Anyone who’s ever played a battle royale like Apex Legends knows that it’s important to always get ahead of the competition - be it through access to the best weapons, or even access to the most advantages through speed and combat potential. However, players of Apex Legends who got used to staying on the sidelines to assist the team may do more good when using Lifeline.
Considered the game’s best healer, Lifeline has access to an array of abilities built to help her teammates survive and outlast the competition. And as she gets slight adjustments to accommodate the Legend rework in Season 16: Revelry, Lifeline becomes a more potent healer than ever. For fans and newcomers who plan on maining Lifeline in the battle royale, just how should they start using this skillful support unit?
Lifeline: Apex Legend, Apex Healer
Ajay Che would've had a comfortable life had it not been for her conscience, as she saw that the comforts provided for her were a result of her parents being war profiteers. Seeing a chance in humanitarian work as a means of helping communities, Ajay Che would find herself joining the Frontier Corps. In fact, Ajay Che would become Lifeline of the Apex Games in order to use her winnings to fund the Corps.
Despite the Apex Games hardening her personality as she develops a sense of callousness and sarcasm, Lifeline is adamant in her quest to keep her teammates and the whole world safe. As she transforms into the premier healer of Apex Legends, Lifeline is perhaps the one to count on to keep the team safe.
Why Use Lifeline: Healing Supremacy
While most battle royales like Apex Legends almost always demand players to have participation in combat, Respawn’s hero-based battle royale needs gamers to also focus on how they can contribute to teams. Those looking for a support role should immediately consider Lifeline due to her healing kit, but the should also be prepared to take a backseat from combat given her lack of combat maneuverability. Here are reasons why Lifeline is a must-pick for certain players:
- Healing over combat all the time: One of the best reasons to use Lifeline in Apex Legends is through her healing specialization, especially since her toolkit is built not to focus on combat but aiding her allies. Players who want to consistently heal allies and secure more efficient revives can rely on Lifeline for some of the best support skills in the game.
- Option to become support: Aside from her healing prowess, Lifeline has abilities that allow her to become a mobile support unit. She can use her Drone to heal (Heal Drone) and revive allies without the need of being there all throughout (Combat Revive) the process, giving her room to provide covering fire or even clear an area for safety.
- introduction to support: Given Lifeline’s straightforward healing toolkit, she’s easily one of the best Legends to introduce players to support mechanics. The accessibility of Lifeline’s toolkit allows players to keep up with high-speed combat and maneuvering in the game.
The Basics Of Lifeline: Healing Takes Many Forms
Being the premiere healer in Apex Legends gameplay, Lifeline is built to ensure the survival of the team. Having a lack of concrete combat skills, players of Lifeline need to be able to balance protecting the team and herself both inside and outside of combat. This can become rather overwhelming for players who aren’t used to a full-support kit, but perfect for teams who want a balance of aggression and safety even with mere Apex Legends SMGs. Players interested in becoming Lifeline need to consider the following skills in her toolkit:
- Combat Revive (Passive): When reviving knocked down allies, Lifeline simply deploys Heal Drone to do it. This leaves Lifeline free to do other tasks while Heal Drone saves her teammate, making Lifeline a more mobile support unit.
- D.O.C. Heal Drone (Tactical): Lifeline releases her ever-trusted Heal Drone to heal all players within a particular area. This lasts for 20 seconds, healing 8 Health per second.
- Care Package (Ultimate): Lifeline calls in a personal Care Package that almost always contains beneficial support items, ranging from armor, consumables, and even weapon attachments.
Passive: Combat Revive
First in Lifeline’s arsenal of life-saving tricks is Combat Revive (Passive), allowing her to essentially bypass the need to stay in position when reviving a teammate. This time around, Lifeline simply leaves D.O.C. Heal Drone to do the reviving while she can maneuver around, be it to provide covering fire or to secure the perimeter, especially with Apex Legends LMGs and other weapons.
- Properties: This Passive acts as an auto-revive of sorts, with no need to hold down “Use” to complete the revive, while the teammate can press “Character Utility Action” to cancel it. This even allows Lifeline to revive multiple squadmates simultaneously. Even when all teammates are downed, an ongoing Combat Revive won’t eliminate the whole squad unless the affected ally is also killed.
- Take note of weaknesses: Since this Passive is still an ability involving a Drone, this has two (2) glaring flaws. First, Revenant’s Silence (Tactical) cancels the auto-revive, and a destroyed Drone disables the function until it respawns. While Lifeline does get access to this nifty ability as an auto-revive even without a Gold Knockdown Shield, there’s a high chance of being knocked down again anyway if this isn’t used carefully.
- Use auto-revives with other support skills: The best way to maximize Combat Revive is in tandem with other support abilities, such as Dome of Protection (Gibraltar) and with D.O.C. Heal Drone as an immediate follow-up.
Tactical: D.O.C. Heal Drone
Perhaps the lifeblood of Lifeline’s toolkit, her D.O.C. Heal Drone (Tactical) is the most attractive part of her skillset as an Apex Legends characters. At its core, she deploys a Heal Drone that provides a constant stream of health to her allies while Lifeline clears the perimeter even with an Apex Legends Pistol. This won’t move from its set location, but it starts healing as soon as an ally with less than full health arrives in its general radius.
- Properties: This healing drone has a radius of six (6) meters and heals 8 Health per second from an unlimited healing pool. It lasts for 20 seconds and needs a 45-second recharge.
- Vulnerability matters: One of the biggest setbacks of the Heal Drone is its nature as a tech gadget. Despite its lack of Health bars, two (2) damage ticks when inside the Ring can destroy it, although a trick here is to deploy a Heat Shield first and then deploying a Heal Drone within it. Crypto’s Drone EMP can destroy it, while Caustic’s gases and Revenant’s Death Totem will disable its healing abilities.
- Neat interactions with special situations: As with other deployables in the game, Heal Drone can also affect certain items upon deployment. For instance, Heal Drone can attach itself to a Trident and heal players while moving around.
Ultimate: Care Package
An important ability of Lifeline in Apex Legends gameplay is her ability to call down a personal Care Package (Ultimate) geared towards survival. Despite its lengthy recharge time, this Care Package has three (3) slots that can provide Apex Legends teammates with extremely important protections, healing items, and even attachments.
- Properties: This ability has a 3.5-minute cooldown, an eight-second deployment time, and has three (3) main slots. Its Right Slot always contains either a Knockdown Shield, a Helmet, or an upgraded Evo Shield relative to the one the squad is wearing. Meanwhile, its Left Slot is a selection of consumables. Lastly, the Front Slot contains Weapon Attachments. Care Packages from Lifeline are unannounced and aren’t marked on the map.
- Take note of interactions: Given the large size of the Care Package, enemies near Lifeline’s vicinity will immediately notice its arrival. This is perhaps why eliminating a Lifeline and her squad prior to opening their Care Package immediately grants the victor three (3) Mobile Respawn Beacons. Either way, Lifeline always needs to be on guard when using Care Packages, as enemies are likely near. A tip here is to time the activation of the Care Package during the announcement of the official Care Package, as their audiovisual effects are the same.
- Use it as cover: Due to the size of the Care Package as a deployable item, it can become a tactical advantage for people who know how to deploy it properly. For instance, players can bait enemies to stand underneath a dropping package as it can crush them. Likewise, a Care Package in the latter stage of the match can occupy extremely small spaces, being able to use it as cover while forcing other enemies to a certain position.
Lifeline Gameplay: Healing First, Combat Second
Given how Lifeline is the only Legend capable of healing her allies, her Apex Legends skills requires a bit of tailoring for the team’s specific needs. After all, Lifeline has to manage helping her teammates up close while still considering various engagements, requiring players to make special adjustments to their playstyles that won’t apply to a lot of Legends. Here are some things to take note:
- Prioritize healing the team: When Lifeline is a part of any team, her main priority should be healing and defending her teammates. This is largely because she’s the only Apex Legend (so far) to have healing capabilities, making her an extremely valuable component in a squad. Lifelines should be confident leaving the offensive aspect of Apex Legends combat to her peers.
- Stay in the rear, get protection all the time: One of the most important facts all Lifeline users should realize is that they’re a priority target for enemies, especially given her healing toolkit. Knocking her out means destabilizing the entire team. Lifeline users should take note of how to engage with various opponents, especially since she doesn’t have any direct-damaging skills.
- Maximize flexibility in the battlefield: Lifeline’s toolkit allows her to accomplish multiple things at once. For instance, deploying Heal Drone (Tactical) in advance allows Lifeline to reposition elsewhere to provide covering fire while the stationary Drone is left in a safe zone to aid injuries allies about to reach it.
Support Class: Ultimate Healing
Since the game’s launch, Lifeline has become an integral member of Apex Legends gameplay particularly for being the only Legend capable of healing others. With Season 16: Revelry, Lifeline is now made more fit for her healer role, thanks to the February 2023 update further improving her classification as a member of the Support Class. This time around, Lifeline is now able to:
- Craft Ally Banners: Lifeline can now access Crafting Stations to create Ally Banners for 30 Crafting Materials, and would contain all recoverable teammates upon acquisition. This can change the entire survival scene in the battle royale, as having a Support Class in the team now gives the squad a chance to get back from any dire situation.
- Access to Blue Bin - Secret Compartments: This time around, Lifeline’s access to Secret Compartments has been modified to give her more opportunities to obtain more support items. She has a larger chance of getting Large Med Kits and Large Shield Batteries, as well as the Blue Bins having better survival logic to help Support Class members. Compartments now have a bigger chance of giving Heat Shields when opened outside the Ring, and larger chances of giving Mobile Respawn Beacons when carrying an Ally Banner.
Loadout Recommendations
Considering how Lifeline is majorly a support unit in Apex Legends gameplay, her loadout focus should remain consistent with how players want her to support teammates. For instance, players who want their Lifeline to stay close to their allies to protect them are likely more efficient with a short to mid-ranged weapon compared to the likes of an Apex Legends Assault Rifle. Likewise, players who want their support unit delegated to guard the rear may benefit from long to mid-ranged weapons, especially when contending with potential snipers and tails from the back. Here are ideal weapons to use:
- EVA-8 Auto (Shotgun): One of the best weapons to use as Lifeline would have to be the EVA-8 Auto, as its auto-firing mechanism makes it convenient for Lifeline to use especially in high-stakes situations. The EVA-8 is an ideal companion whenever Lifeline has to navigate dangerous locales to aid allies, heal teammates, or even revive their squads.
- R-99 (SMG, Light Ammo): One of the most common weapons in the game, the R-99 SMG is one of the best weapons for Lifeline especially once she acquires it in the early game. While better weapons such as the R-301 exist, the R-99’s compact and fast-firing nature makes it a convenient short-to-mid-range companion for Lifeline. Given her support role, there’s no need for her to put a lot of pressure with long-ranged incursions, making the R-99 take more priority compared to the likes of the R-301 or even the Flatline.
- L-STAR EMG (LMG, Energy Ammo): Similar to other LMGs, the L-STAR simply consumes Energy Ammo from the inventory and has an overheating mechanism instead of a magazine. This allows Lifeline to have a more straightforward approach to long-distance gameplay from a perspective of a brutally fast-firing weapon. While the likes of the Spitfire deals more damage, the L-STAR is a more handling-friendly armament that fits Lifeline’s more support-oriented gameplay.
Apex Legends is currently playable in the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Switch.