Apex Legends: Who to unlock first?

Apex Legends offers players nine different playable characters, but only six of them are available at the start. Mirage, Caustic, and Octane must be unlocked either through Legend Tokens or Apex Coins. As with other games from EA, this presents players with the choice of spending time (Legend Tokens) or spending money (Apex Coins) to get the extra Legend(s).

Apex Legends Free Download ►

How many Apex Coins to unlock Octane?

If you’re in no mood to play the grind game, you can also spend Apex Coins to get the three Legends whenever you like. Each one costs 750, and you can purchase a bundle of 1000 Apex Coins for $9.99. If you want all three heroes, though, you’ll have to go for the 4,350 Apex Coins bundle (and a +350 bonus for other in-game aesthetics), which will cost you $39.99. It’s a lot to pay for just three characters who are supposed to be equal in power to the others anyway, but hey, Apex Legends is a free game. If you think it’s worth giving some of your hard-earned cash, that’s up to you!

Apex Legends beginner tips

Unlock Legends without spending cash ►

How many Legend Tokens to unlock Octane?

Mirage, Caustic, and Octane all cost 12,000 Legend Tokens, which depending on how often (and how well) you play, might take a while. Once you hit level 23 you should have enough Tokens to purchase one of these heroes, but again you’ll only have enough to get one; not all three. Which takes us to the point of this article:

Who to unlock first?

If you do choose to earn your Legends rather than pay for them, the decision of which Legend to buy first will be a weighty one. The three characters all play very differently from each other, and there’s no clear winner as to which is “the best one.” But that’s not why you’re reading this article! Instead let’s go over the strengths of the Legends in question, and let their skills speak for themselves.

Apex Legends ultimate character guide

Read Now ►

Mirage

Mirage is the holographic trickster of Apex Legends, and excels in playing mind games with the enemy team. While he doesn’t have much in the way of actual defense (like Gibraltar or Wraith), his best solution is to draw fire away from him while he flanks from an unexpected angle. His tactical ability Psyche Out is the core of Mirage’s strategy, and fires off a decoy that fools and debuffs enemy players. His other two abilities are variations on the same theme, using decoys to trick unwary foes into making mistakes.

Mirage is a good choice if you think you’ll be good at using his holograms to open new angles and control the firefight through misdirection. It’s much more of a reactionary experience than the other two classes.

Octane

Octane is the high-speed daredevil, pulling out all the stops and opting for an extremely high-risk, high-reward play style. If you’re a natural at fast-paced shooter games and can operate under high pressure with low health, Octane will probably be your new favorite Legend. His biggest advantage is his Stim tactical ability coupled with his Swift Mend passive. The former grants him a hefty speed boost at the cost of health, and the latter heals him over time – very slowly. Swift Mend heals Octane slowly enough that if you OD on Stim, it won’t be able to save you from yourself. But go off the deep end for speed’s sake at the right time, and you can pull off some dazzling maneuvers that no other Legend can match.

Pick Octane if you’re looking for a high-adrenaline, fast-paced shooter experience where you toss your own well-being to the wind in favor of crazy streaks, insane mobility, and verticality. YOLO, right?

Caustic

The antithesis of Octane, Caustic caters to a very different crowd than Octane or Mirage players. While the other two run around using holograms and adrenaline bursts to flank and move around enemies, Caustic is a toxic trapper who instead lures enemy teams, funneling them into his zone of control. In that zone of control Caustic is a force to be reckoned with, placing Nox Gas Traps around a chosen area which damage and debuff affected enemies. He’s a big target and he moves slow, so your success in-game is really going to come down to where you place your traps, how you use your poison to gain the upper hand, and whether you can survive long enough to whittle the map down to a small area where you can truly dominate.

If you’re not great at fast-paced shooter games, and don’t perform well under pressure, Caustic is probably the safest bet for your first unlocked Legend. Just remember that he’s just as squishy as the other two, and the only way to make the most of him is to make frequent use of his gas.

Who is the best Legend? The choice ends up being pretty subjective, and unfortunately, there’s no way to test out each character before unlocking them. As such, the best way to determine who’s best for you is to ask yourself three questions:

1. Are you a more offensive or defensive player?

If you’re more defensive, choose Caustic. If you’re more offensive, then question number two:

2. Do you focus more on your movement or the enemy’s?

This is a tricky question since the answer is, instinctively, “both.” But carefully consider the firefights you’ve had. Do you try to press the attack with characters like Bangalore or Pathfinder? Or do you try to survey the scene like Bloodhound? If you focus on your own movement, take Octane. If you focus on where other players are, opt instead for Mirage.

3. How much do you rely on your team?

The last question is probably the biggest one: Do you find your strategy to rely heavily on what teammates you have? There’s a place as a teammate for all three of these characters, but Octane really presses the boundaries and often does better scouting far ahead of his team and using his speed to engage or escape from encounters that his teammates cannot. If you like the team cohesion, you might not be fond of the way Octane angles you to play.

Apex Legends intermediate tips

Read Now ►

Which Legend are you going to choose? Let us know in the comments below, and we’ll see you in Kings Canyon!

Complete Guide to Apex Legends

Read Now ►