Respawn has promised new Revenant buffs will see the Synthetic Nightmare “climb to the top” of the Apex Legends metagame again, after he slid to a lowly 2.6% pickrate in the opening days of the “Legacy” season.
Revenant burst onto the Apex Legends scene all the way back in Season 4 armed with a scintillating backstory and an ultimate that let him cheat death — a very handy ability to have in your arsenal in a one-chance battle royale.
At first, Revenant shone on Kings Canyon and World’s Edge.
The simulacrum’s ‘unstoppable’ promise never really landed, however. Since his release in February last year, he’s struggled to find his place in the meta.
That’s all set to change, if Respawn truly has hit the nail on the head with their planned Revenant changes. According to the devs, the buffs they’ve been cooking up for the popular Synthetic Nightmare should see him “climb to the top” in Season 9, without making him a must-pick character after the changes.
“Revenant’s still weak,” one Apex Legends dev said. “We have a set of changes we’re trying out internally [to try and fix that], and they feel fun and fine.”
Klein admitted he’s not in a position to lift the lid on the possible buffs and changes just yet, but did offer up a clue in the middle of his promise.
“I can tell you he’ll certainly climb to the top,” he teased.
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This may suggest that, on top of a guarantee Revenant may be a little more playable once the Season 9 buffs ship, his upgrades may also come in the form of some passive changes, including his wall-running abilities. It could also just be the Respawn game designer having a little fun with fans too, of course.
The Apex Legends dev concluded by warning fans the planned Revenant buffs “may not move the needle on power a lot,” but will — “hopefully,” he added — actually give players a reason to pick the struggling simulacrum.
That “may well be fine” in the long run, Klein continued, “so long as people playing against him or against him in Apex Legends matches are having fun.”
If the Revenant changes do hit live servers this season, it will mark the sixth time Respawn has toyed with the Synthetic Nightmare in the last 14 months.
The murderous robot assassin has also been plagued with bugs and issues since his Season 4 release; eight of the following 49 updates have included patch-ups for his ‘Silence’ tactical and his ultimate “Death Totem” ability.
Rampart is another legend set for “spicy” buffs soon. On the flip side, Wattson was accidentally nerfed recently, but those were quickly rolled back.