Hey guys! Today, I’m going to be talking about Lifeline, the new Apex Legends hero who was added at the launch of Apex Legends.
She is a powerful supportive legend with an exciting kit and a passive ability. Since I’m a professional Apex Legends player and a member of the Apex Boost team here at Immortal Boost, I had to master her immediately so I could do my job ideally just like before she was released.
Lifeline has been out since the launch of Apex, and she is one of the most consistently picked legends in the game. Today, I will be covering this healer as one of Apex’s best support Legends. Lifeline’s abilities don’t end here though as she can be one of the best Legends for getting her team back into the fight and making those clutch saves. Let’s give you an overview of her abilities, rank her in the current meta, and show off some in-game examples to get you on your way to mastering Lifeline in Apex Legends.
Lifeline Playstyle
It is crucial for you as a Lifeline to stick with your teammates. This can be tough since Lifeline has no movement abilities and this requires Lifeline to be extra attentive and aware of where the team is going and how they’re playing. This is better for everyone to do in Apex Legends and all shooters but it is extra important as Lifeline. This is because is a subpar Legend until your teammates get knocked or beaten down a bit.
Lifelines need to focus more on being a team player and rotating with your team. It is better to play but safer as Lifeline being the first down makes her even more pointless to choose as a Legend if you’re using the Revive drone.
Lifeline Abilities
Her passive ability is the combat medic which lets her revive friends with her healing drone while still allowing herself to be mobile. She can also revive both of her teammates at the same time. Lifeline also has another small addition to her passive which is the ability to open the extra drawer on those blue pills that you do see around the maps.
Lifeline’s DOC Heal Drone is her tactical ability. This is a healing drone that Lifeline can drop every 45 seconds and will heal up to a total of 150 health to all players that are attached to it.
Lifeline’s ultimate is the care package that Lifeline can call in every five minutes and this does have healing items shields, knockdown shields, helmet attachments, and much more.
Lifeline Role in Meta
If you’re wondering what type of role Lifeline might fit into the squad then you must know that it’s going to be the support role. There is not a lot of support Legends in Apex but if you’re looking for one of the few that is capable of being the team healer or lifting the squad back from the brink of death then Lifeline is going to be that unique Legend.
Lifeline Passive Tips
There might be no better passive in the game for completely turning the tide in your favor after your team starts to get knocked, making her a very capable Legend of resetting and engagement. Since his passive allows Lifeline to revive teammates through the use of the drone, there are a lot of things to do while this is happening.
This means that Lifeline can fight while reviving, which makes her super unique and frustrating to deal with. Her shield is unbreakable against bullets and grenades, similar to Gibraltar’s shield. She can also provide amazing cover against enemies.
Slide Revives
The first tip for Lifeline’s passive is to slide into your Revives. If you’re able to slide into a revive then this will allow you to bypass the animation of Lifeline doing a revive slightly and will also let you have greater movement, making yourself harder to hit and get tagged by enemies.
Creating Separation
Another reason this is great is that it also allows you to create separation between you and the reviving player. The greater the distance between you and the reviving teammate, the more enemies must make a decision: either they need to shoot you, who ideally is shooting back at them, or they need to stop, take a second, and finish the teammate that is getting revived. For you, it’s going to be a win-win scenario as it multiplies your chances of winning that gunfight.
Revive Cancel
Cancelling revives come slightly into play. If you can tell an enemy is going to thirst your knock teammate who is being revived, you can cancel your Revive by using the on-screen prompt to allow your teammate to bring up his knockdown shield. This is situational but a good lifeline can make these quick decisions which can make a huge difference in survival.
If you do cancel the revive, you can use your friend’s knockdown shield, which will give you an edge in a fight while also saving your squad’s life.
Revive Location
Always let your teammates get behind cover before starting that revive. It’s not always going to be possible but if you can manage this, the chances of the squad mate not getting finished while in the open will significantly be increased.
A tip that is often undersold is how loud and noticeable the shield is. It is also easy to see the shield through smoke and gas as it is a bright bluish-green colour. The fact that the shield does go through walls makes it quite obvious that a revive is happening. If you’re trying to disengage or avoid third and fourth parties in a hot zone, it may be best to hide and wait for the revive or let the third teammate do this revive instead.
Lifeline Tactical Tips
Lifeline’s DOC healing drone stands for Drone of compassion. This is a simple ability but a very useful one. This tactical place the drone down heals you and your team and lasts for 20 seconds. This drone does have a 45-second cooldown timer and will heal up to a total of 150 health. It’s enough to heal up two teammates who have been recently knocked to almost full capacity.
Few things to note with this drone that you might not expect. This drone works quite well and heals you pretty fast, and you should be using this healing drone to heal items as much as possible. 45 seconds isn’t a long cooldown timer, and you should use this drone instead. The combo of drone and syringe almost always gets you to near full health and can be done quickly.
You can save your med kits for your teammates or have an extra inventory slot for grenades or more ammo.
Offence Capability
If there is anything that does give Lifeline some offensive power, it’s the use of her healing drone while you’re fighting. When you take some big damage, if you can combo your drone to heal some health and some cells or batteries at the same time, then you pretty much heal at double the rate any enemies are. It’s a very underrated way to increase your chances of winning those gun fights, as you’ll get a bonus 50-60 Health in this fight.
Revive + Drone Combo
Another very basic tip is that right after you start a revive on a player, drop your healing drone on them. This does let that revived player immediately get some healing to get them back into the action a little bit faster.
Monitor Team status
Within the revive range, always be aware of your teammates’ health. If they need some healing, a quick run and drop of the tactical healing drone means that they can stay healthy and you don’t need to waste time or waste resources by using those healing meds.
Gas & Ring Damage
It is not always relevant, but it’s good for you to know that Lifeline’s drone will not work with caustic gas or when you’re taking ring damage. So, if you’re near either of these, then save the drone. The drone does not work in your teammate’s gas. Be mindful of this, as you can’t stack the gas in the health drone if you’re trying to hide from enemies. The drone also doesn’t survive in the storm. It will take two ticks of damage and then be destroyed. Crypto EMP will also destroy the healing drone.Â
Portable Cover
If you’re unaware, the tactical healing drone is more or less indestructible. This means that this small drone can block some incoming damage, and if you’re in an extreme bind, it can be used for some very minor cover.
Eliminate Revenant Ultimate
If you’re playing with a Revenant and you’re getting sent back from the death totem, make the Lifeline push in first. If she gets sent back, she can immediately drop that healing drone and start to heal up. When her teammates also get sent back, they will automatically start to heal up with her.Â
While the healing drone is a tiny object, it can absorb some damage and can be used when you’re in a close-range battle.
Drop Drone, Then Peek
If you get peace for, say 150 health, you can hop behind a wall, pop that drone, and then start making a counter play or pop a shield cell or battery while this drone also heals you. Giving you a bit extra healing that the enemy might not be taking account of. While the enemy pushes you, you can also use this small drone to help you provide a minimal amount of cover and it will absorb some partial damage that maybe will be enough to save your life.
Ultimate Lifeline Tips
Free Loot
Lifeline’s care package is not that great, but it does have some uses. If you’re unaware of how the loot works in Lifeline’s care package, then you must know that three sides of this care package have dedicated set loot tables. Side one is always an upgraded EvoShield knockdown or helmet.
Side 2 is guaranteed to contain shield cells, syringes, batteries, med kits, mobile respawns, heat shields, and Phoenix kits. Side three will always include an upgraded weapon attachment. If, by any chance, your entire team is fully kitted out with red evil shields, gold evil shields, and full attachments that are also good, the care package will still dish out some extra healing items.
However, this is going to be very rare, so you more or less can’t at least get some gold attachments and healing items. The care package does not dish out any red-tier items, so care package weapons and red evil shields are not going to happen. The biggest factor here for the care package is going to be those purple and gold shields that can be so critical to get early on.
This can make a massive difference in games when you’re struggling to get solid armour, and it does make the care package highly desirable in the early or even late game if you’re struggling with loot.
Warning
One of the biggest issues with the care package is the audio and visual indications it makes to pretty much every team within a few hundred meters. This can add a target to your back and it will force enemies to come try and find you. Not only is this loud, but a giant blue beam of light will be in the air. It takes 15 seconds to come down and the care package itself is blue meaning it’s easy to tell it if is an in-game package or a Lifeline package.
Bait Enemies
These audio and visual indicators can be used to your advantage and if you know someone is somewhat close by, you can drop this package to try and bait those enemy players to come over to your location. Not always useful but it’s a pretty tricky tactic that not many utilize.
Care Package Cover
In addition to this, sometimes if you’re caught in the open and you need a way to push forward, using the physical care package as cover is a great way to provide your team with some relief.
Ultimate Accelerant
Ultimate Accelerant can make a massive difference with the amount of care you’ll be to call in during a single game. These accelerants benefit no other Legend as much as Lifeline since the timer on that care package is a very long five minutes.
Legends Combos
There’s not going to be a whole lot of talk about Legend Combos, but one thing to start with is the fact that Lifeline is a very immobile Legend. This means that anyone like Valkyrie, Pathfinder, or Wraith, to name a few, will greatly help her out on rotations.Â
They will give her some increased survivability. Wattson is a nice pairing for Lifeline, and if you can combine Wattson’s ultimate pylon shield regeneration with Lifeline’s healing drone, you can get the squad fully refreshed faster than most other Legends in the game.Â
Another fine pairing is the Revenant, as you can drop your healing drone right on his totem after you get sent back from death protection, immediately starting to heal up those who return. Try to be creative and try out some different Legends until you and the squad find something that works.
Weaponry
Weaponry is a big deal as Lifeline positioning is essential and she needs to be able to support the squad from the back efficiently. Hybrid weapons like the rampage, flatline, and R301 are all insane as supporting from mid-range and then they can work pretty well close up when you do need to move in and finish while you’re trying to get a revive. A great secondary to pair up with any of these is also going to be shotguns. However, peacekeeper is honestly a great choice as well.
Ranking & Viability
Lifeline’s viability in today’s meta is a tough question to answer, as it will depend on your experience as a player. Lifeline in upper-tier ranked or higher-tier pub lobbies is a rare pick, while if you’re in a lower lobby, she’s a bit more usable.
The fact that her abilities do cater to a slightly lower level of skill, doesn’t mean they aren’t useful in all aspects of the game. Lifeline for me is still a lower-tier Legend somewhere in the bottom 5 Legend in the game but this doesn’t matter. If you enjoy and can use her with effectiveness then that’s all that matters. All Legends is Apex are solid and Lifeline falls into this as well.
Lifeline Extra Tips
A lot has changed to Lifeline in season 20. First, support bins got an overall buff, which affects more than just Lifeline. Second, since Armor doesn’t spawn on the ground anymore, her care package has changed so that now it will spawn more healing items and smart loot items like weapon attachments for her and her squad mates.
Lifeline upgrades are awesome. You can choose to have a faster revive speed by 20% or reduce her tactical cooldown by 10 seconds. Both are meaningful, but the rapid response is better. On her next upgrade, you can decide if you want to self-revive, or her next Lifeline care package is a supply drop, meaning you definitely will get a care package weapon.
Gold items on Lifeline can be massive, especially backpacks. Very few Legends can benefit as much from the gold bag as Lifeline, and every Lifeline needs to get this gold backpack to enhance their team’s survivability with the passive revive. A friendly getting 100 bonus health is a huge thing; just don’t sleep on it.
Keep in mind that both of these second perks are a One-time deal per match so you only get one self-revive and you’ll get one Lifeline package that will be a supply drop. You still get other Lifeline packages if you progress through the match but it will not be a supply drop.
Lifeline needs to have a great sense of positioning. She should be the anchor point for the squad, providing a sense of safety or a bubble of safety. If a Lifeline can anchor a spot and control an area, this will greatly improve your chances of controlling an engagement.
Needless to say, all of these perks make her more viable, particularly if you’re able to speed that revive and then just provide more loot or optionality for your team as the support legend. These perks make a lot of sense for Lifeline.
Lifeline still needs to be very mindful of the squad’s location. It is her job to support the team not only in gun range but also within the revive or healing range. This doesn’t mean holding hands, but also not letting your team run off when you’re trying to pull the rear or anchor the building.
While a good sense of how to play the game can avoid many bad situations, this does not mean it is your job to save your teammates from making a dumb play. As a Lifeline, you’re going to be yelled at for a revive, but it’s up to you to take that information and use it as you see fit.
Wrapping It Up
Thank you for reading my guide. I hope you have great success as Lifeline! The new season is around the corner! Check out our Apex Legends win boosting, where my colleagues and I will help you increase wins on Lifeline. You can select your last rank, checkout, and relax! We will do it for you.