Achieving perfect balance in a hero-based shooter like Apex Legends is an unobtainable pipe dream, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Respawn’s battle royale is fundamentally flawed on a mechanical level. Widely speaking, the developer has done a terrific job of keeping every currently playable character a viable option able to clinch a win from the jaws of defeat, though it’s also true that some participants in the Apex Games are always going to be more efficient at what they do or more popular with the fanbase.
Indeed, those two concepts are often assumed to be synonymous with each other, and mistakenly so, judging by updated stats recently provided by Respawn’s Daniel Klein. In an interview with The Third Party Podcast, Klein not only reveals the top 5 most played characters so far in Season 7: Ascension, but also the reasons behind why they’re so frequently chosen above less popular combatants.
Unsurprisingly, Wraith continues to hold the top spot thanks to a suite of incredibly useful and efficient abilities. Following closely behind her, though, are Bloodhound, newcomer Horizon, Octane and, finally, Lifeline. But don’t be fooled by the line-up, as it doesn’t necessarily consist of the objective best.
According to Klein, in fact, both Bloodhound and Octane have remarkably low win rates, with the former, in particular, singled out as having the worst encounter win rate of all. This statistic is tracked by dividing individual knockdowns by number of times downed plus knockdowns scored, says Klein, and serves as the metric used to gauge a legend’s individual strength. Octane, on the other hand, continues to enjoy a high pick rate due to his strong solo-friendly kit and fun factor.
Some interesting revelations, then, and it’ll be interesting to see if any major changes will be made to Apex Legends‘ overlooked characters in the near future in an effort to boost their appeal. Watch this space.