Wraith reclaims title as most popular legend in Apex

For more than the first year of Apex Legends, you could hardly find a team in the game that didn’t have a Wraith player. That’s changed a bit over the last few seasons, though, with new characters and buffs knocking Wraith off her perch for long stretches.

Now, however, it appears that Wraith is right back on top.

The good folks over at Apex Legends Status, who track the status of Apex’s servers as well as legend pick rates and player stats, revealed that Wraith finally reclaimed her throne this weekend. She overtakes Octane as the most popular legend in the game once more for the first time since season nine. She’s even gained a little more ground since Apex Legends Status first announced her as the most popular legend, now registering an 11.5-percent pick rate.

Wraith was far and away the most popular legend in the game for the longest stretches in Apex’s history—and it’s fairly easy to see why. She has a cool character design, an ability that allows her to get out of danger safely, and an ultimate that lets teams maneuver with invulnerability into hard-to-reach places. Wraith was one of the most useful characters in the game, ability-wise, as well as one of the most fun to play. That’s a tough combination to beat.

The overwhelming popularity and strength of the character did lead Respawn to tune Wraith down in several ways, including making her Into the Void ability take a longer time to activate and shortening the distance her Dimensional Rift could travel. These nerfs, in addition to buffs to characters like Octane and the standard spikes in pick rates for new characters, caused Wraith to decline in popularity from her once-lofty perch.

But Wraith is still very good. And none of the characters that have momentarily passed her have ever been able to replace the unique mark she leaves on the game. Octane and his jump pads are fast and fun, but lack an exit strategy. Similarly, new legend Ash’s portal can be used instantly and scale far greater heights than Wraith’s portal, but can only be used one way. Subsequently, more and more players have returned to Wraith as one of the premier characters in the game for how good she is at getting both into and out of trouble.

Notably, Ash’s pick rate has seen the predictable decline of a new legend as this season has worn on, but she still maintains a high pick rate as the fifth-most popular character in the game. Ash’s release has been the polar opposite of Seer’s, who began his life in Apex so strong that he needed a nerf within weeks of season 10’s launch. The mere news of the nerf sent his pick rate plummeting and he’s now one of the least-used characters. By comparison, Ash seems to inhabit a relatively healthy spot in the game. The only tweak Respawn has made to her is making her portal sound louder. Other than that, she appears to hit the sweet spot of being a useful character without being ridiculously overpowered.

The other big mover in pick rate over the last week was Wattson. While her buffs and new heirloom haven’t made her a must-play character, she did see a 62-percent increase in popularity. She now has a pick rate of 3.8 percent, joining the middle pack of legends that ranges from Lifeline (seventh most popular at five percent) down to Mirage (15th most popular, 3.2 percent).

Legend pick rates are fickle and can just as easily be changed by special character events and cosmetics as they can with how useful a character is. That makes Wraith’s longevity even more impressive, however. Through new nerfs, new legends, and new seasons, her popularity remains intact. And it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon.