Season One of Apex Legends is underway, and we’ve had enough time with new legend Octane to put together a guide for anyone looking to pick up this daredevil as their new main.
His fast, in-your-face style can be hard to master and result in many avoidable deaths, but for those who like old-school shooters like Quake, Unreal and Tribes, Octane is going to bring back many fond memories.
Tactical Ability: Stim
His main ability, Stim, is lifted directly from Titanfall 2. A 30 percent speed boost for six seconds at the cost of 10 percent health allows you to very quickly close distance on an enemy and cause absolute chaos and confusion when paired with a shotgun or SMG. Movement and staying on the offensive is key to high-level play in Apex Legends and Stim allows Octane to constantly pressure opponents in a firefight.
Ever hit someone with a couple of decent hits and see them head behind a rock to cure up and know you won’t make it over to them in time? Octane can catch them with a medkit on the go, or picking up a teammate with alarming regularity. You have to be aggressive with him, but take calculated risks.
The 10 percent health reduction when you fire up Stim is an important part of Octane’s balance and also key to keeping his aggressive play style intact. When you’re going on the offense, the likelihood is that you’ll be t
ooled up fully, with a shield on top of health so it won’t be a major issue. However, this does mean that if you’ve taken some shots in combat, using it to flee will usually result in you getting shot in the back and knocked. Retreating using Stim is extremely risky and should only be used as a true last resort, but even then, it’s strengths are best utilised by rushing down opposition and trying to take them out.
Stay in contact with teammates if possible, too. Enemy teams are going to be surprised by a maniac running past them in combat, allowing the rest of your squad to flank them and take them out with ease. Stim is a surprisingly versatile ability and on a mere two second cooldown, so you can use it pretty regularly, but be careful not to burn your health too much.
Passive Ability: Swift Mend
Octane’s Passive ability is a health regen, which has him receive one health point back every two seconds when he’s not using Stim, balancing out that 10 percent health deduction. From full health, it’ll take twenty seconds to be fully topped up, so after a successful firefight with another squad you’ll be automatically healing while you’re looting death boxes and moving across the map. Keep this in mind before you leave yourself vulnerable by using healing items.
Ultimate Ability: Launch Pad
Octane’s Ultimate ability is a launch pad, which started appearing on the map about a week before Season One dropped. Allowing you and your teammates (and the opposition, so be careful) to fire themselves a fair distance through the air, these are also really good when trying to close distance on an enemy team and cause complete chaos. With use of Stim you can also increase the distance you travel off a jump pad and you can even use the jump pad when you’re in a Knocked Down state, but as they take momentum into account, you won’t get very far!
As well as launching yourself into battle, the Jump Pad can be used to spring your team up into an advantageous position, gain a height advantage and pop away at a team from a part of the scenery they won’t expect. Sure, standing on a clifftop with a sniper rifle isn’t the best use of Octane’s abilities, but having a team up there supporting your wild running about is a useful thing to have.
It isn’t the most obviously useful Ultimate in the game, requiring a bit of strategy and communication with your team, but in the final acts of a game, few teams are going to be prepared for a squad all flying in behind the point they’re holding. Perhaps try throwing one down when you’re being tailed by an enemy to send them flying, or maybe even bait people into launching themselves off a cliff!
Best weapons for Octane
Unsurprisingly, Octane is best paired with weapons that do a lot of damage at close range. Dashing in with an R-99 or a Prowler with the Select Fire modification equipped can make short work of any squad you catch sleeping. Interestingly, although the Peacekeeper is the shotgun of choice for most of the roster, the EVA-8 Auto is a better fit due to its rapid fire.
It’s lower damage, sure, but being able to surprise an enemy and unload a whole load of shotgun blasts before they even realise what is going on is a powerful move. Get a purple shotgun bolt on the end of that thing to increase the fire rate further and you’ll dominate indoor spaces and be terrifying up close. If you stumble across a Mastiff, make sure you get it. Don’t let the team take that from you!
Bottom line
Octane is a character who appears to have the tools needed to be successful in the current Apex Legends meta. He allows a skilled player to take educated risks to apply constant pressure to an enemy squad, take them out, steal their best gear and move on to the next, all the while he’s slowly getting his health back! His Stim rewards aggressive play, in a game that already rewards players who take up an offensive strategy. His Ultimate isn’t as obviously good as Bloodhound’s or Caustic’s, instead requiring a bit of planning and strategy, more in line with Wraith’s portal, but a good team can easily win a match with good use of Octane’s Launch Pad.
Credit: EA
