Apex Legends: Alter’s skills and the resemblances they bear to Revenant and Loba
Each playable character in Apex Legends shakes up the game in some way, be it Ballistic with his disrupting Whistler or Conduit with her energizing Radiant Transfer. The soon-to-be-released Alter is no different. While her kit looks like it has a lot in common with legends Wraith and Ash, Alter’s abilities draw inspiration from other members of the Apex Legends roster. Some are obvious, while others might only be familiar to those who follow the game closely.
Alter’s passive gives Loba a run for her money
Alter’s strangest ability is her Gift From The Rift passive. Much like Loba’s Black Market ultimate ability, Gift From The Rift gives Alter the ability to remotely steal items. Unlike Black Market, Alter can only loot items that are not shield cores from nearby death boxes – preventing game-changing shield swaps.
Gift From The Rift keeps in line with Alter being a void breacher, but it is quite strange that a skirmisher legend has an ability that is more characteristic of a support legend. That said, Loba’s Black Market still has its uses as it allows anyone to loot two items within a larger vicinity (provided it isn’t in a loot vault). But considering Alter’s passive isn’t on a cooldown, this could give Alter more value towards the end of battle royale matches where death boxes become more abundant.
Alter owes a lot to Revenant
Newer players would look at Alter’s Void Passage tactical as a situational Ash or Wraith portal, but it is likely a scrapped Revenant ability. Before Revenant was released, data miners found (in now deleted posts) a ton of abilities linked to the legend – one of which was an ultimate ability that could create a doorway between walls. Respawn Entertainment seems to have reworked the ability and given it to Alter. Void Passage now allows Alter to place a two-way portal on sufficiently deep surfaces that can be interacted with on both sides.
But Void Passage isn’t the only ability Alter borrows from Revenant, as veteran players will spot the resemblance between her Void Nexus ultimate ability and Revenant’s old Death Totem. Before he was reworked a few seasons ago, Revenant’s ultimate ability allowed him to place an interactable totem that protected its users from death. Death Totem temporarily removed players’ shields but respawned them back at the totem if they died during the ability’s duration.
Atler’s Void Nexus looks like a combination of Wraith’s Into The Void tactical and Revenant’s old Death Totem. Instead of interacting with the ability first and stripping shields, Void Nexus is best activated when in a pinch. It takes a while for the ability to activate, but once it does, players in Alter’s squad can safely teleport back to the Void Nexus rally point provided it is within its activation radius.
Alter is shaping up to be a legend that will drastically change how Apex Legends is played. Players with good map knowledge can make use of her Void Passage tactical to create new access points and escape routes. Void Nexus will also require new ways of thinking as it essentially gives squads a free push. It may take some time to get used to her, but Alter might just be one of the strongest legends to be introduced into the game.