More Apex Legends character buffs could be on their way
Apex Legends characters Lifeline and Octane could be getting a buff very soon.
Katie Memmott
25th May 2020 13:00
After the success of Mirage’s latest buff in Season 5 of Apex Legends, fans are calling upon the Respawn Entertainment developers to polish the other Legends abilities to match.
Octane and Lifeline look to be the next two Legends to receive a buff to their powers, making them viable in a team once again. Reworking “unpopular” Legends seems to be the move Respawn must make to continue the usefulness of all the characters in any one team.
Lead Game Designer Carlos Pineda has voiced his opinions on buffing Lifeline in particular on Twitter, before the dawn of Season 5.
The thread continues, with Pineda adding “I agree she’s lost some of her shine due to the other Legend buffs, but we can’t straight up add power to her.”
Lifeline’s role as a Combat Medic, and the only real ‘healer’ in Apex Legends, means her abilities must be balanced properly, so as not to make her wildly overpowered. However, many fans agree she is well overdue for an upgrade.
Reddit user u/Wicked_Fool suggested an entire rework for Octane, making his speed count towards his offensive capabilities. The Stim, in this reworked scenario, would work as normal (adding speed for a short amount of time but reducing health that regens slowly) but add in extra perks such as faster reloads. The Swift Mend / Swift End Passive Ability is the most offensive of all, suggesting Octane could use his stim on a downed enemy to make them bleed out faster – a sort of half-finisher move. Octane’s Ultimate Ability Launch Pad is reworked to allow Octane to get more air when using it.
Octane is widely panned as a character for “loot goblins” as he seemingly adds no tactical tools to his squad, meaning a rework for him is completely necessary.
The Apex community has also suggested that his small stature should qualify him for the “Low Profile” Passive perk, which increases incoming damage by 5% due to their size, and relative difficulty to hit. This currently includes Wraith, Lifeline, Pathfinder, and Wattson, although we know there is a definite problem with hitbox ratios meaning some of those characters should not qualify.
A concept for a Lifeline rework from Redditor u/SamBuzzz is also making the rounds, adding in her already rumoured class-specific abilities such as extra dedicated inventory space for heals, but also suggesting new and improved Tactical and Ultimate abilities.
via u/SamBuzzz
While some fans may feel uneasy about Lifeline having the power to respawn teammates herself or have her D.O.C revive knocked teammates, her role as ‘healer’ isn’t quite cutting it in the current Apex Legends gameplay meta.
The general consensus for Lifeline is that she needs to be the pro healer on any team, and the burden shouldn’t fall on Gibraltar or Mirage.
Responses from Respawn devs have been few and far between on reworking certain Legends, but hopefully, the fan-concepts will give them some good ideas to work on and make certain characters viable once again.
Images via Respawn Entertainment
About The Author
Katie Memmott
Katie is the former Sub Editor and Freelancer Coordinator at GGRecon.
