Since its launch in 2019, Apex Legends has changed a ton. Many hail it as the best out of the three big battle royale games on the market now (compared to Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite), and this is impressive given it’s also known for various technical and server issues. But there is one big change that has steadily crept up in the past few years: an imbalance and change in the purpose of Apex Legends passive abilities.
For example, it’s most noticeable when comparing older legends to more recent additions. Passives were originally a small ability that affected gameplay but not to a huge degree: Bangalore’s Double-Time, Caustic’s Nox Vision, Pathfinder’s original ability to check Survey Beacons, and Gibraltar’s Gun Shield are all good examples. Yet, while the balance is always a concern, passives have become increasingly complicated—changing from one small ability to sometimes numerous ones. Ash, the upcoming character in Apex Legends, plays her part in widening that gap.
Apex Legends: Ash’s Passive
Apex Legends new character Ash’s ultimate lets her zoom forward in a singular direction via a portal, though it is not too Wraith-like all things considered. Her tactical allows her to ensnare an opponent as if it’s a throwable Wattson ability. But her passive does a lot of legwork for her kit. She has two abilities with her passive: first, when an opponent dies, she can see their death box on her map. This gives her an indication of fighting and presets the opportunity to third-party or strike while the other party is recovering.
That’s strong in and of itself, but the other ability just adds on to that. By knifing a death box, Ash can find the killer of this player. It may not be the most universal ability, but there’s no denying that Ash’s two-fold passive strengthens her overall kit in ways other characters don’t. Before diving into that comparison, it’s worth a good look at all the passives in Apex Legends.
Apex Legends Tier List: Characters with Weak or Simple Passives
- Bangalore – Double-Time: When shot at, Bangalore gets extra speed to get into our out of an engagement. It’s not the weakest passive in Apex Legends, but it is rather run-of-the-mill and rides the line between weak and mid-tier.
- Caustic – Nox Vision: Caustic can see through gas and not be hurt by his or out Caustic’s abilities, which is as limited as it sounds and should just be an aspect of his tactical.
- Crypto – Neurolink: Crypto can pinpoint locations when using his tactical ability through the eyes of his drone, which is the definition of being an aspect of his tactical.
- Horizon – Space Walk: Horizon can turn faster in mid-air and, after hitting the ground from high up, can move faster than other legends. Yet, it’s hardly ever a factor in any game as Horizon.
- Loba—Eye for Quality: Loba can see loot and its rarity through walls, and she can even ping it. It’s good for her character and works well, but it’s not as game-changing as it seems.
- Octane—Swift Mend: Octane regenerates health over time. In play, this is a great ability, but it’s worth pointing out that this is all his passive offers him,
- Pathfinder—Insider Knowledge: gains cooldown benefits from scanning survey beacons, which all other recon legends can also do now. It used to be Pathfinder’s ability and made him unique, but once this happened, his tactical was made weaker.
- Rampart—Modded Loader: Rampart increases magazine size and reduces reload times with LMGs.
- Wattson—Spark of Genius: Wattson’s passive allows her to carry two ultimate accelerants, get her entire ult off of one charge, and slowly recharges shields.
- Wraith—Voices from the Void: Wraith hears voices when she is in danger and can share this information with the party.
Apex Legends Tier List: Characters With Mid-Tier Passives
- Bloodhound—Tracker: The ability to know enemies have been through an area is an important one, and since Bloodhound can also scan survey beacons, his passive seems like it’s in a good middling place.
- Fuse—Grenadier: The ability to have more grenades and shoot them from a distance is a strong, if not too strong, passive.
- Gibraltar—Gun Shield: Gibraltar’s gun shield walks the line between mid-tier and being too strong or OP, as while it has its limitations, it’s a strong defensive ability.
- Revenant—Stalker: Rev can crouch-walk at the same speed as his walking and climb 6 times as high as any other legend and can climb short walls faster than them too.
- Seer—Heart Seeker: Seer’s passive is in a good place now, allowing him to scan and see enemies when aiming. Truly, the combination with his tactical and its effects are where his passive shines, but in and of itself, it seems rather straightforward. Moreover, as a recon character, he can also scan Survey Beacons.
Apex Legends Tier List: Characters With Strong, OP, or Completely Loaded Passives
- Lifeline—Combat Revive: Lifeline can use D.O.C. to rez an ally, while getting one up herself. If it is rezzing someone, the match doesn’t end. And, although unrelated to being a “combat revive” ability, Lifeline can find extra loot around the map. It’s a lot for one “passive ability” in comparison to Legends like Pathfinder or Horizon.
- Mirage—Now You See Me…: Mirage spawns a clone when downed, turns invisible so he can hide when downed, can turn invisible when reviving allies, and these have few limitations when it comes to detection. This is not to say Mirage is a high-tier character, but that his passive does quite a few things to change his playstyle in a match.
- Valkyrie—VTOL Jets: Allows Valkyrie to fly around the battlefield and this ability marks enemies when she drops at the beginning of a match, uses an air balloon, or uses her ultimate ability. Oh, and as a recon character, Valkyrie can also scan survey beacons.
Apex Legends: Weighing and Bridging the Passive Gap
What becomes immediately obvious is how little “middle class” there is, with characters having simple passives and some being so far as to effectively not exist (Pathfinder, Crypto, Caustic, Horizon, and so on). Others, like Rampart, have good effects but are not as dominant as others. These characters stand in major contrast to characters like Ash, who has a two-part ability; Lifeline, whose abilities are well-defined for her medic role, perhaps even over the top; Mirage, who isn’t OP but whose passive does a lot of the legwork; and Valkyrie, whose main passive ability is big and then has a bunch piled on.
In terms of balance, it’s worth highlighting that neither Mirage nor Valkyrie, who have a lot going for them in their passive, are necessarily OP. Mirage was tweaked a ton to make him more viable, explaining why his passive has been expanded so much since launch. Valkyrie, on the other hand, is a strong meta contender, if not necessarily “broken.” Tactical and Ultimate abilities or even popularity, in some characters, help balance this out: Octane, Bloodhound, Revenant, Wraith, and so on.
Yet, if nothing else, this serves to highlight how weak some passives in the game are. This highlights how passives went from small add-ons of sorts to a character-defining mechanic. Nearly every early Apex Legends character, as well as a few others, still have a passive generally weaker or, in essence, does less than others. For characters who effectively don’t have a passive, this is the biggest problem.
How Apex Legends Can Fix The Growing Passive Problem
There are three key elements Apex Legends could introduce, alongside some general buffs, that would level out this playing field a bit more. Many wouldn’t disagree that, in terms of raw buffs, Crypto and Pathfinder at the VERY least need work on their passives in a similar vein to Mirage in the past. But, thinking bigger, buffing all the characters can’t be the answer, as that would lead to bigger balance issues.
The first step is to introduce a secondary ability, something akin to another passive, for all characters. Recon characters in Apex Legends are the only ones with a “class ability,” the ability to scan Survey Beacons. No other class has anything like this that creates a strong unity within the class. Even if it means adjusting the class structure, or adding a Mobility class in Apex Legends, such things would add more to each character without making one or the other better.
For example, perhaps Assault characters in Apex Legends could carry larger stacks of ammo if by just a little, perhaps Defensive characters have stronger resistance to ammo slow in-game, and perhaps support characters can all find extra loot in bins and the like. That’s not to say this is what Respawn should go with, but it is an example of building up passive abilities without breaking a character.
The second step would be to clearly separate tacticals and passives. If a passive ability is reliant on a tactical or an ultimate ability, it’s not by definition passive. This would likely be resolved in certain character buffs, but Caustic and Crypto are prime examples of this as a major issue.
The final step would be to expand any passive that is summed up in a single line; that doesn’t mean to buff it but to expand or make it more universal. For example, Rampart’s passive ability is good but is simple compared to many other characters. Perhaps she could also be more likely to find LMGs in loot boxes and/or LMG attachments. Another example could be Horizon, who could also perhaps use her Space Walk ability to jump differently from other legends.
The goal of eliminating simplistic passives wouldn’t be to make them more OP or to really change their rank in the Apex Legends meta, but help further define their particular gameplay experience. In theory, to better adjust passive abilities, Respawn Entertainment could also nerf Lifeline, Mirage, and Valkyrie’s passive to some degree. Yet, no one enjoys nerfs; instead, other characters should get more gameplay-defining passive abilities rather than the simple ones seen when the game first launched.
Apex Legends is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.