The Truth Behind Apex Legends’ Revenant Rework

Apex Legends, like all live-service titles, is not any stranger to balancing updates. Weapons and playable characters alike endure acute surges and declines primarily based on a number of elements, with essentially the most prevalent being participant habits. Years in the past, Pathfinder reigned supreme throughout informal and aggressive matches; his grapple hook-centric mobility and inconsistent hitbox made him an unequalled duelist till his capability cooldowns and physique have been tweaked. Similarly, the Prowler SMG as soon as rivaled its mild ammo counterparts earlier than the Selectfire Receiver – a legendary hop-up that transformed the weapon’s burstfire to automated – was faraway from the loot pool. These adjustments, along with many others, morphed the meta in vital methods, however one explicit replace trumped the remainder: Revenant’s rework.

The nefarious simulacrum (robots primarily based on people) was first launched in Season 4: Assimilation, and regardless of capturing the fascination of lore lovers and aggression-focused gamers, his unremarkable decide fee left lots to be desired. Revenant’s unique equipment made him a stealthy murderer: a “Stalker” passive that accelerated crouch stroll velocity/prolonged climbing top all whereas silencing his toes, a “Silence” tactical capability that, when flung at unsuspecting adversaries, dealt harm and disabled enemies for a couple of seconds, and a “Death Totem” final which prevented loss of life or incapacitation by sending injured customers again to the Totem’s location with 50HP as a substitute. Despite these fascinating abilities, Revenant by no means reached the identical recognition heights as different Skirmisher legends.

Apex Legends Season 18 Trailer:

Apex Legends design director Devan McGuire advised me Revenant’s second coming (or “Rebirth,” as some name it) that launched within the aptly named Season 18: Resurrection was applied to fulfill the core fantasy of the character and carve an area within the meta for him. Simply put, he wanted stronger, extra viable talents.

“You played Revenant, sat back, and lobbed shadow balls [or Silence] at people and hoped you hit someone around the corner to maybe make a push on them,” McGuire started. “But even if you did, you had no idea what type of person got affected by it, what the Silence did, and whether or not it was still safe to push. And if you wanted to use your ultimate, you had to coordinate with your team and make sure everyone grouped up to make an effective push. It wasn’t the healthiest thing for the game; we had an Octane-Revenant meta that showed us the dangers of that. So, we looked at it from the ground up and went after a hyper-aggressive/very selfish playstyle and tried to make Revenant fit the game in the way he was meant to. Having that payoff is so rewarding/encouraging when we look back at older legends who have fallen behind or maybe never hit the mark. Not saying that we’re going to be doing a lot of that in the future, but we’ll look for those kinds of opportunities again because they can breathe new life into a character who has sat by the wayside.”

According to Esports Illustrated, after the rework, Revenant turned essentially the most chosen legend within the sport, his decide fee rising by a whopping 98 p.c! Of course, the enjoyable narrative beats that accompanied S18 helped the character enchantment to a broader viewers. But his new talents have been nothing to scoff at both. These days, the Revenant we all know and love can “Shadow Pounce,” or leap a most of 50m, to ambush low-health enemies highlighted with the “Assassin’s Instinct” passive. And his new final, “Forged Shadows,” creates a 75HP shroud that blocks harm and slowly regenerates over time. Thankfully (or dreadfully?), Revenant resides as much as his namesake; the man’s a bonafide predator who can provoke and win fights in addition to any legend within the frontier.