Apex Legends Characters Tier List, Release Order 2025

Apex Legends has become one of the most intense and competitive battle royale games. With its broad roster of unique playable characters, each offering different tactical abilities, passive skills, and ultimate powers, building the right team composition can make or break a match. Whether you're into fast-paced ambushes, heavy defense, or support-style gameplay, there's a legend to match your playstyle.

This guide breaks down all Apex Legends characters based on their class, abilities, release order, and how they fit into the current meta. From controller legends like Caustic and Catalyst, who trap enemies and lock down zones, to skirmisher legend Wraith, who manipulates space with her one-way portal, each legend brings a distinct edge to your squad. If you want to climb faster through the ranks, you might also consider apex boosting to refine your gameplay.

Let's start by exploring each legend's core abilities and how they impact your performance in combat.

Apex Legends Characters, Abilities List

Every legend has three unique abilities. In particular, every character has a passive, tactical, and ultimate ability. Understanding each ability and perfecting the timing of your ability gives you an instant edge in the battle over your enemies. Here's what the abilities do:

• Passive Ability: Doesn't require activation and constantly works in the background.
• Tactical Ability: Short cooldown abilities that can be used frequently. Abilities with short cooldowns that you can spam often.
• Ultimate Ability: Powerful abilities with long cooldowns that can change the outcome of your battles.

Additionally, the Legend Upgrade system, introduced in Season 20, enhances gameplay by allowing players to customize their Legends' abilities during each match. Combining the right mix of abilities across your whole team is essential. After understanding the abilities, it's time to understand what each Legend specializes in and how you need to handle them:

Alter

Type: Skirmisher

Introduced: Season 21

Alter is looking to stir up trouble, having origins from another dimension. As a wielder of the Void, she can teleport across objects and open paths where others cannot. Her abilities allow her to assist her squad by providing unique travel options and opening new pathways.

Passive Ability: Gift From The Rift

Interact with death boxes from a distance and loot one item (excluding armor).

Tactical Ability: Void Passage

Create a portal through any surface, allowing you and your teammates to phase instantly to the other side.

Ultimate Ability: Void Nexus

Deploy a teleportation anchor to which teammates can instantly return for quick repositioning or escape.

Ash

Type: Assault

Introduced: Season 11

Once Dr. Ashleigh Reid, a brilliant scientist and Horizon’s protégé, was betrayed and reborn as a cold, calculated simulacrum. Now, she’s a ruthless tracker and pursuer. If you prefer high-pressure aggression and relentless flanking, Ash is your ideal pick.

Passive Ability: Marked for Death

Scan death boxes to reveal the location of surviving enemies and highlight nearby recent death boxes.

Tactical Ability: Arc Snare

Throw a snare that damages and tethers enemies who stray too close, limiting their movement.

Ultimate Ability: Phase Breach

Create a one-way portal forward, ideal for initiating a fight or escaping trouble quickly.

Ballistic

Type: Assault

Introduced: Season 17

An old champion returned to the arena, and Ballistic brings class, power, and unmatched experience. His kit supports aggressive plays and empowers his teammates by enhancing their firepower and sustaining momentum.

Passive Ability: Sling

Carry a third weapon in a sling slot, accessible via the inventory or utility action (non-modifiable).

Tactical Ability: Whistler

Fire a smart bullet that causes enemy weapons to overheat, dealing damage if they keep firing.

Ultimate Ability: Tempest

Boost nearby allies with infinite ammo, faster reloads, and movement speed while upgrading your sling weapon to gold.

Bangalore

Type: Assault

Introduced: Season 1

A disciplined soldier with unmatched combat training, Bangalore plays to outmaneuver and disorient enemies. Her smoke screens and artillery strikes are great for tactical repositioning or diving straight into chaos.

Passive Ability: Double Time

Sprint faster for a short duration when taking fire.

Tactical Ability: Smoke Launcher

Fire a smoke grenade that creates thick cover, blocking vision and creating opportunities.

Ultimate Ability: Rolling Thunder

Call in an artillery bombardment that slows and damages enemies in a wide area.

Bloodhound

Type: Recon

Introduced: Season 1

Bloodhound is a technological tracker with a mysterious background. Their hunting abilities allow for pinpoint tracking, which is perfect for players who want to stay on the offensive and catch other players off guard.

Passive Ability: Tracker

See recent enemy footprints and clues to follow their trail.

Tactical Ability: Eye of the Allfather

Briefly reveal hidden enemies, traps, and structures in a wide cone ahead.

Ultimate Ability: Beast of the Hunt

Heighten your senses to move faster, highlight enemies, and extend your tracking ability during fights.

Catalyst

Type: Controller

Introduced: Season 15

Through her command of ferrofluid, Catalyst blends mysticism and science. As a master of battlefield control, she can create obstacles, blind enemies, and reinforce positions to slow down aggressive pushes.

Passive Ability: Barricade

Reinforce doors or rebuild broken ones to block enemies and strengthen defense points.

Tactical Ability: Piercing Spikes

Deploy ferrofluid that turns into damaging spikes when triggered by enemies.

Ultimate Ability: Dark Veil

Raise a massive ferrofluid wall that slows and partially blinds enemies who pass through.

Caustic

Type: Controller

Introduced: Season 1

Caustic is a sinister scientist with a deadly mastery of toxic gas. Designed for area control and crowd denial, his traps and gas attacks create chaos and slow enemies down to a crawl.

Passive Ability: Nox Vision

See enemies clearly through your gas clouds, giving you a tactical edge.

Tactical Ability: Nox Gas Trap

Drop canisters that emit toxic gas when triggered or destroyed.

Ultimate Ability: Nox Gas Grenade

Blanket a large area in toxic gas, obscuring vision and weakening enemies caught inside.

Conduit

Type: Support

Introduced: Season 19

Struggling for her family's future, Conduit provides strong shielding and mobility assist for the team. She has a talent for keeping close to teammates, keeping them alive longer, and moving quickly in close quarters.

Passive Ability: Savior’s Speed

Gain a movement speed boost when sprinting toward teammates outside your tactical range.

Tactical Ability: Radiant Transfer

Send energy to a teammate to provide temporary shields for both of you.

Ultimate Ability: Energy Barricade

Deploy devices that slow and damage enemies within range, while jamming their shields.

Crypto

Type: Recon

Introduced: Season 3

Crypto is a fugitive and hacker who uses a drone to locate enemies and provide intel. Like Bloodhound, he specializes in tracking enemies but with technology that allows him to mark enemies and deactivate traps.

Passive Ability: Neurolink

Enemies spotted by your drone within 30 meters are automatically pinged to your squad.

Tactical Ability: Surveillance Drone

Fly a drone to scout, mark enemies, and survey the battlefield. Respawns after 40 seconds if destroyed.

Ultimate Ability: Drone EMP

Use your drone to unleash an EMP that damages shields, deactivates traps, and stuns enemies in range.

Fuse

Type: Assault

Introduced: Season 8

Fuse is a demolition man from Salvo, always happy to blow things up with explosives. He's a grenade-happy brawler who lives for chaos, dealing massive damage with grenades and flamethrowers.

Passive Ability: Grenadier

Carry an extra grenade per slot and launch them farther and faster using your arm cannon.

Tactical Ability: Knuckle Cluster

Launch a cluster bomb that explodes on impact, then deals secondary blasts over time.

Ultimate Ability: The Motherlode

Launch a ring of fire that traps enemies and inflicts burn damage over time.

Gibraltar

Type: Support

Introduced: Season 1

Gibraltar is a defensive tank who protects his team with unwavering strength. The gentle giant is best at establishing safety during the fire.

Passive Ability: Gun Shield

Aiming down sights activates a frontal shield that blocks incoming bullets.

Tactical Ability: Dome of Protection:

Throws a dome shield that blocks all damage for 15 seconds, creating a temporary safe zone.

Ultimate Ability: Defensive Bombardment

Calls a mortar strike on a marked location to damage and disorient enemies.

Horizon

Type: Skirmisher

Introduced: Season 7

Horizon, a gravity scientist with unmatched vertical mobility, manipulates space to outmaneuver enemies and easily reach high ground.

Passive Ability: Spacewalk

Improved air control and reduced fall impact for better aerial movement.

Tactical Ability: Gravity Lift

It launches anyone upward with a gravity beam, perfect for escapes or flanks.

Ultimate Ability: Black Hole

Deploys a mini black hole that pulls enemies in and damages them at the core.

Lifeline

Type: Support

Introduced: Season 1

Lifeline is a field medic who keeps her team alive with quick revives and consistent healing. She's essential in long fights and end-games where you might get pressured from multiple angles and teams.

Passive Ability: Combat Medic

Her drone revives teammates while letting you stay active.

Tactical Ability: D.O.C. Heal Drone

Heals nearby teammates over time automatically.

Ultimate Ability: Care Package

Drops defensive loot, including healing, armor, and weapon attachments.

Loba

Type: Support

Introduced: Season 5

A master thief focused on mobility and loot control. Loba ensures her team always has access to top-tier gear.

Passive Ability: Eye for Quality

Spot epic and legendary items through walls within a set range.

Tactical Ability: Burglar’s Best Friend

Throw her bracelet to teleport to a chosen spot instantly.

Ultimate Ability: Black Market Boutique

Place a device to loot nearby items instantly, up to two per player.

Mad Maggie

Type: Assault

Introduced: Season 12

Mad Maggie is a hyper-aggressive fighter who thrives on chaos and crowd control. Her kit pushes enemies out of cover and speeds up close-quarters fights.

Passive Ability: Warlord’s Ire

Temporarily highlight enemies you damage; run faster with shotguns.

Tactical Ability: Riot Drill

Fires a drill that burns enemies hiding behind walls or cover.

Ultimate Ability: Wrecking Ball

Launches a ball that drops speed pads and explodes near enemies to displace them.

Mirage

Type: Skirmisher

Introduced: Season 1

A master of deception, Mirage confuses enemies with decoys and stealth tactics, creating chaos in close encounters.

Passive Ability: Now You See Me…

Cloaks when reviving teammates, respawning, or getting downed; a decoy drops automatically when downed.

Tactical Ability: Psyche Out

Sends a controllable decoy to trick and distract enemies.

Ultimate Ability: Life of the Party

Deploys multiple decoys while cloaking Mirage for a sneaky escape or ambush.

Newcastle

Type: Support

Introduced: Season 13

A resilient defender, Newcastle charges into battle with protective instincts and a heart of gold. He shields allies, revives under fire, and creates fortified zones to hold the line.

Passive Ability: Retrieve the Wounded

Revives and drags downed allies while protected by a revive shield.

Tactical Ability: Mobile Shield

Deploys a controllable drone that projects a moving energy barrier.

Ultimate Ability: Castle Wall

Leaps to a target area, slamming down a fortified wall to defend allies.

Octane

Type: Skirmisher

Introduced: Season 1

A speed junkie with cybernetic legs, Octane craves adrenaline-fueled chaos. He pushes flanks, escapes danger, and thrives in high-mobility playstyles.

Passive Ability: Swift Mend

Gradually regenerates health over time while not taking damage.

Tactical Ability: Stim

Increases movement speed for a short time at the cost of health.

Ultimate Ability: Launch Pad

Deploys a jump pad that catapults anyone into the air for quick repositioning.

Pathfinder

Type: Skirmisher

Introduced: Season 1

Pathfinder is an optimistic recon robot who helps his squad with fast rotations and vertical mobility. He’s a cheerful explorer in the hunt for his creator.

Passive Ability: Insider Knowledge

Scans survey beacons to reveal the following ring location.

Tactical Ability: Grappling Hook

Fires a hook to pull himself across terrain or obstacles quickly.

Ultimate Ability: Zipline Gun

Creates a team-wide zipline for fast travel across the map.

Rampart

Type: Controller

Introduced: Season 6

A tough modder with a big gun and bigger attitude, Rampart excels in defensive play. Her kit boosts firepower and lets her hold down space with deadly precision.

Passive Ability: Modded Loader

Faster reloads and larger magazines with LMGs and Sheila.

Tactical Ability: Amped Cover

Deploys a wall that blocks shots and amps outgoing damage.

Ultimate Ability: Mobile Minigun “Sheila”

Places a mounted minigun with a high ammo capacity and brutal fire rate. It pairs extremely well with a good machine gun.

Revenant

Type: Assault

Introduced: Season 4

A remorseless assassin turned simulacrum, Revenant hunts with agility and rage. Reworked in Season 18, his deadly tools punish the weak and reward aggression.

Passive Ability: Assassin’s Instinct

It highlights enemies with low health and enhances crouch speed and wall climbing.

Tactical Ability: Shadow Pounce

Unleashes a long-distance leap based on charge time.

Ultimate Ability: Forged Shadows

It activates a shadow shroud that absorbs damage and resets the cooldown after a kill.

Seer

Type: Recon

Introduced: Season 10

An artist of intuition and vision, Seer tracks enemies with chilling precision. His micro-drones interrupt foes mid-fight, exposing their every move in the chaos of battle.

Passive Ability: Heart Seeker

While aiming down sights, hears and visualizes enemy team heartbeats within 75 meters.

Tactical Ability: Focus of Attention

Sends micro-drones through walls to reveal and silence enemies briefly.

Ultimate Ability: Exhibit

Deploys a drone dome that tracks enemies who sprint or fire inside its radius.

Valkyrie

Type: Skirmisher

Introduced: Season 9

With a Titan’s legacy on her back, Valkyrie rules the skies. Her jetpack and aerial recon keep her team mobile while raining fire from above.

Passive Ability: VTOL Jets

Activates a jetpack for controlled hovering and mid-air maneuvering.

Passive Ability: Jet-Fighter HUD

Detects enemies while skydiving and shares the info with teammates.

Tactical Ability: Missile Swarm

Launches a burst of mini-rockets that damage and slow enemies.

Ultimate Ability: Skyward Dive

Ascends high with allies, then redeploys to a new location.

Vantage

Type: Recon

Introduced: Season 14

A sharpshooter raised on a deadly ice planet, Vantage tracks targets from afar with precision and mobility. With her companion Echo and custom sniper rifle, no one escapes her scope.

Passive Ability: Spotter’s Lens

Zooms in to scan enemies and track bullet drop with a built-in rangefinder.

Tactical Ability: Echo Relocation

Launches toward her bat, Echo, for quick repositioning, requires a line of sight.

Ultimate Ability: Sniper’s Mark

Deploys a scoped rifle that marks enemies and increases damage from her and allies to take down easy targets.

Wattson

Type: Controller

Introduced: Season 2

A genius engineer with a bright spark, Wattson controls the battlefield with electricity. Her traps and pylons create safety zones or shock zones for her team.

Passive Ability: Spark of Genius

Ultimate Accelerants fully charge her ult; pylons boost tactical cooldowns nearby.

Tactical Ability: Perimeter Security

Creates electric fences that damage and slow enemies crossing them.

Ultimate Ability: Interception Pylon

Deploys a pylon that destroys grenades and recharges shields over time.

Wraith

Type: Skirmisher

Introduced: Season 1

A deadly interdimensional fighter, Wraith listens to the voices in her head to stay one step ahead. She slips through the void, dodging danger and setting up ambushes.

Passive Ability: Voices from the Void

A whisper warns when enemies are watching or nearby.

Tactical Ability: Into the Void

Phases into another dimension, becoming untouchable for a few seconds.

Ultimate Ability: Dimensional Rift

Links two locations with a portal for fast escapes or strategic plays.

Legend Class

Each Legend has a specific class in Apex Legends. This class highlights the strengths of those specific characters, along with a unique class perk that adds additional value to the team composition. Here's what each class offers and what playstyle each legend style has:

Assault Legends

Assault Legends can carry more ammo per inventory slot compared to other legends. They also have access to secret compartments in special weapon supply bins that contain valuable loot. These extra stacks can come in handy in long fights.

Controller Legends

Controller Legends can use Ring Consoles to scan and find out where the next ring will close, giving their team a significant positioning advantage.

Skirmisher Legends

Skirmishers can spot incoming Care Packages in real time. They can see a package's location and contents before it lands.

Support Legends

Support Legends can craft ally respawn banners at Replicators, even expired ally banner cards. They can also open the extra compartment in extended supply bins for added survival gear.

Recon Legends

Recon Legends can scan Survey Beacons to reveal enemy positions across the map for 30 seconds, giving their squad valuable intel during the hunt.

Common Abilities

While each Legend has its own unique Tactical, Passive, and Ultimate abilities, all Legends share a core set of physical capabilities and game mechanics that define how they move and interact in the Apex Games. Here's a summary of what every Legend can do:

Movement & Mobility

All Legends can walk, sprint, jump, crouch, crouch walk, slide, mantle, and climb walls up to 5 to 6 meters high. Using their jump kits, they can skydive from high altitudes, boost along zip lines, and avoid fall damage altogether.

Combat & Gear

Legends can carry two weapons of any type, plus one of each gear (helmet, body shield, knockdown shield, and backpack). They have 10 inventory slots to carry ammo, grenades, healing items, and attachments. Equipping a backpack adds extra slots.

Melee and Downed State

At any time, Legends can perform melee attacks that deal 30 damage and knock enemies back. If downed, a Legend can crawl slowly and use a Knockdown Shield for defense if they have one. Teammates can revive downed Legends, and downed enemies can be finished off using a Finisher move, which fully restores the user’s body shield upon completion.

Respawn Mechanics in Battle Royale

If a Legend dies, they drop a Death Box that contains all their items. They also leave behind a Respawn Banner. Teammates can collect the banner within a time limit and bring it to a Respawn Beacon to bring them back. If the banner isn't recovered in time, the Legend is eliminated for the rest of the match.

List of Legends by Release Date

Year 1 (2019)

Bloodhound - Recon (Feb 4 - Launch) Gibraltar - Support (Launch) Lifeline - Support (Launch) Pathfinder - Skirmisher (Launch) Wraith - Skirmisher (Launch) Bangalore - Assault (Launch) Caustic - Controller (Launch) Mirage - Support (Launch) Octane - Skirmisher (Mar 19) Wattson - Controller (Jul 2) Crypto - Recon (Oct 1)

Year 2 (2020)

Revenant - Skirmisher (Feb 4) Loba - Support (May 12) Rampart - Controller (Aug 18) Horizon - Skirmisher (Nov 4)

Year 3 (2021)

Fuse - Assault (Feb 2) Valkyrie - Skirmisher (May 4) Seer - Recon (Aug 3) Ash - Assault (Nov 2)

Year 4 (2022)

Mad Maggie - Assault (Feb 8) Newcastle - Support (May 10) Vantage - Recon (Aug 9) Catalyst - Controller (Nov 1)

Year 5 (2023)

Ballistic - Assault (May 9) Conduit - Support (Oct 31)

Year 6 (2024)

Alter - Skirmisher (May 7)