Apex Legends' New Character, Octane, Is Available Now--Here Are His Abilities

The first new Apex Legends hero is here. Respawn Entertainment has launched a new update for Apex, which kicks off the first season of new content, Wild Frontier, and its first battle pass. There are a lot of new things added with battle pass and the new season, but the biggest addition is definitely its new character: Octane. He changes up the game with a huge focus on speed--he's a character who benefits from moving fast to attack and flank enemies. And as with all the characters in Apex Legends, Octane also comes with a batch of cool skins.

Octane is an aggressive character, so if you're going to use him, expect to be in the fight a lot. He should operate similarly to Wraith, Bangalore, and Mirage, allowing you to close distance quickly with his speed abilities. It sounds like while Wraith and Mirage are positioned more as flanking characters who distract enemies, Octane operates more like Bangalore as a front-line fighter. His abilities should make him tougher to hit, and when you do take damage, you'll likely be able to deal with it more easily.

Like other characters, Octane packs three abilities: one passive, one activated by a button push, and one ultimate that takes a long time to charge up. Octane's active ability lets him boost his speed at the cost of his health, increasing his movement speed by 30% for six seconds. That allows you to jet around the battlefield, drawing fire or flanking enemies while being much tougher to hit. To counteract the fact that Octane is the only character who sacrifices his own health for his abilities, his passive ability slowly regenerates at a rate of one health point every two seconds. That should also help in tough battle situations if you're able to hide or get to safety, but you're short on healing items.

For an ultimate, Octane's ability should change a lot of battles. He can drop a launch pad on the ground that springs players through the air, allowing you to send your teammates flying in on enemy positions, or giving you a chance to bounce out of the battle and back to safety. The verticality is going to mean players will need to get used to looking up more when Octane is on the battlefield, since you never know when death might be descending from above.

We'll have more coverage of Octane coming soon, including a full guide on how to use him most effectively. Until then, check out our other character guides, as well as our Apex Legends pro tips and a rundown of things the game doesn't tell you.