As the game's title suggests, the playable Legends in Apex Legends make up a huge part of the game. Some are damage-dealers while some Legends play more of a defensive role, but all of them rely on their personalities and abilities to stand out in a crowd. Each Legend has three general abilities. A passive ability is usually active at all times, given certain situations. A tactical ability can provide a slight advantage for the legend using it, and a short cooldown follows once the ability has been used or destroyed. Lastly, a Legend's ultimate ability is the culmination of their power and gives that character their moment to shine during a match.
Many players would say that a Legend's ultimate ability is the most important tool in their kit, and with good reason. Ultimates can take minutes to charge and are the reason why ultimate accelerants can be found throughout all the Apex Legends maps. Still, all the Legends' tactical and passive abilities play critical roles in the game. Octane's tactical ability, Stim, can get him out of a bind in a flash, while Revenant's passive ability, Stalker, allows him to crouch walk faster and climb walls higher - allowing for some sneaky gameplay. But when it comes to passive abilities, no Legend has a better ability than Valkyrie's VTOL Jets.
VTOL Jets Is A Core Part of Who Valkyrie Is
Valkyrie's VTOL Jets is her most defining feature as a legend. Lore-wise, her VTOL Jets were made by Rampart using the parts of the titan that belonged to Valkyrie's father Viper. By holding or toggling the jump key (this is up to player preference), Valkyrie can activate her VTOL Jets and take to the skies. The initial boost takes up 12.5% of her total fuel, but as long as there is something in the tank, Valkyrie can continue flying. Once out of fuel, players must wait 8 seconds for the fuel meter to start filling up again.
Instead of using a jump tower, a tactical ability like Horizon's Gravity Lift, or an ultimate like Octane's Jump Pad, Valkyrie players can simply activate VTOL Jets and propel themselves towards the desired location. Without having to go out of their way or waste an ability cooldown, Apex Legends players can effectively reposition themselves vertically. This gives them a slew of options that aren't available to legends without similar abilities, such as new attack angles, holding places and alternative methods for retreat. It also helps that VTOL Jets makes Valkyrie the only legend capable of true flight, which is very cool.
The Jet-Fighter HUD Plays Into Valkyrie's Love for The Sky
While many players love Valkyrie for her flight, a passive they overlook is the VTOL Jets' ability to mark any enemies within a 250-meter distance to Valkyrie and any teammates that are attached to her while skydiving. Valkyrie needs to have an uninterrupted line of sight to her opponents, but doing so provides her and her squad with vital information regarding enemy locations (the Jet-Fighter HUD also marks the champion squad with a "CH" and the kill leader with a "KL"). This information makes it easier to discern where Valkyrie and her allies should and should not land.
Continuing with the theme of flight, the Jet-Fighter HUD is Apex Legends' way of showing how the sky is Valkyrie's domain. She can already fly short distances with her VTOL Jets, but once she takes to the sky using a jump tower or her Skyward Dive ultimate ability, her true prowess as a pilot shows. She may not have the scanning abilities of Legends like Seer and Bloodhound, but once she takes to the sky, the majority of enemies in her line of sight are revealed.
Apex Legends' more recent playable characters have had multiple passive abilities given to them. Fuse's Grenadier passive ability allows him to hold an extra grenade per inventory slot and fire them further, faster, and more accurately, while Mad Maggie's Warlord's Ire passive lets her run faster with a shotgun equipped and momentarily highlight enemies she's damaged (even through walls). However, these passives seem to pale in comparison to Valkyrie's, which allows her to fly short distances and spot enemies while skydiving. The ability to reposition quickly without the need for a cooldown, coupled with the added information she gets when in flight, makes her one of the strongest recon Legends in the game.
Apex Legends is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.