Every season has had its ups and downs, but lately, Apex Legends’ newer playable characters seem to be pulling from the old. This isn’t about their backstories, character designs, or voices, but rather their in-game abilities. A character’s kit is essential to determining their gameplay viability, pick rate, and overall fun factor; so it should go without saying that it should be unique. Individuality is important in a game with as many playable characters as Apex Legends, and taking too many cues from other characters diminishes that particular legend’s uniqueness.
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Apex Legends: Borrowing Something Old
The trend of legends sharing similar abilities seems to have started with Apex Legends’ eighteenth legend, Seer. All of Seer’s abilities borrow heavily from those of Bloodhound - one of Apex Legends’ default playable characters. Seer’s Focus of Attention tactical ability reveals enemies through walls for him and his allies, much like Bloodhound’s Eye of the Allfather. His Heart Seeker passive gives him the approximate location of opponents thanks to the heartbeats they project - a tracking ability similar to Bloodhound’s Tracker passive, which lets them follow clues to determine an opponent’s location.
Seer’s Exhibit ultimate ability shows the location of all moving and shooting enemies in a given area, providing an alternative to Bloodhound’s Beast of the Hunt ultimate - which increases the rate at which they can scan and allows them to follow cold tracks.
Seer is the epitome of a legend whose kit is directly inspired by another character. While the ways in which he uses his abilities are different, their effects are the same for the most part. This makes Seer’s abilities feel less unique and more iterative when compared to Bloodhound’s kit. As an example, Seer’s Focus of Attention creates a telltale cylindrical area of effect before activating, as compared to Bloodhound’s Eye of The Allfather which doesn’t have any indicators. As a result of having similar abilities with obvious counters, Seer’s pick rate is way lower than that of Bloodhound.
Apex Legends: New Doesn’t Mean Better
Other, more recent legends don’t copy their predecessors as much as Seer does, but they do take cues from them. Ash’s Phase Breach ultimate is directly taken from Wraith’s Dimensional Rift, though it comes out quicker, doesn’t last as long, and is a one-way portal. Even the newly-released Newcastle has a kit that makes multiple nods to different legends. His Mobile Shield tactical is a smaller, moveable version of Gibraltar’s Dome of Protection ultimate, while his Castle Wall is a stronger version of Rampart’s Amped Cover without the amped segments. More legends mean more options to choose from, but it also implies that some legend abilities are bound to overlap.
That isn’t to say Respawn Entertainment has run out of ideas. Valkyrie is a good example of a unique legend whose abilities make her stand out from the rest of the Apex Legends roster. Thanks to her abilities which let her fly, stun, and reposition her squad, she has quickly become one of the most played legends and has even become a meta pick for both casual and ranked play. On the flip side, however, there are characters like Mad Maggie - whose low pick rate can be attributed to her abilities not synergizing well with others. Both Valkyrie and Mad Maggie are proof that players welcome legends with unique abilities, but they have to be fun to play and bring something useful to the table to be more widely accepted.
Having legends take inspiration from past characters isn’t wrong as long as their abilities play into that character. Seer’s abilities may seem gimmicky when compared to Bloodhound’s, but they tie in with his lore of using micro-drones to locate his opponents. If Respawn Entertainment wants to create a legend whose abilities are more widely enjoyed by the community, it has to strike a balance between ability uniqueness and usefulness. This way, players are treated to an entirely new experience when playing the new legend.
Apex Legends is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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