Best characters in Apex Legends for beginners

You’ll need to know which legends are best for your playstyle and ability if you are new to Apex Legends and want to take a crack at the ranked system or become a pub stomper in 2024.

These are our top picks of the best legends to use in Apex Legends in season 19. This list is divided into top five lists for controller and mouse and keyboard players. This is also taking into account the current meta. The list is based on the easiest legends to handle and master, alongside the best mechanics when it comes to defensive and offensive roles.

Apex Legends: Top 5 beginner legends for controller

Octane

Our first legend pick can be seen in every Apex Legends match, and loves a good third party. Octane is the safest choice when it comes to champion picks. If speed and aggression is your playstyle, Octane is the one for you. The entry damage that this character provides is ridiculous compared to other legends. However, this doesn’t mean that you should full-send every single person you see in Apex.

Octane needs to be played with the team. His stim offers a massive speed boost at the detriment of his health. While he has the ability to heal over time, this doesn’t mean that you should attack everything in your POV. Octane is best played in the frontline with hopes that you knock a player. Once an enemy on the opposite team is knocked, use his jump pad and attack the remaining members of the squad with your teammates to wipe the team as quickly and cleanly as possible.

Horizon

Horizon is one of the best legend picks for controller players. This is because of her tactical ability that allows her to easily ambush players from above. Apex is also known for having bizarre audio issues, and I cannot count the sheer amount of times I’ve been attacked by a full three-man team running in front of me with silent footsteps. Horizon is a bit of a silent assassin in Apex and if she’s not spotted, you can find yourself in advantageous positions that’ll allow you to throw down her ultimate and deal a ton of initial damage.

An important part of Horizon’s kit is her ultimate, which can be used to either distract the other team, lure them away from cover, or kill multiple enemies at once. Make sure to hold space in your inventory for multiple grenades. Horizon is best played on controller due to her unique passive ability which allows her to continue moving after falling from a height.

Bloodhound

Seer would replace Bloodhound only a few seasons ago. But Bloodhound is a great pick to those new to the game. Bangalore is currently a very popular character, as her smokes counter controller aim assist on PC (and even if you’re playing on console and everyone has aim assist, it will still obscure your vision). Bloodhound’s ultimate, Beast of the Hunt, will enable you to see enemies clearly through smoke. This, alongside the added ability to move incredibly fast like Octane, makes Bloodhound incredibly strong in their ultimate. While they are weaker than other picks, Bloodhound is a smart first choice to anchor your team, spot enemies around the map, and cleanly wipe teams.

Bloodhound is a fantastic pick with Mad Maggie, Octane, and Bangalore. But this legend is useful in any composition because of his scanning abilities.

Revenant

Revenant has become an incredibly strong pick in Apex, with a kit that’s an interesting mix of Pathfinder and Octane. He has an impressive, giant leap that is useful for repositioning in a fight or chasing a team after an initial knock. Revenant’s new kit also gives him extra armor, similar to an armor swap. Armor swapping is an important mechanic in Apex, but Revenant skips this with his ultimate. It not only offers an extra shield worth 75 hp, but the ultimate timer can reset every time you knock an enemy.

Play Revenant smart and patiently. Make sure to use his tactical ability to either wipe a team or retreat back to your teammates if you take too much damage or if your teammates need help.

Valkyrie

While Valkyrie isn’t as commonly picked as she used to be due to nerfs to her ultimate and passive, she is still a useful pick for mobility and positioning. Valkyrie is best used to gain an advantage in a fight where the opposing team need to be angled out. While a well-placed grenade can often do the trick, Valkyrie is useful in building fights. She can easily reposition herself to get a height advantage or quickly leave the area to heal up before she returns to the fight.

While her jetpack is quite loud, she is perfect for fights that are taking a little longer to finish. She also has a higher chance of escaping a third party with a well-timed ultimate, but keep in mind that you’ll likely be found and shot out of the sky if you activate this near the end of the fight. Her tactical can even destroy reinforced Catalyst doors, Wattson fences, and Rampart walls.

Apex Legends: Top 5 beginner legends for mouse and keyboard

Bangalore

Bangalore is one of the most popular picks in this current meta. Her kit has one main use, and that’s her tactical smokes. Her smoke is the only real way to counter aim assist. Of course, if you are up against pro players, her smoke will literally do nothing. But for beginners against other new players, Bangalore is incredibly useful against controller players.

As mouse and keyboard players are pretty much forced to play against controller, as there are plenty of players using a controller on PC, you’ll need to use everything Apex has to offer to gain the upper hand against aim assist. Her ultimate isn’t particularly useful, but it can stop a push if your teammate gets knocked, or push enemies into cover for you to take the high ground off them.

Loba

Our next pick is Loba. While she offers little offensively and defensively, Loba is a great pick for those brand new to battle royale games. She’s also great for casual players and people who don’t play FPS games often. The reason Loba is a stronger pick than others is because of her Black Market ultimate. Having a full inventory of important essentials like meds and ammo is crucial to winning a match, regardless of whether you want to camp in the zone or fight as often as possible, and Loba offers ammo and med replenishment with her ultimate that has a decent cooldown timer on it.

Loba can also quickly reposition in a fight with her tactical ability, but it can be difficult successfully using this without being knocked. This is why I recommend this legend pick for mouse and keyboard players over controller.

Wraith

Wraith is a lot of players go-to legend in Apex, especially if you are solo queuing. Wraith can either be played solo or as a team player as demonstrated often by popular streamer, Faide. Her strengths lie in her easy ability to reposition in a fight without taking damage. Unlike Octane, her kit requires more strategic plays, which is why I recommend this legend pick for mouse and keyboard players over controller.

Due to the common trait of controller players to tunnel vision in fights (I know it all too well as a Revenant main), the Wraith pick is better suited to a mouse and keyboard player that will lead the team to safety or an advantageous position in the end game.

Fuse

Fuse is a rising star in the current Apex meta. Fuse has the ability to stack grenades and can dish out ticking damage to an entire team of enemies within an incredibly short amount of time. If you want to lure people out of cover or finish off a downed enemy, Fuse is the legend to pick.

Fuse’s main counter is Wattson, and as she’s hardly picked in quickplay, Fuse is the perfect option to brand new mouse and keyboard players looking to constantly dish out damage.

Conduit

Unless you’re looking to become the next aceu or Faide, most mouse and keyboard players adopt a more passive role that keeps the team centered in a fight. They act as the glue that holds the team together, making Conduit the perfect pick heading into pubs or ranked. Conduit’s strength lies in her ability to control a portion of the map, alongside a powerful tactical that gives her team a sizable advantage in fights.

For those new to Apex, you may notice the power of an armor swap. But armor swapping takes a long time to master. While it is a lot easier to learn on mouse and keyboard, you may get knocked far more attempting to armor swap than retreating in a fight to pop a battery. But Conduit temporarily halts the armor swapping mechanic by healing her and a specific teammate’s shield.

Conduit is a great pick for those learning the ropes in Apex Legends.