Apex Legends is reworking one of its least popular characters, and the results are pretty scary. Revenant, who first debuted back in 2020, is getting a massive visual and gameplay overhaul in Season 18 in an attempt to make him a more viable pick in the battle royale’s current meta. Developer Respawn is hoping he’ll scare the shit out of you when his rework drops, as the team is leaning more into the robot assassin’s dark side.
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“Revenant is a really important character to Apex, both to the lore and to the battle royale,” game designer Evan Funnell said during a media preview. “Since his launch in Season 4 however, Revenant’s play style hasn’t really been keeping up with the rest of the game around him. Because of this, we see his popularity fall off quite a bit and a lot of his play patterns have become pretty problematic over time.”
When Revenant first debuted in Apex Legends Season 4, he shook up the meta with his heightened movement capabilities and an ultimate ability which gave him and his teammates a chance to cheat death. He was also the game’s first truly scary character—a simulacrum (a robot based off a human being) that was once a human hitman before becoming nothing but steel and wires. It used to be terrifying to see an enemy Revenant streaking across the map at you, but as more characters debuted that had better movement capabilities (Valkyrie) and a more useful kit (Seer), his viability dropped, and the scariness wore off. According to stat site Apex Legends Status, he’s only got a 2.3 percent pick rate, placing him 17th out of 24 Legends.
Apex Legends Revenant rework details
This rework could change things, however, as it’s a drastic one that adjusts his passive and completely replaces his tactical and ultimate abilities.
Here is Revenant’s new kit:
- Assassin’s Instinct (Passive): He retains his faster movement and wall-climb ability from his original passive, but now has more horizontal movement, and sticks to walls more from a fall. He can also see nearby enemies that are low on health, and if he gets them low himself, he’ll mark them for his squad. “We wanted to use this passive as a way to encourage Revenant players to be more aggressive,” Funnell said during the preview.
- Shadow Pounce (Tactical): Revenant performs a powerful leap forward that you can charge up to go even further.
- Forged Shadows (Ultimate): Revenant creates a shroud of shadow around himself that protects him from direct damage. It increases his upper body hit box size, but absorbs damage before eventually breaking. The shroud, however, recharges over time and forms a new shroud—and if you knock out a player while ult-ing you’ll get a brand-new shroud, as well.
“We really wanted Revenant to feel scary,” Funnell said.
With his increased movement, temporary invincibility during an ultimate, and that Shadow Pounce, I can already see how terrified I will get when that metal guy comes scrambling over a wall at me during a late-game fight.
Apex Legends will also unlock Revenant for all players during this upcoming season (called Resurrection), and if you manage to complete several challenges based off of him, you’ll gain access to him permanently. It’s a nice little gift for players who don’t spend money in Apex Legends.
Season 18: Resurrection will also bring a brand-new battle pass, add map Broken Moon to Mixtape (its rotating playlist of community-favorite modes), adjust some weapons (the Charge Rifle will no longer be hit-scan), and more. It debuts on August 8.