Apex Legends Season 11: Escape is set to start November 2. The upcoming season adds a whole bunch of content to the game, including the new Storm Point map, C.A.R. SMG weapon, and playable character Ash. Ash is notably yet another legend that uses a kit inspired by the Titans in Titanfall 2–I think that’s incredibly cool, and developer Respawn should continue to use Titans as the basis for upcoming Apex Legends characters. It’s incredible to see Titans’ massive mech-killing armaments reduced in scope to the point that they’re being wielded by people.
Respawn has taken inspiration from Titanfall 2 for a good chunk of Apex Legends’ playable characters, but Titans–the big walking robots you could pilot in Titanfall 2–weren’t always a focus for the battle royale game’s characters. When Apex Legends first launched, Respawn mostly took inspiration from Titanfall 2’s human Pilots and their abilities for the playable legends. Right from the get-go, Wraith’s Into the Void was based on a Pilot’s Phase Shift, Pathfinder’s Grappling Hook was based on Grapple, Bloodhound’s Eye of the Allfather was based on Active Radar Pulse, and Mirage clocked two inspirations with his tactical and ultimate abilities pulling from Holo-Pilot and Cloak.
The remaining two Pilot abilities, Stim and A-Wall, provided the basis for Octane and Rampart’s tactical abilities, respectively. But Respawn did something a bit unexpected with Rampart as well. Her ultimate ability (Emplaced Minigun “Sheila”) is a Titan-inspired ability. Rampart’s minigun features a slow wind-up, but once it gets going, it can spit out bullets at an incredible speed and it becomes more accurate over time. It also features a red beam laser sight, and thanks to a buff in Season 10, Rampart can lug the gun around.
For those who haven’t played Titanfall 2, that description matches the terrifyingly powerful minigun wielded by Legion, an Ogre-based Titan that could lock down a zone with its Predator Cannon and Smart Core. Now, Rampart is not the first legend to take a note from a Titan. That honor goes to Gibraltar, whose Gun Shield resembles Legion’s Gun Shield. But Gibraltar was notably the only legend at launch to have an ability inspired by a Titan, and for a while it seemed like he’d always be (Rampart wasn’t added to the game until Season 6: Boosted).
But with Rampart’s addition, the chance to see more Titan-based legends added to the game became a possibility. And Respawn did not disappoint on that front in Apex Legends’ third year. Season 8 saw the addition of Fuse, whose explosive area-denial Knuckle Cluster is like the Northstar Titan’s Cluster Missile, and his fiery The Motherlode ultimate ability is a circular variation of the Scorch Titan’s Firewall. Season 9’s Valkyrie wears a jetpack that’s made from her father’s old Northstar, and so all three of her abilities are based on that Titan’s toolkit.
Now, in Season 11, we’re getting Ash, who primarily looks to take inspiration from the Titan she piloted in Titanfall 2, the Ronin. Ash’s sword resembles the Broadsword wielded by Ronins, and her ultimate ability, Phase Breach, is similar to a Ronin’s Phase Dash. But she also seemingly takes a page from the Northstar. Her tactical ability, Arc Snare, looks to be an electric-based variation of the Northstar’s Tether Trap.
Here’s the thing: I only mentioned four Titans in that rundown. Titanfall 2 features seven different types of Titans, and Respawn hasn’t dug into (in my opinion) the best three Titans when making Apex Legends characters. The remaining three–the Tone, Ion, and Monarch–aren’t especially powerful in comparison to the others, but all three are incredibly unique for how they’re abilities are tied to what makes those specific Titans tick.
The Tone, for example, has standard missile-firing capabilities but its attacks aren’t all that strong. Its strength comes from its ability to slowly lock onto targets, which then allow it to release a flurry of missiles that, together, deal a lot of damage. The Tone isn’t like the other Titans, where each of its skills are individually strong; it’s effectiveness is dependent on the condition that you can fully lock onto a target before they kill you or escape. The other two Titans that Respawn hasn’t pulled into Apex Legends yet are similar in that they have an underlying trait that determines their effectiveness. The Ion utilizes an assortment of energy-based abilities that are all powered by the same energy source, encouraging players to manage when and how they attack. And the Monarch is a Titan that starts incredibly weak but can evolve to better attack and support its team when it’s fed with energy stolen from other Titans.
It’s in these three Titans that I think Respawn can find inspiration for some truly incredible Apex Legends characters. Think of a recon character that, like the Tone, can more easily track, hunt down, and attack an enemy by slowly locking onto them. Or perhaps a support or offense legend that borrows elements of the Monarch, possessing an ability that allows them to buff their teammates or their own attack power at the cost of their body shield, a skill which would naturally become stronger as players evolve their Evo Shield.
For me, a legend with abilities based around the Ion sounds the most intriguing, especially if Respawn can find a way to imbue the energy management portion of the Titan into the kit. Because yes, having the ability to catch and fling back bullets or throw out explosive mines to defend your team sounds a little overpowered for a battle royale, but if those abilities’ effectiveness is tied to how much energy you have left in a slow-to-charge pool of electric power (so they become weaker if you spam them), it could potentially balance out. Plus, the idea of a character who has no cooldowns tied to their tactical and ultimate abilities and are instead limited by a pool of energy that the player has to manage sounds really cool. Difficult to balance, for sure, but cool–I would play as a defender with a kit like that. It would make the character feel vastly different than every other legend.
Regardless of how it shakes out, the important takeaway from all of this is that Apex Legends Year 3 is further proof that Respawn isn’t quite yet done with pulling from Titanfall 2’s Titans when it comes to designing new characters. And that’s exciting to think about–here’s hoping Apex Legends’ future includes callbacks to the Ion, Tone, and Monarch Titans.
Source: Gamespot
