Everything We Know About Apex Legends' New Character, Octane
For weeks now, a new character for Respawn's hit free-to-play battle royale Apex Legends has been rumored. From datamines to leaks on the Origin storefront, players had gotten glimpses of Octane from every source except Respawn officially. But that changed on March 18, when the developer officially announced the game's first season and first new character.
With Octane's official inclusion, the total roster of Legends rises to nine, but if the leaks turn out to be true, he certainly won't be the last addition. He boasts a very mobile play style, and his traversal tools can benefit the entire squad, similar to Wraith and Pathfinder.
Whether Octane can carve his own niche in Kings Canyon has yet to be determined, but he'll set the tone for whatever future characters Respawn releases. If you haven't gotten a chance to see him in the game yet, don't worry. Here's everything you need to know about the newest character in Apex Legends.
He launches with the first season
On March 19, Apex Legends kicked off its first season. With it, Octane launched, available for everyone to play. Of course, with him came the game's first Battle Pass, which everyone expected after the success of Fortnite's Battle Pass. Considering other battle royale games like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's Blackout mode adopted something similar, it's no surprise Respawn opted for its own form of seasonal rewards.
Octane marks the game's first character to launch after Apex Legends released, but he isn't the first character you could buy. Longtime players will know that the game launched with two characters locked behind paywalls: Caustic and Mirage. Nonetheless, adding a new character to the game helps make the new season feel like a major event. His inclusion alone changes the landscape of the game as we know it, whether you're playing as him or fighting against a squad with him on it.
Octane loves adrenaline
Octavio "Octane" Silva has always been a little off-kilter, according to a short biography the PlayStation Blog provided. His style and design evokes images of the Psychos in the Borderlands franchise, after all. He craves high-octane action, performing and recording death-defying stunts for his loyal fans. The crazy adrenaline junkie lost both of his legs during "a record-breaking Gauntlet speed-run." Essentially, to win a race, he used a grenade to propel himself across the finish line. You can imagine his legs didn't like that. However, he has two new robotic limbs to keep him on his feet.
Being a double amputee hasn't stopped Octane's craving for high speeds and daring feats. He's competing with eight other psychopathic murderers in a never-ending battle royale, after all. It beats his previous lifestyle, where he was bored most of his days. Apparently being next in line as the CEO of Silva Pharmaceuticals wasn't an interesting enough life for him.
Fast and resilient
Octane's thirst for thrills is reflected in every part of his design, from his edgy, Psycho-like aesthetic to his various abilities. His passive, Swift Mend, taps into his health regenerating properties. Essentially, any time he's not getting shot at, he regenerates one health point every two seconds. You'd think this would give his play style a Call of Duty feel, but in reality, his passive plays off his main active ability, Stim.
Stim gives Octane a 30 percent boost to his movement speed for six seconds. However, this comes at a cost of a pinch of his health. The ability also reduces the effect slows have on him. Keep in mind, slows can come from various sources, such as Caustic's Nox Gas Trap and Grenade. The ability takes two seconds to recharge, but you'll have to remember to manage your health.
Finally, Octane's ultimate ability is called Launch Pad. This power might be the most straightforward of all his abilities. He creates a pad that, when stepped on, launches people into the air. After one is deployed, it becomes a permanent fixture of the map for that session. The cooldown for this ability takes only 90 seconds, so feel free to use it as liberally as Octane probably would.
Respawn teased his ultimate before launch
In the week before Octane went live on Apex Legends, players started to notice something weird near the Market area of Kings Canyon. Out of nowhere, triangular green pads started appearing on the ground in randomized locations around the area. Touching them would launch players high into the air. The angle and height of the launch would change based on the player's incoming angle, speed, and other factors.
It wasn't long before people started connecting these launch pads to the leaked images of Octane. The green motif of the pads matched his stock outfit. Perhaps more importantly, one of the leading rumors about Octane was that his ultimate had something to do with placing jump pads on the ground. Essentially, Respawn teased its first new character by letting players play with his ultimate ability before he released. Now that Octane has officially hit the game, we've seen that his Launch Pads indeed function the same way they did around the Market.
He costs as much as Caustic or Mirage
Although Octane launches along with the first season for Apex Legends, you should know that he isn't tied to the Battle Pass. Spending $10 on the Battle Pass does nothing to affect your ability to play as the new character. Instead, you'll have to purchase him the same way you purchase Caustic or Mirage: in-game Legend Tokens or the Apex Coins premium currency.
In fact, Octane costs the exact same as the other two heroes. You can pony up 12,000 Tokens, which are all earned by leveling up in the game, or spend 750 Apex Coins. If you don't have any coins, the cheapest option would be at the $10 price point.
Octane's cost sets a tone for every new Legend moving forward. He establishes a pattern where every new character can be purchased by grinding or spending real-world money. He wasn't tied to the first Battle Pass, so we shouldn't expect future Legends to be tied to future Battle Passes, either.
He's the first of many new additions
Everyone counted the days and weeks until Octane's launch in Apex Legends. He was the worst-kept secret, thanks to some data miners. Along with Octane's name, however, a handful of others were also included in the leak. Initially, the two names that came to light were Octane — which, as we know now, hit the nail on the head — and Wattson. Soon after that pair was found in the game's data, other names came up: Crypto, Husaria, Jericho, Nomad, Prophet, Rampart, Rosie, and Skunner.
Per one of the leakers, a Twitter user named Shrugtal, Octane's code listed something related to "stim inject" and "stim release." After finding out his real abilities from an official source, we've seen that the real deal coincides with these leaks. With that in mind, take note that Wattson's data mention something involving "teslatrap damage." While we can speculate as much as we want, we'll have to wait on Respawn for any official confirmations.
Despite the first name in this series of leaks coming true, any and all of these names might mean nothing in the long run. Until Respawn or EA confirm any new characters, we can't say for sure if you'll be able to play as Rampart or Nomad in the future.