields, whereas a regular revives only restores 25hp. Calling a Care Package can help an entire team but it will give away your position.

Pathfinder - Recon

Passive – Insider Knowledge. Pathfinder can scan a survey beacon to find the location of the next ring. By doing this the cooldown rate of Pathfinder Ultimate is increasingly reduced.
Tactical – Grapple Hook. Can grapple to move quickly and to get to out of reach places.
Ultimate – Zipline. Can create a zipline for everyone to use.

Pathfinder’s obviously a great option for mobility as their grapple hook and access to hard to reach areas and move you around the map quickly. Insider knowledge is also an extremely useful ability for the team that likes to plan ahead.

Wraith - Offensive

Passive – Voices from the Void. Wraith can hear voices in her head warning her when there’s a trap nearby or when she is being aimed at.
Tactical – Into the Void. Wraith can move within a void space to reposition herself in a fight.
Ultimate – Dimensional Rift. Wraith can create a portal linking two locations, allowing her team to pass through.

Wraith's tactical can be very useful to reposition in a fight, however, enemies can see you while running through the void and you can't open doors. However, in a battle the extra movement options can help you control the fight.

Bangalore - Offensive

Passive – Double time. When being shot at, Bangalore can move at double her speed to avoid damage for a brief time.
Tactical – Smoke Launcher. Bangalore can fire two smoke canisters that can cover an area in smoke. Additionally, directly aiming the canister at the enemy can damage them for 10hp.
Ultimate – Rolling Thunder. Bangalore can call in an artillery air strike that covers a large area.

Bangalore's smoke launcher renders enemies blind which is as useful to breakaway from a fight as it is to win one. And, as we mentioned earlier, when teamed up with Bloodhound's Eye of the Allfather tactical to reveal enemies, it can help you easily defeat a rival team. Bangalore's airstrike can be devastating but can also damage you, so be sure to keep some distance.

Mirage - Offensive

Passive – Now You See Me. Mirage automatically cloaks when using a respawn beacon or when reviving a fallen teammate. Additionally, he temporarily cloaks when knocked.
Tactical – Psyche Out. Mirage can set out a holographic decoy to confuse his enemies. He can also control the movement of this decoy.
Ultimate – Life of the Party. Mirage can deploy a team of decoys to distract his enemies.

For an offensive option Mirage doesn't actually have any real attacking abilities and is, instead. all about distracting and confusing enemies. Be warned though: his Ultimate can be as distracting to his team as it is to his enemies.

Caustic - Defensive

Passive – Nox Vision. Caustic can see enemies through his gas
Tactical – Nox Gas Trap. Can leave canister gas traps that are triggered by enemies walking close by or being shot.
Ultimate – Nox Gas Grenade. Can throw a gas grenade that will blanket an area in Nox gas.

Caustic is all about controlling the area an enemy can fight in. By placing traps he can deny enemies space that might help them, like flushing them out of cover for example. However, like Gibraltar, Caustic has a large hitbox making him an easy target.

Octane - Offensive

Passive – Swift Med. Octane can automatically regenerate health.
Tactical – Stim. Octane can use a stimulus that allows him to run fast for a short period, however, it does cost health to use it.
Ultimate – LaunchPad. Can deploy a jump pad that can catapult teammates in the air with an additional jump whilst still in the air.

Octane is obviously all about movement, using his speed to reposition and flank enemies quickly. While his Launch Pad can help the entire team literally get the jump on the opposition. However, his speed boosting Stim takes a large chunk of health, so using it can make you easier to knock down when hit by incoming fire.

Wattson - Defensive

Passive – Spark of Genius. Ultimate Accelerant consumables fully charge Wattsons ultimate instead of just by 20%. Additionally, she can store two in her inventory slots instead of the usual one.
Tactical – Perimeter Security. Wattson can deploy electrified fences to secure an area. Enemies who walk past them are dealt damage and are slowed down.
Ultimate – Interception Pylon. Wattson can place an electrified structure that can block incoming attacks such as airstrikes and grenades

Like Caustic, Wattson is best used to take control of the enemies movement. Her abilities shine when placed at a strategic location - to block or bottleneck a route the enemy needs for example. But because of that she's less useful when on the move.

Crypto - Recon

Passive – Neurolink. Enemies and traps detected by Cryptos Drone and are shared with his team via neurolink.
Tactical – Surveillance Drone. Crypto can deploy a drone that can scan the area and detect traps and enemies. Additionally, the drone can be used to open doors/Supply Bins/Care Packages, pick up squamates' banner cards, and use both Survey Beacon & Respawn Beacon.
Ultimate – Drone EMP. Crypto can get his Surveillance Drone to set off an electromagnetic pulse to destroy shields, traps and stun enemies.

Crypto's biggest weakness is that while using his surveillance drone, he is unable to fight and is an easy target. Finding a small corner to hide whilst using your drone or asking your teammate to guard you would be best. Additionally, Crypto’s drone is loud alerting nearby enemies and can be destroyed.

Revenant - Offensive

Passive – Stalker. Revenant can walk faster in crouch and can climb and scale walls of any height.
Tactical – Silence. Revenant can throw a device that can stop legends from using their abilities temporarily.
Ultimate – Death Totem. A death totem can give you a second chance at an attack. Revenant totem protects his teammates from death by allowing them to return to the death totem instead of being knocked.

Revenant's mobility makes him useful in a fight by letting him move around cover faster and climb buildings to get some height over an opponent. His Silence tactical is also a useful way to nerf a dangerous enemies abilities while his respawning Death Totem give everyone a second chance to keep fighting in a big face off.

Loba - Support

Passive – Eye for quality. Loba can see high tier loot in buildings and supply bins from a distance.
Tactical – Burglar’s Best Friend. Loba can use her bracelet to teleport too high to reach places or escape trouble.
Ultimate – Black Market Boutique. Loba’s staff also acts as a device that allows her to shop for loot in the area. Two items per person and unlimited ammo.

Loba is best used to support the team by getting them good gear fast. She's not much of a fighter but if her teammates are, then her ability to source the best gear can balance things out. Just watch out for her Black Market Boutique Ultimate - it's very handy, but emits a pulse letting enemies know your location.

Rampart - Defensive

Passive – Modded Loader. Rampart can carry an increased mag size for all Light Machine Guns.
Tactical – Amped Cover. Rampart can build a crouch cover wall to block incoming fire but can support outgoing fire.
Ultimate – Emplaced Minigun “Sheila”. Rampart can mount a machine gun that comes with a very large magazine size.

Rampart can help a team under attack with her defensive cover and fire. Just be careful - her cover is handy in a pinch but takes a long time to deploy, this same goes for her ultimate Sheila. Additionally, her amped cover can be destroyed quite easily.

Horizon - Offensive

Passive – Gravity Lift. Horizon throws a device that reverses the flow of gravity lifting her team-up.
Tactical – Spacewalk. Horizons specially designed spacesuit allows her increased air control, reducing fall impact.
Ultimate – Black Hole. Horizon can deploy N.E.W.T, a small Robert named after her son, to create a micro black hole that pulls players in towards it.

Horizon can use her Gravity Lift to reposition her entire team which can give you a tactical advantage when used well. Her Ultimate is very disruptive when pulling your enemies in, but it can also pull in you and your team and be destroyed by enemy teams, so it needs to be used carefully.

Fuse - Offensive

Passive – Grenadier. Fuse can hold an extra grenade in his inventory slot and throw grenades further, faster, and more accurately than any other legend.
Tactical – Knuckle Cluster. Fuse can launch a cluster bomb that continuously expels airburst explosives on impact. Fuse can launch two of these before a cool down.
Ultimate – The Motherload. Unloaded a bombardment of flames creating a ring of fire encircling enemies within.

All of Fuse’s abilities are offensive, however this makes him the least-mobile offensive legend. His attacks do all the talking so you have to be confident you'll land them. He can also take damage from all his abilities so they're best used at a distance. Not one for close encounters really.

Valkyrie - Recon

Passive – VTOL Jets. Valkyrie uses a jetpack to fly around the map. Fuel is limited but will refuel after a short period.
Tactical – Missile Swarm. Can launch a swarm of mini rockets that will deal damage and disorient enemies.
Ultimate – Skyward Dive. Valkyrie can launch into the sky and redeploy to another location. Her teammates can join her.

Valkyrie’s flight is quite useful for getting to high places and a Legend that can reposition easily can keep enemies on their toes. However, when in the air she can be an easy target for incoming fire and, additionally, she cannot fly and use a weapon simultaneously.