Apex Legends boasts a diverse cast of characters, both in terms of backstory and playstyles. Bloodhound stands as one of the battle royale’s original eight and remains one of the most beloved characters in the game due to their standout skills.
The recon character has a set of abilities that can be one of the most useful in the game, but players should be careful about when they use their skills. These abilities have a high payoff but can also be detrimental to the team if used improperly.
Here are their abilities, how to use them, and their biggest strengths and weaknesses.
Bloodhound abilities and how to use them
Class Passive — Recon
Bloodhound is one of the four recon characters in Apex, and can interact with Survey Beacons scattered around the map. Each beacon is usable once per match and marks the map with all enemy positions for 30 seconds. This information is shared with all teammates, allowing Bloodhound to find fights easily, and make quick use of their tracking skills.
Passive — Tracker
With Tracker, Bloodhound sees footprints and other markers exclusive to them, providing information based on enemy interactions in the past 90 seconds. Gunfire, healing, ability usage like Wraith’s Dimensional Rift, and more will appear as pingable indicators, allowing Bloodhound to share the information with the rest of their team. Fresh tracks will show up in red, while any interactions that took place a minute ago will be indicated in gray, alerting Bloodhound’s team if their prey is still nearby.
White Ravens will also spawn naturally during the match, denoted by a white circular alert appearing on the map, the same as a dropping care package. Interacting with the White Raven causes it to fly towards the nearest enemy squad, leaving a visible trail on the minimap for all allies to follow while recharging 25 percent of Bloodhound’s Tactical and Ultimate abilities.
White Ravens are the best way to start a hunt and offer just as much information when spotted as directly interacting with them. White Ravens can only spawn in when an enemy is over 180 meters away from Bloodhound.
Alert players can use this information when entering a new POI to have the comfort of looting safely, without having to waste time scanning for possible enemies.
Tactical — Eye of the Allfather
Eye of the Allfather is an activatable ability that scans any enemies, traps, and other interactable objects on the map for Bloodhound’s entire team to see, marking them in a 125-degree cone at a range of 75 meters. In addition to the scan, an indicator will show up for Bloodhound, telling how many hostiles were scanned, or if nobody was found in range.
Although your team gains information, the ability can be seen by all players, potentially giving away your own position with thoughtless scans. With a 25-second cooldown, Bloodhound players should be able to follow up on their information, confirming if a building is safe, pushing an enemy isolated from their team, or making sure that nobody is following them are all valid options. Even if Bloodhound can’t find an angle to shoot during a fight, the knowledge extends to your entire team and can help pick off stragglers or solo teams.
Eye of the Allfather is also capable of interacting with White Ravens spawned from Bloodhound’s Passive. Scanning a raven triggers all of the same effects as walking up and directly interacting with it, while refreshing Eye of the Allfather’s cooldown. However, it does not recharge Beast of the Hunt’s cooldown by 25 percent when interacted with this way. Bloodhound players should learn when scanning on the move is more important than directly interacting.
Ultimate — Beast of the Hunt
Beast of the Hunt is a 30-second buff. Upon activation, a White Raven immediately spawns, flying towards the nearest enemy. Any other enemies downed by Bloodhound during the Ultimate will spawn an additional White Raven to hunt down the remaining opposition.
Bloodhound’s vision turns black and white, while enemies are highlighted in red, similar to the digital threat sight, or the 4×10 sniper sight, allowing Bloodhound to easily find hidden enemies through smoke or other obscuring effects. Additionally, grenades, the Ring, and enemy abilities, such as Wattson’s Perimeter Security, will retain their color, while teammates are highlighted in blue.
Bloodhound’s ultimate lasts for 30 seconds, but knocking down enemies increases the duration of the ultimate anywhere from five to 15 seconds per knockdown, depending on how much time is left on it. Assisting in downing an enemy also refunds time to Beast of the Hunt, encouraging Bloodhound to play around their team whenever their ultimate and scan abilities are ready.
Beast of the Hunt is focused on chaining kills together, pushing off the many passive benefits gained to isolate fights and create a numbers advantage. Each down extends the ultimate’s timer and sends another White Raven to the enemy’s squadmates, encouraging constant offensive pressure from the entire team while the ability lasts.
Bloodhound’s biggest strengths
Bloodhound gathers all the information for their team, effectively setting up fights for any team composition to succeed.
They can serve as the main offense, utilizing their speed boost while in Beast of the Hunt to initiate fights, scan defensively to slow down attacking enemies when under pressure, or paired with other abilities for quick and clean fights.
Information during fights
Bloodhound’s scans go through Bangalore’s smokes and Caustic’s gas abilities, while Beast of the Hunt completely negates the smokescreens altogether, allowing for fights where Bloodhound’s team can see all of their enemies, without being spotted themselves. Digital threat sights and other Caustic players are the only other ways to see through these abilities, allowing for Bloodhound to find isolated enemies and swiftly take them down before the smoke dissipates.
Support capacities
Bloodhound excels in a support role when paired with highly mobile teammates who can all push off of the information gained by Eye of the Allfather. Octane’s Jump Pad, Horizon’s Gravity Lift, and Ash’s Phase Breach reposition the entire team across long distances, allowing for fast follow-ups once Bloodhound scans the enemies’ exact locations.
Offensive characters who can force enemies into certain areas also complement Bloodhound’s tracking abilities. Gibraltar’s Defensive Bombardment and Bangalore’s Rolling Thunder cause massive damage unless enemies retreat into buildings for cover, making Bloodhound’s job easier in pinpointing their exact locations for a push.
Bloodhound limitations to keep in mind
Despite Bloodhound’s abilities to find enemies, quickly catch up to them, and chain kills while in their Ultimate, there are clear limitations and drawbacks to their kit.
Lack of mobility
Despite Tracker giving exact information on where someone may have run, Bloodhound has no direct movement abilities besides a speed boost while in Beast of the Hunt, therefore certain legends make for deadly or impossible chases. Pathfinder’s Zipline and Valkyrie’s Skyward Dive can directly reposition an entire team away from a chasing Bloodhound.
Giving away information
Bloodhound’s scan only reveals in a cone radius, allowing for legends who excel at flanking to take advantage of their lack of information. When using Eye of the Allfather, the scan radiates outwards from Bloodhound’s exact location, effectively pinpointing them for any enemies looking to ambush them if not spotted.
Activating Beast of the Hunt also makes a loud noise, once again giving away Bloodhound’s position, and preventing them from sneaking up on enemies. Additionally, Bloodhound’s character model will have glowing red eyes while in the ultimate. Savvy players can easily deduce when Beast of the Hunt has run out with a quick glance, providing a chance to counterattack when Bloodhound has lost their temporary buffs.
No direct offensive abilities
Defensive legends also can help slow down a Bloodhound’s push, as they only provide information, and no other offensive utility. Caustic’s Gas Traps, Wattson’s Perimeter Security, Rampart’s Amped Cover and other deployables are all scanned by Bloodhound’s abilities, but unless they want to push directly into a fortified team, they must request the help of their teammates, or waste the information gained from Eye of the Allfather.
