Apex Legends: The Ultimate Loba Guide

In a hero-based battle royale like Apex Legends, players not only have to worry about crazy Legend abilities but also the kind of weapons they have to use to outlast the competition. While a lot of armaments are scattered in almost any Apex Legends map, it’s through a Legend like Loba that teams secure an uncanny advantage. After all, her toolkit that allows her to quite literally steal any weapon within her sights can ensure her team gets the best equipment possible.

Seeing as how Loba’s weapon-acquisition focus can help her team get the best gear, she also suffers from quite a bit of a performance lag due to her lack of combat abilities. Players who want to maximize Loba’s kit may want to ensure they can balance her support skillset and the extra demand for combat precision, as this can allow the translocating thief to outwit and outpace her opponents.

Loba: Translocating Thief

A young Loba Andrade would find herself left with nothing when the hitman Revenant killed her family. It was only through her pickpocketing that she's found a means to live, and her stealing of a Jump Drive that transformed her into a thief extraordinaire. Thanks to her translocating tech, Loba has quite literally jumpstarted her career as the best thief in town.

And for anyone wondering why a thief with access to life's luxuries will spend time in the Apex Games, she only has Revenant to blame. Initially intent on killing him, Loba's discovery of Revenant's desire to die has motivated her to stay in the Apex Games to keep him alive as a punishment.

Why Use Loba: Item Security Equals Survival

Players interested in exploring the wackiness of abilities in Apex Legends would have been intrigued with the prospect of using Loba for her acquisition-focused toolkit. After all, no other Legend is capable of remotely acquiring gear for the team, making Loba’s skillset a recommended one for fans of other FPS titles aside from Apex Legends. In that regard, players who are considering Loba should lock in on her in the character selection screen for the following reasons:

Get equipped anytime, anywhere: Thanks to Loba’s kit, players can easily identify items inside containers (Eye for Quality) and even steal them from afar (Black Market Boutique), giving players much faster opportunities to equip themselves with the most ideal gear available to them. This can allow Loba to supply the team with the items they need as soon as possible, wherever they are in the map.
Secure the game’s best weapons easily: Save for hard-to-track Care Package weapons, most of the weapons players are comfortable with become a few clicks away provided they’re near Loba’s Black Market (Ultimate). This helps players get their favorite weapons easily.
Safety first, and barely hunt weapons: Due to the large radius of Black Market, Loba can get the team the things they need without sticking their neck out for potential encounters with foes. This allows the team to skip sections of the match where they tour locations for ideal weapons and simply focus more on safety.

The Basics Of Loba: Master Thief In The Zone

Given how Apex Legends weapons aren’t immediately available in a gameplay session, players who plan on using Loba might get very attracted with her item-acquisition skillset. However, her toolkit does exclusively focus on detecting and acquiring items, meaning Loba has a distinct lack of combat skills that make her unideal for extremely aggressive players toting Apex Legends SMGs. Gamers who want to use the battle royale’s resident thief need to consider the following skills to maximize her toolkit:

Eye For Quality (Passive): As a thief, Loba has an impeccable ability to determine the quality of the goods she sees. In the game, this allows her to ping objects inside containers.
Burglar’s Best Friend (Tactical): Loba throws her bracelet and teleports where it lands or upon command, provided the button is pressed again while it travels in the arc.
Black Market Boutique (Ultimate): Loba activates her staff and reveals a market, allowing anyone to acquire loot from various containers in the vicinity.

Passive: Eye For Quality

As a thief, it’s natural for Loba to be aware whether certain items are even worthy of stealing. This is reflected in Eye for Quality (Passive), a trait that allows Loba to see through containers and identify objects for pinging. Loba with an eye for Apex Legends LMGs and other powerful armaments can use this to their advantage.

Properties: This Passive has a range of 112.5 meters, and can ping any object inside containers - including Supply Bins and Care Packages. Not only that, Loba can also ping Mythic Items. However, she can’t see inside Death Boxes.
Other looters are at a disadvantage: Loba’s pinging abilities are also affected whether the item is still available or not, as taken items have their names greyed out. At any given point that Loba’s Eye for Quality sees an item that gets greyed out, this is an immediate indicator that an enemy is within the proximity of that container.

Tactical: Burglar’s Best Friend

One of the most expected elements of Loba’s toolkit is Burglar’s Best Friend (Tactical), which becomes her very own teleporting feature. At its core, this has Loba throw her bracelet in the air and teleport where it ends, but she can also teleport at any point during the throwing sequence - something usable in combat, even with an Apex Legends Pistol. Loba’s nature as a translocating thief makes it sensible for her to have a teleporting bracelet, allowing her to get into anywhere she likes:

Properties: This ability has a cooldown of eight (8) seconds and has a total throwable distance of 71 meters on normal ground and around 100 meters when on higher ground. The bracelet teleports back to Loba without starting a cooldown if it’s thrown in an out-of-bounds area and can be used while on ziplines.
Capitalize on tactical teleports: Thanks to Loba’s teleportation bracelet, she can start becoming more tactically-oriented with her engagements. For instance, players need to stay careful when teleporting as there's a brief animation after she lands, meaning she can’t use weapons immediately. There’s also a trail that reveals her travel trajectory to everyone in the vicinity. Likewise, Loba can capitalize on the quick-stop nature of her bracelet to have her teleport behind cover or even lead enemies who follow her directly into an ambush.
Take note of special interactions: Given its nature as a teleporting mechanism, the bracelet has special interactions with parts of the battlefield. For instance, the Launch Pad (Octane) can “extend” the bracelet’s distance when thrown towards it, and can bounce off Dome of Protection (Gibraltar) and Surveillance Drone (Crypto). Likewise, the bracelet is canceled by Silence (Revenant) and Dimensional Rift (Wraith).

Ultimate: Black Market Boutique

Perhaps the bread and butter of Loba’s gameplay, Black Market Boutique (Ultimate) will have Loba activate her staff and trigger an interactive portal. This allows Loba and Apex Legends teammates near the staff to acquire any item from containers within the vicinity.

Properties: The Black Market has 100 Health and needs around 4.5 seconds upon activation to be accessible. It has a 2-minute cooldown, but starts the match with a 50-percent charge. The Black Market has an effective radius of 112.5 meters. People other than the Loba who activated the Black Market can only take two (2) items. Consumables and Ammo are taken per full stack and don’t take up allowed item limits.
Consider special interactions: When the Black Market Boutique is activated, items will be affected in various ways. For instance, items within the vicinity of a Black Market will float, and taking them will leave a white trail that leads to the general direction of the device. When taking items from closed containers, they become open after the interaction. She can only take one (1) item from within locked Vaults and themed containers such as those from Bloodhound’s Trials, Vend-it Machines, Caustic Treatment Compartments, and Icarus Bridge. Moreover, doing so will destroy the Black Market.
Treat the Black Market as an item radar: One of the best uses of the Black Market is its unofficial loot radar function, especially since it tells the team whether the value of items in an area makes it a worthwhile place to explore. Black Markets are also better left untouched, even if it’s the opponent’s, as destroyed Black Markets give their owners a notification - effectively making them secondary enemy detectors.

Loba Gameplay: Loot Always Comes First

Unlike other Legends, Loba is perhaps the only character capable of remote interactions with items for the purposes of acquisition. Thanks to her Apex Legends skills, Loba can help equip herself and her allies with the best weapons even before reaching supply bins that contain them, theoretically allowing them to jump the gun (pun intended) on enemies before they even prepare. When choosing Loba as a character, here are some ideal aspects to her playstyle that gamers need to take note of:

Land near equipment zones, not on them: Since Loba’s Black Market (Ultimate) begins at 50-percent after the match starts, it’s tempting to immediately land in an equipment hot zone. This isn’t advisable, as it still takes a few more seconds for the Ultimate to fully load, and all opponents in the area will notice the Black Market’s presence. Instead, try landing just within the proximity of the equipment hot zone. That way, Loba and her team can still steal items but have the advantage of being able to leave immediately and not giving opponents any time to predict their general location.
Have an idea about weapon combinations: While all players are expected to have a basic grasp on using each weapon, players using Loba who can practically steal any equipment receives more pressure knowing their gear. When activating Black Market, any Loba main should immediately have a pairing in mind as soon as they see available weapons. Considering Loba’s thieving kit, players need to be able to adjust into any weapon pairing possible.
Secure the team’s best gear as soon as possible: Unlike Loba, her teammates can only steal two (2) items from the Black Market. In turn, fully-equipping the team with the best gear can be quite difficult given to the squad’s limited thieving options. Thankfully, Loba can take an unlimited number of items from the Black Market, provided she has the inventory space. In these situations, Loba is advised to get weapons and gear needed by her team and drop them for the ally to pick up. This should be done quickly, however, as dropping items leaves them open for stealing via other Black Markets.

Support Class: Stealing With A Dash Of Healing

Loba and the team getting Black Market gear

Players who got used to Loba in Apex Legends gameplay would feel quite comfortable with her item detection and acquisition abilities, making her an adequate fit for Season 16: Revelry’s Class updates. Now a full-fledged part of the Support Class, Loba gets another buff in the February 2023 that maximizes her specialization as a thief, giving her the following bonuses:

Crafting Ally Banners: Loba is now capable of using Crafting Stations to recreate Ally Banners, even if they are expired. They cost 30 Crafting Materials, with the teammate’s Banner being available for acquisition after crafting is complete. A Banner will contain all recoverable teammates.
Blue Bins - Secret Compartment access: As a Support Class member, Loba is now able to access Secret Compartments inside Blue Bins. They have a larger chance to contain Large Med Kits and Large Shield Batteries. In addition, opening compartments outside the Ring will boost the chance of acquiring Heat Shields, while carrying a teammate banner boosts the chance of getting a Mobile Respawn Beacon.

Loadout Recommendations

Choosing the ideal loadout of Apex Legends weapons for someone like Loba can be tricky, especially given her nature as an acquisitions expert. Since Loba can almost always acquire any weapon she wants, players need to choose whether they prioritize “second-best” weapons while waiting for their ideal weapons like Apex Legends Assault Rifles or focus solely on weapons to stick with until the endgame even if she acquires them early. Here are some ideal weapons for Loba:

R-99 (SMG, Light Ammo): One of the most common SMGs in the game, the R-99 is an ideal weapon for Loba to master especially since it’s not all the time that players can get a coveted R-301. The R-99 already boasts a high-enough firing rate with decent damage, making it a great weapon in short-to-mid-range incursions.
Mastiff (Shotgun): One of the most dangerous situations when using Loba is having opponents attack Loba’s team when they catch them using the Black Market. To avoid these situations, a versatile short-ranged weapon like the Mastiff can greatly help stave off attackers. Due to its horizontal spread, the Mastiff can hit opponents side by side more efficiently, making it an ideal defensive weapon.
VK-47 Flatline (Assault Rifle, Heavy Ammo): Aside from the R-301, the VK-47 Flatline is one of the most common ARs found all over the game. When equipped with the Anvil Receiver, the Flatline gets double the base damage at semi-auto at the cost of lower firing rate, which can be a worthy trade-off if Loba finds herself in dangerous firefights that the team may want to end quickly.

Apex Legends is currently playable in the PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Switch.

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