As relevant as it has ever been, Respawn’s Apex Legends has decided to take a trip down nostalgia lane as it announced Season 23, titled “From The Rift”. And when we mean nostalgia lane, we mean it literally. That’s because the season has introduced the new “Launch Royale” mode which lets you drop into the original Apex maps with the original weapons, legends, abilities and everything else.
But not only can you relive Apex from 2019, they’ve also brought multiple changes and balance updates to the existing legends, along with a notable Lifeline rework. That obviously means that the meta will shift in this new season, and that’s why we’ve prepped this article for you, so that you can figure out which legend to pick for the highest chance of winning matches.
This article is mainly catered towards newer players who can be very confused about which legend to unlock from the vast roster, so we will be talking about the top 10 legends you absolutely must try out in the new season. Let’s get started!
10: Bloodhound
- Class: Recon
- Tactical: Eye of The Allfather – Briefly reveal hidden enemies, traps, and clues throughout structures in front of you. Extremely useful for initiating attacks and revealing enemy positions.
- Passive: Tracker – See tracks left behind by other players. You’ll occasionally see a white crow on the battlefield which will show the trails of players in the nearby vicinity when you interact with it.
- Ultimate: Beast of The Hunt – Move faster and highlight enemy players.
Bloodhound has been possibly the most consistently picked character in all of Apex Legends’ history. Their ability to gather information and initiate extremely aggressive attacks is deceptively easy to learn and get used to. Press a button to scan and press a button to go sicko mode with the ultimate. Doesn’t get any easier than that!
Bloodhound is also available for every player from the beginning, so new players can try them out in their very first match if they want to.
9: Loba
- Class: Support
- Tactical: Burglar’s Best Friend – Teleport to hard-to-reach places or escape trouble quickly by throwing your jump drive bracelet. An extremely useful tactical that can get you out of immediate danger and allow a quick retreat.
- Passive: Eye for Quality – Nearby epic and legendary loot can be seen through walls.
- Ultimate: Black Market Boutique – Place a portable device that allows you to teleport nearby loot to your inventory. Each friendly or enemy Legend can take up to two items.
New players can get very frustrated with loot management or not knowing where to look for the best weapons and attachments in general. Loba is a very easy solution to that problem thanks to how useful her ultimate is. Even more so because Loba will start every match with her ult 50% pre-charged. That means you can get the advantage of grabbing the best loot around your area before any other player on the field.
8: Gibraltar
- Class: Support
- Tactical: Dome of Protection – Blocks incoming and outgoing attacks. Set down this dome to get instant cover and protection, allowing you and your teammates to heal up and take a breath before going back into a fight.
- Passive: Gun Shield – Aiming down sights deploys a gun shield that blocks incoming fire. The shield has a health bar as well.
- Ultimate: Defensive Bombardment – Call in a concentrated mortar strike on a marked position. This can be used both defensively and aggressively, allowing for both retreats and as a way to pressure the opponent immensely.
Gibby has been a good ol’ reliable ever since season 1 of Apex Legends and he still remains unwavering in that position and reliability. His sheer tankiness is enough to win most gunfights, and if you pair that with his gunshield, he’s almost impossible to take down in a 1v1.
If you enjoy playing tanks or like playing defensive characters in general, then Gibraltar is definitely the pick for you.
7: Newcastle
- Class: Support
- Tactical: Mobile Shield – Throw a drone that projects a moveable energy shield. Extremely useful for providing immediate cover.
- Passive: Retrieve The Wounded – Drag downed allies as you revive and protect them with your Revive Shield.
- Ultimate: Castle Wall – Leap to an ally or target area and slam down, creating a fortified stronghold.
If there’s any other legend that can beat Gibraltar in terms of defensive capabilities, it’s probably Newcastle. His ability to provide cover and also revive teammates very quickly can easily turn the tides and frustrate enemy players.
We highly recommend trying out Newcastle if you’re into playing support characters as his abilities provide a lot of benefits with a very low skill ceiling.
6: Octane
- Class: Skirmisher
- Tactical: Stim – Increase walk speed by 30% and sprint speed by 40% for 6 seconds. Costs Health to use.
- Passive: Swift Mend – Passively restore health.
- Ultimate: Launch Pad – Deploy a jump pad that catapults anyone through the air. Press the jump button to double jump.
Octane is all about making quick decisions and fast-paced gameplay. All you need to do before a fight is use a stim and go guns blazing because there’s simply nothing more fun than doing that. Gun fights in Apex can require a lot of rotation and repositions, which Octane’s jump pad can do very easily, allowing a quick means of transportation for the entire team.
Not to mention, once you get used to Octane’s faster movement, you’ll start to have a lot of fun by playing around with the movement mechanics, which is a crucial aspect of Apex’s gameplay.
5: Mirage
- Class: Support
- Tactical: Psyche Out – Send out a holographic decoy to confuse the enemy. Pressing H (Or down arrow key on the controller) will let you control the decoy. If an enemy shoots the decoy, their location will be briefly revealed with a marker.
- Passive: Now You See Me… – Automatically cloak when using Respawn Beacons and reviving teammates. Spawn a decoy and cloak when downed.
- Ultimate: Life of The Party – Mirage deploys a team of controllable decoys to distract enemies.
Mirage, despite always being an underdog in Apex Legends, is one of the most fun legends to play as. His ability to confuse enemies with the endless amount of decoys makes him possibly the best character in a 1v1 scenario.
His abilities are extremely easy to learn and can still get you value even if you spam the decoys in a fight. Plus, with the recent class perks, he provides a lot more value to the team as a whole instead of being a self-centered legend like he used to be.
4: Valkyrie
- Class: Recon
- Tactical: Missile Swarm – Fire a swarm of mini-rockets that damage and disorient the enemy. Especially useful for forcing people out of corners and covers. Can also break down doors.
- Passive: VTOL Jets – Press the jump key while in the air to engage the jetpack. You can switch between hold and toggle mode in the options menu. We highly suggest switching to hold mode for better handling and movement.
- Ultimate: Skyward Dive – Press once to prepare for launch. Teammates can interact with Valkyrie to join the launch. Press again to launch into the air and skydive.
Valkyrie has been one of the top picked legends ever since her debut way back in season 9. Her ability to fly gives her superior movement over the other characters and automatically gives it much more depth and versatility.
With Valkyrie, it’s extremely easy to reposition and take the higher ground, allowing you to take much more aggressive peeks and take unorthodox angles that enemies might not expect. She also provides a ton of benefits to the entire team with her ultimate, allowing immediate reposition to almost anywhere on the map.
3: Bangalore
- Class: Assault
- Tactical: Smoke Launcher – Fire a high-velocity smoke canister that explodes into a smoke wall on impact.
- Passive: Double Time – Taking fire while sprinting makes you move faster for a brief time.
- Ultimate: Rolling Thunder – Call in an artillery strike that slowly creeps across the landscape. Much like Gibraltar’s ultimate, this can be both used aggressively or to stop enemies from chasing you.
Another legend that has always been consistently good is Bangalore. Very popular amongst new players, her kit is extremely easy to understand and reliable. Her smokes allow a very good cover and also heals you slightly, which is a new addition from the later seasons.
2: Wraith
- Class: Skirmisher
- Tactical: Into the Void – Reposition quickly through the safety of void space, avoiding all damage. You can’t use weapons but move faster while in the void.
- Passive: Voices from the Void – Wraith’s inner voice will tell you if an enemy player is aiming at you or if there’s a trap nearby. Creepy but useful in a pinch.
- Ultimate: Dimensional Rift – Link two locations with portals for 45 seconds, allowing anyone to use them.
One of the most dependable legends, Wraith is exceptionally good in Apex whether you’re playing solo or with a team. Her ability to reposition without taking any form of damage can save her from almost any type of danger in the game. Mixing that with the ability to transport your entire team through a portal makes her a must pick in most games.
Wraith is automatically unlocked from the get-go, so new players can give her a shot and learn what she has to offer.
1: Lifeline
- Class: Support
- Tactical: D.O.C Heal Drone – The Drone Of Compassion (DOC) automatically heals those near it over time. D.O.C can be assigned to follow allies once deployed.
- Passive: Combat Glide – Hold JUMP mid-air to use D.O.C. and briefly glide. Deploy D.O.C. to revive teammates, leaving Lifeline free to defend.
- Ultimate: D.O.C Halo – Throw D.O.C. to activate Halo Shield System. All players inside use Health & Shield consumables faster.
With the beginning of Season 23, Lifeline gets a massive rework that makes her twice as useful than she already was. Now her D.O.C drone can actively follow players as they heal them so they don’t have to stay in one spot like a sitting duck waiting for their health to refill.
Not to mention, the care package ultimate got entirely removed and instead, she now throws down the D.O.C drone to create a zone in which healing items are used twice as fast. Her value in a team just got multiplied by several folds and is a must-pick legend for both new and veteran players.
So there you have it, these are the top legends that new players should try out once they hop into Apex Legends. A lot of these legends will be unlocked once you grind out the experience and currency to unlock them, but most of them will be available to you from the very start.
Apex has an extremely colorful palette of characters, each of them extremely fun to learn and providing very different benefits to the entire team. Learning all of them will take time but definitely crucial to doing well in matches and understanding who you’re up against. Know your enemy, as they say!
We hope this article helped you understand what legends you should try out, and be sure to keep an eye out for more articles related to Apex Legends’ Season 23, From The Rift.
