The best Apex Legends characters to use in Arenas

Apex Legends’ Arenas is a welcome change of pace from its standard battle royale trappings. The three-vs-three game mode removes RNG and third-partying to boil the game down to its essentials: two squads fighting each other on small, specialized maps.

Each round begins with a buy menu, which lets players buy weapons, ability charges, and items. The first team to win three rounds with a two-win advantage is the champion. Arenas is a much faster-paced battle royale mode, which means that legends who perform well in the main game aren’t necessarily as effective in Arenas. Whether you’re looking to climb the ranked Arenas leaderboard or just want to know how to pub-stomp, we’re looking at the legends who perform best on Arenas’ smaller stage.

Here are the best legends to use in Arenas.

Bloodhound and Seer

Bloodhound and Seer provide a similar amount of information to their team. Both are recon characters with “wallhack” abilities who can pinpoint the enemy’s locations. Bloodhound is more aggressive, as they’re most effective when rushing forward to capitalize on the enemies revealed by their Eye of the Allfather. In Arenas, they only get a handful of uses and must buy additional charges.

On the other hand, Seer is stealthier, lying in wait until he can ambush the enemy. His Heartseeker passive can be used an infinite number of times, but it doesn’t pinpoint enemies as accurately, and it doesn’t automatically communicate their locations with his teammates. Both legends are useful on an Arenas team, but you don’t need both on one team, so the choice comes down mostly to personal preference and play style.

Wraith

Wraith is just as good in Arenas as she is in battle royale. Besides being small and difficult to hit, her abilities can provide useful utility to her teammates. Dimensional Rift becomes immensely more powerful on Arenas’ smaller maps, as Wraith can provide a path far away from the center of the field for allies who need a revive or want to heal. Into the Void is also extremely useful: with less map terrain to travel over, she can reposition farther away from enemies when needed. Into the Void also retains its usual offensive capabilities in the thick of a close-range fight.

Octane

While Octane loses a little effectiveness in the move to Arenas–Apex‘s smaller maps don’t have as much verticality as its larger battle royale maps, rendering his Launch Pad mostly useless–he’s still a useful legend. On most Arenas maps, there are only a handful of supply chests, all of which contain healing items like Med Kits and Shield Batteries. Whoever gets to them first gets to claim the supplies without paying for them during the buy phase. This is a huge boon, particularly if you’d rather spend materials on weapon upgrades. Octane’s Stim can get him to supply chests more quickly than other legends, enabling him to carry out this strategy and stomp the competition.

Bangalore

Bangalore has always been a good all-around legend, and she retains most of her effectiveness in Arenas. The map’s smaller areas mean that her Rolling Thunder covers a much higher percentage of the map than it does in battle royale, making it easier to flush out and stun enemies. Her Smoke Launcher is good for popping a quick heal or reviving an ally, especially because players must make a concentrated effort to get an enemy-highlighting Digital Threat scope that can see through her smoke. While she doesn’t excel at anything, in particular, she’s a great choice for new players or those who want to control large swaths of Arenas’ maps.

Newcastle

Newcastle is another great all-around legend. He received several buffs at the beginning of season 14, all of which carry over into Arenas. His Retrieve the Wounded revive is useful for pulling enemies around corners and keeping them safe. His Mobile Shield is arguably more useful on a smaller playing ground than in battle royale. Newcastle’s biggest draw in Arenas is Castle Wall: if he and his team decide to play defensively, they can choose one location and hold it out, making it difficult for the opposing team to break down their defenses. While flanking isn’t hard in Arenas, if Newcastle places his shield correctly, it will be very difficult to flush him out.

Fuse and Mad Maggie

Fuse and Mad Maggie both serve a similar role in Arenas. Both are great at either flanking or countering flankers, and both have excellent area denial potential. Charges of Fuse’s Knuckle Cluster are inexpensive to buy, and The Motherlode can either keep enemies in a certain zone or prevent them from accessing a vital part of the map. Grenadier also makes buying grenades during the buy phase much more appealing.

Mad Maggie, on the other hand, can destroy a defensive team with both Riot Drill and Wrecking Ball, either by preventing them from flanking or flushing them out of their hiding spot. She’s a great choice for more aggressive teams thanks to Warlord’s Ire, especially since there really aren’t any bad shotguns in the game anymore following season 14’s huge buff to the EVA-8. Fuse works well as a sniper, hanging back and throwing grenades from long range to support his teammates. This is another choice that comes down to personal preference, as both legends are useful as part of a wide variety of Arenas strategies.