Following the typical battle royale format when it comes to spawning and weapon choices, it is
the Apex Legends characters that really help set the game apart from other in the genre.
So, how many characters were available to choose from at Apex Legend’s launch? At launch,
there were a total of 8 different Legends for you to choose from, however, since the introduction
of Season 1 that number has since risen to nine.
With nine unique Legends to choose from in game, the Apex Legends characters are designed
specifically to work together with only one objective - winning.
If you're thinking of maining specific Apex Legends characters, you may want to think again, as
character selection is based off a first come, first serve system. Meaning, that if you are
planning on becoming good at Apex Legends, you are going to need to learn multiple different
characters to do so.
With a total of eight different characters available at launch, we have compiled a complete list
of all Apex Legends characters and their stats.
Click or tap on a name to learn more about individual Legends, or read more about our
thoughts on the best legends (so far) at the bottom of the page.
BANGALORE
Bangalore is available for free from the the off, and is referred to as a 'Professional
Shooter'.
- Passive Ability: Double Time
- When taking fire from enemies, Bangalore will move at an increased pace for a brief amount of time. For a game that’s already fast-paced, this ability gives you a speedy edge.
- Tactical Ability: Smoke Launcher
- This ability allows Bangalore to hurl a smoke grenade that explodes on impact at her enemies. Whether you’re escaping from a group of foes that have got the drop on you, or you’re looking to turn the tables, Bangalore’s smoke launcher will come in handy.
- Ultimate Ability: Rolling Thunder
- Useful if you’re in a pinch or weathering a match’s latter moments, Bangalore’s ultimate ability sends an artillery strike across the landscape.
Bangalore Playstyle:
Bangalore is a 'soldier'-style class, meaning she's all about pretty regular gun-based combat. Her passive and tactical abilities combine very well for rapid repositioning, we've found, so she actually works well as a combat support character too, allowing your team to reposition or for you to help set up a flank.
Beware that Rolling Thunder requires you to throw a kind of beacon to set it off, so you need to be within relatively close range for it to be of much use.
BLOODHOUND
Bloodhound is available and free to play from the start, and is referred to as a 'Technological Tracker'.
- Passive Ability: Tracker
- Bloodhound’s passive ability allows this hunter to see the footprints left behind by enemy players. Use it to get the drop on foes and land that all-important first shot.
- Tactical Ability: Eye of the Allfather
- This ability will be familiar to anyone familiar with Overwatch’s Widowmaker: it will reveal hidden enemies, traps, and clues throughout the terrain. It also proves handy for lining up headshots that’ll leave any hero in a fit of rage.
- Ultimate Ability: Beast of Hunt
- A good way to turn everything up to 11, Bloodhound’s ultimate lets you move faster and highlight your prey.
Bloodhound Playstyle:
Bloodhound is an excellent option for clearing potentially-dangerous buildings and areas where you're likely to be ambushed. The Tracker passive often isn't too useful, as Apex Legends' relatively small map and spread out 'drops' from the plane mean that an enemy has almost always left a track somewhere at some point - although it's handy for when you've camped an area for a while and suddenly tracks appear.
Beast of the Hunt is best used in tandem with Eye of the Allfather in the end-game, where you're down to a small, often confined and indoors area, where knowing which way to turn as you burst into the next room can make the difference. A character that relies on good pings and communication!
CAUSTIC
Caustic is in-game from the off, but needs to be unlocked first, either 12,000 Legend Tokens or 750 Apex Coins, and is described as a 'Toxic Trapper'.
- Passive Ability: Nox Vision
- Caustic’s passive ability allows him to see through his gas attacks. We only wish our partners could do the same. A subtle skill, but no doubt one that will give an edge against the foes you mean to disorientate.
- Tactical Ability: Nox gas trap
- This gas-filled canister will only detonate when shot or triggered by enemies.
- Ultimate Ability: Nox Gas Grenade
- Very much a larger scale version of his tactical ability, Caustic’s Nox Gas Grenade sends a large puff of toxic smoke across a vast area.
Caustic Playstyle:
Caustic's abilities work well in tandem with one another, setting enemies up with a trap or your ultimate, and then picking them off while they're distracted or obstructed by the gas itself by using your passive.
GIBRALTAR
Gibraltar is a freely available character playable from the off, and is described as a
'Shielded Fortress'.
- Passive Ability: Gun Shield
- When aiming down sights with Gibraltar, this ability grants you a gun shield that blocks incoming fire.
- Tactical Ability: Dome of Protection
- Useful for blocking doorways or providing some quick protection, Gibraltar’s dome-shaped shield ensures the safety of your squad for 15 seconds.
- Ultimate Ability: Defensive Bombardment
- Much like Bangalore’s Rolling Thunder, Gibraltar’s Ultimate Ability allows him to call for air support. Defensive Bombardment, however, is more of a concentrated mortar strike on a marked position.
Gibraltar Playstyle:
Gibraltar is a tank in more of the literal sense - high defenses and long-range artillery for offenses, at least in terms of his ultimate. He works best when set up in a static position, with the bubble shield and gun shield combo and the ultimate allowing you to pick off clustered enemies laying siege to your squad.
Don't think you have to sit in one spot though - he's great for distracting enemies with heavy fire from a window, say, behind his gun shield, while your squad flanks, but can also be a real pain when using those abilities as portable cover when you're on the move.
LIFELINE
Lifeline is available for free from the start in Apex Legends and is described as a 'Combat Medic'.
- Passive Ability: Combat Medic
- Che’s passive allows her to revive knocked teammates faster, provided a shield wall is there to protect her. Healing items are also used 25% faster.
- Tactical Ability: D.O.C. Heal Drone
- Your Tactical Ability summons a robot called the Drone of Compassion, which automatically heals nearby teammates over a brief period.
- Ultimate Ability: Care Package
- Best used between fights or towards the end of a game, Che’s Ultimate Ability will summon a drop pod packed with high-quality defensive gear.
Lifeline Playstyle:
Lifeline is perhaps the most clearly-defined 'support'-class character in Apex Legends, being built around healing teammates, faster revives and bonus high-quality gear for your squad.
We've found that early on, you'll want to spam your Care Package ultimate as often as possible, to make the most of that extra gear's availability for your entire squad - in the late game however it's best avoided, if possible, as it'll totally give away your position (although smart players might actually use it as a decoy...)
That ult is also useful for when you manage to revive killed enemies at a spawn point, as they'll have no gear on them at all, but other than that Lifeline's core focus is pretty simple: keep an eye on your pals' health and keep them topped up!
MIRAGE
Mirage is in the game at launch by is only available after you purchase him from the
in-game store for either earned or bought-with-real-money currency: 12,000 Legend
Tokens or 750 Apex Coins. He's described as a 'Holographic Trickster'.
- Passive Ability: Encore!
- Whenever Mirage is struck down by an enemy, his passive means he’ll automatically deploy a decoy while cloaking himself for five seconds. It may prove handy if Wraith or Bloodhound gets the drop on you.
- Tactical Ability: Psyche Out
- Stuck in a tense face-off where no one is brave enough to make the first move? Then Psyche Out may prove handy for, well, psyching your opponent out as Mirage sends another one of his decoy’s running off in a chosen direction to confuse the opposition.
- Ultimate Ability: Vanishing Act
- What’s better than one decoy? If your answer is many, then you may get a kick out of Mirage’s Vanishing Act. This ultimate sends a team of decoys out to distract enemies and cloaks you.
Mirage Playstyle:
Featuring a classic Respawn ability in the decoy - in fact, three abilities all focused around decoys - Mirage is a great option for those annoying lone wolves who want to head off roaming on their own in search of glory.
The better use, of course, is for Mirage to be used as part of a flanking effort from your squad, or as part of a tactical withdrawl when you're outnumbered. He also has one of the highest 'skill caps', in our opinion, as top players will be able to do some pretty great things when they get creative with those abilities.
PATHFINDER
Pathfinder is available and free to play from the off in Apex Legends, and is described as
a 'Forward Scout'.
- Passive Ability: Insider Knowledge
- As any battle royale player can attest, the genre’s signature shrinking ring defines your next move. Helping this considerably is Pathfinder’s Insider Knowledge passive ability: it allows you to scan a survey beacon to reveal the circle’s next location.
- Tactical Ability: Grappling Hook
- Is the pesky terrain getting in you way of escaping the ring? Pathfinder’s Grappling Hook lets you zip away and close large distances swiftly.
- Ultimate Ability: Zipline Gun
- They say you should never leave a man behind. Don’t be selfish and use your Zipline Gun to create an escape route for the rest of your team.
Pathfinder Playstyle:
Pathfinder is great for moving your squad around the map quickly, but you should beware your own tendency to wander off with his grappling hook and get isolated from the squad yourself.
Top level play will likely involve using him to reposition your squad around enemies or get the drop on them from higher positions accessed by his Zipline Gun, and the best players will stand out from the rest with their ability to use that ultimate wisely - it's not just for a quick route when you're hoovering up loot at the start!
WRAITH
Wraith is another character playable for free from the start in Apex Legends, and is described as an "Interdimensional Skirmisher".
- Passive Ability: Voices from the Void
- If an enemy team is about to get the drop on you, the friendly voice in Wraith’s head will let you know. It can be tricky to distinguish between this and your team’s comms, however.
- Tactical Ability: Into the Void
- Wraith’s tactical ability allows you to traverse the void without taking any damage, which means you can effectively turn invisible and not take any damage for a bit.
- It’s a handy tool to close the gap on the other team if you’ve looted a good shotgun. Or, if you’re anything like me, you’ve found yourself in a tricky situation and need to hightail it out of there.
- Ultimate Ability: Dimensional Rift
- Rather than just void walking on your tod, Dimensional Rift allows you to take your team along with you.
Wraith Playstyle:
Wraith has probably the highest skillcap of any character in Apex Legends so far, thanks to the fairly wide range of possibilities available to you through Into the Void and your ultimate, Dimensional Rift.
She's amazing for setting up surprise attacks or retreats for your team, but the ult in particular takes some planning - you press it once to drop a portal where you are, and again to drop the second one, meaning you need to rapidly get from your first portal to the second one on foot (or with your Into the Void ability) to actually set it up.
There's also room for more with Into the Void, but we're still experimenting with what you can and can't actually do with it, so maybe check back again in the near future for some more specific advice!
OCTANE
- Passive Ability: Swift Mend
- Octane will gradually recover his health over time, which is handy for the number of scraps he gets into.
- Tactical Ability: Stim
- After injecting himself with a stimulant, Octane will move considerably faster at the cost of some of his health. It’s a good thing, then, that he can gradually recover that health over time unless someone is shooting at him.
- Ultimate Ability: Launch Pad
- With the simple toss of a Launch Pad, Octane can propel himself, and anyone else on the map of that matter, off to great heights.
Octane Playstyle:
Octane is the new fast-paced character of choice - and will probably be a streamer favourite as a result.
Rather than requiring incoming enemy fire for a speed boost like Bangalore, Octane has a speed boost available on demand, and with his ability to auomatically regend health and a slightly underwhelming ultimate (at least on paper), he's also probably the lone wolf's character of choice too.
There's noticeable less room for coordination with his loadout, but as we've seen with the other classes after launch we'd imagine the best teams will still find ways to synergise and get the most out of his rapid speed, repositioning capabilites and independence. An exciting first new Legend!
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