From the bottom to the top: Apex Legends players react to Ash becoming the most-picked Legend

Season 24 of Apex Legends has brought many changes and meta shifts to the game. One of them was a revival of Ash, who was one of the least-picked Legends but is now the top choice for players in every lobby.

Introduced over three years ago in season 11, Ash has more than quadrupled her previous pick rate to 26.2% in the new season, according to data from Apex Legends Status. Before the release of season 24, she had a pick rate of 4.53%. Her pick-rate percentage is the highest it’s been since the website started collecting data in 2021.

The drastic change is likely because of the addition of her new passive ability, Predator’s Pursuit, which lets her dash midair every few seconds.

Players are calling the new dash completely broken. “It’s one of the strongest movement abilities in the entire game. It’s crazy how much control and momentum you get,” one player said. The dash essentially mimics a movement technique in the game called a super glide, which boosts your character’s momentum. Also, Ash can double her dashes and ult charge with skill upgrades.

Unlike the super glide, which requires players to hit their jump and crouch key when they climb atop an object, Ash’s new dash is triggered when a player hits their jump key while in the air, making her evasiveness a movement technique that’s easy to use. If you’re on PC, combining the movement with tap-strafing makes the Legend even more evasive. 

Her newfound speed doesn’t stop at the dash. She’s also been made faster with changes to the assault-class Legends. After breaking an enemy’s shield, the Battle Surge class perk grants a speed boost, faster reload, and highlights the enemy for four seconds. Another perk, Stowed Reload, automatically reloads unequipped weapons after two seconds. On top of that, assault Legends now have two new grenade-only slots in their inventory, and they can still carry extra ammo.

Season 24 came with other reworks to Ash’s kit, making her even stronger. Her Arc Snare tactical ability is more effective, as it is harder to break and easier to trap players. Her ultimate, Phase Breach, now travels farther and faster.

In the season 24 patch notes, Respawn’s developers said the improvements to Ash were made to “resurge her as a top Apex Predator” by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of her abilities while giving her a dash that makes her a more effective skirmisher.

With the new season’s lower TTK, Ash’s quick maneuverability makes her an even better Legend to pick in almost every team comp because she is the perfect DPS pick for players looking to run around the map and get kills. 

Some have been happy to see the spike in Ash’s pick rate, while others feel the buffs were too much, adding that picking any other Legend feels like you’re playing a different game and it feels unfair to fight against.

“In every single game I played today somebody is picking her,” a player said, “the whole thing is a sore sight because we do actually need some semblance of balance.”

Many suggested giving all the Legends something similar to the dash to level the playing field. Outside of balancing, others added that new movement techniques for all of the Legends would make the game more fun.