Apex Legends' Revenant Reborn Guide: Mastering The Undead Assassin's New Abilities

Apex Legends Season 18: Resurrection has brought loads of new features to the popular battle royale, but it’s also given some of the game’s oldest features–like the 359-year-old undead murderbot, Revenant–a significant update. Referred to by Respawn as “Revenant Reborn,” Apex’s new seasonal update has gifted the game’s unfriendly neighborhood murderbot with a brand new set of abilities to master.

In place of the ability to cancel out other legends’ abilities and instantly respawn his squad via his Death Totem, Revenant now has improved movement abilities and an additional shield to protect him from incoming damage. While these changes may sound insignificant, nothing could be further from the truth–with Revenant Reborn, Respawn has taken a character who was often sidelined in the game’s competitive scene and reworked him into an even deadlier force to be reckoned with. Keep reading for a closer look at all of Revenant’s new abilities, along with tips to help you master every aspect of the undead assassin’s new skills.

The Basics

Name: Kaleb Cross

Callsign: Revenant

Age: 44 (as a human), 359 (as a robot)

Homeworld: Unknown (though it was previously listed as Solace, home to the Kings Canyon map)

Legend class: Skirmisher

Like Ash, little is known about Revenant’s life prior to his death, but the official Apex Legends lore book, 2020’s Pathfinder’s Quest, gives us a better idea of who we’re dealing with. Born Kaleb Cross, Revenant’s upbringing remains a mystery, though based on comments he’s made in-game, we do know that Kaleb occasionally painted as a hobby, and has an extremely tumultuous relationship with his abusive father, who he eventually murdered with a palette knife after a painting critique ended in combat.

Eventually, Kaleb joined the Mercenary Syndicate, working as a hired gun to take out difficult, high-value targets. One of those targets was Marcos Andrade, Loba‘s father. Revenant interrupted a private (and heavily guarded) family dinner at an upscale restaurant on Olympus. This restaurant, named Tenmei, also served as one of Pathfinder’s many places of employment, and he witnessed the attack on Loba’s family. After gunning down Loba’s mother and breaking her father’s neck (but leaving a then-9-year-old Loba unscathed), Kaleb noticed an enormous shard of glass protruding from his neck–likely the result of him breaking a window with the body of Loba’s father. Looking at his reflection in the window, Kaleb removed the glass from what should be a deadly wound, only to see his reflection change, revealing that he was not a human, but a robot who had spent decades unknowingly controlled by the Syndicate.

In reality, Kaleb had died nearly 300 years prior to the incident with Loba’s parents. He pushed one of his targets too hard psychologically, which resulted in the man drowning Revenant in excrement at Gaea’s sewage treatment plant. Unwilling to lose their most effective assassin, the Syndicate uploaded Revenant’s consciousness to a simulacrum without his consent, programming him to be unable to harm himself. Revenant’s robotic bodies were manufactured by Hammond Robotics.

Since then, he’s done everything he can to try and locate his source code and find someone to help him end it all for good. He murdered would-be Apex Legend James “The Forge” McCormick–a Hammond Robotics-backed competitor–taking his place in the Games after killing him on live television. Hoping to find his source code and, ultimately, end his existence by dying repeatedly until he ran out of spare “shells” to inhabit, Revenant again came face-to-face with an adult Loba when she joined him in the Apex Games with the sole goal of seeking revenge for her family’s slaughter. But after attempts to convince Loba, Bangalore, and Valkyrie to help him all failed, Revenant began throwing his Apex matches, losing on purpose in an attempt to quickly burn through the thousands of spare bodies the Syndicate built for him to respawn into after death–an experience that is both agonizing and mentally destabilizing for Revenant.

Noticing Revenant’s attempt to destroy all of his bodies, current Syndicate leader (and grandfather of Octane) Torres “Duardo” Silva stepped in and had Revenant rebuilt with new powers and a sturdier body, though it’s unclear exactly how and why he chose to do this.

Abilities

Revenant’s new abilities are listed below:

Passive: Assassin’s Instinct

Revenant’s passive is one of the only parts of his previous ability set to remain intact, but it’s also gotten a buff. Assassin’s Instinct still allows Revenant to crouch-walk faster and more quietly than other legends, and climb quicker (and much, much farther) than them, too. But Revenant now has the ability to climb horizontally, which makes sneak attacks, quick escapes, and ambushes even easier than before.

But that’s not all–Assassin’s Instinct also allows Revenant’s optical array to highlight any enemies within 30 meters who are below 40 health. If Revenant himself is the person to knock them below the 40-point mark, the enemy will be highlighted for Revenant’s entire team to see. With all of these new bells and whistles, Revenant’s passive ability is one of the strongest in the entire game.

Tactical: Shadow Pounce

Revenant can charge up a jump, quickly leaping across the battlefield.

This ability is extremely useful in a number of scenarios, and is also quite a lot of fun to use. Similar to Newcastle‘s Castle Wall ability or Vantage‘s Echo Relocation, this ability sends Revenant flying forward at high speed, allowing him to quickly reposition whenever needed. It’s got a relatively short cooldown time (19 seconds), and when fully charged, it can launch Revenant about as far as one of Octane’s Jump Pads (minus the additional distance players get from utilizing the Jump Pad’s double-jump feature).

Ultimate: Forged Shadows

Revenant manifests a Shadow-powered overshield that absorbs up to 75 damage. Both the overshield and Revenant’s Shadow Pounce ability are instantly recharged if Revenant knocks down an enemy while Forged Shadows is active. Forged Shadows lasts for 25 seconds.

Class Perk: Care Package Insight

As a Skirmisher-class legend, Revenant now has the ability to see Care Packages through walls, terrain, and other obstacles. Staring at a Care Package for a short amount of time will ping it for Revenant’s squad, and also reveal the highest-tier piece of loot inside.

Tips

Revenant’s new skillset is incredibly powerful, but it takes some time to master–especially if you’re a long-time player of the mercenary murderbot. Mastering Revenant Reborn requires players to un-learn every “rule” they’ve taught themselves about how to play Revenant, but once you get the hang of Revenant’s new skillset, he’s a force to be reckoned with inside the ring. Use these tips to ensure Revenant eviscerates his competition at every opportunity.

Charge up

Revenant’s Shadow Pounce tactical can be easy to overlook because, at first glance, it doesn’t seem to take you all that far. If you find yourself underwhelmed by the amount of distance you’re getting when flying through the air, make sure you’re holding down the tactical button long enough to fully charge the leap. After about 1.5 seconds of holding down the button, a red flash of light will appear between Revenant’s hands as a sound effect plays, indicating Shadow Pounce is fully charged. Release the tactical button and be prepared to catch some serious air.

Look before you leap

Powerful as it is, Revenant’s Shadow Pounce is missing one feature that other movement-based legends like Ash and Loba rely on to get around safely: any visual indication of where he will land. Unlike Loba’s throwable Buglar’s Best Friend tactical, Revenant’s Shadow Pounce does not have a visual cue to indicate where he’s going to land. He will leap forward approximately 65 meters in whatever direction he is facing.

On maps with large gaps that will send you falling to your death (Olympus, Broken Moon) or damaging terrain features like lava (World’s Edge), you’ll want to make absolutely sure that you look before you leap. It’s incredibly easy to accidentally yeet Revenant off the edge of the map and send yourself plunging to your doom, especially when you’re just getting used to the distance Revenant can travel via Shadow Pounce. Tread carefully.

Throw him at the wall–he’ll stick

Because Revenant can climb so efficiently, it’s often a good idea to escape from sticky situations in a manner that will catch the enemy off-guard. When playing as Revenant, large buildings and tall rock faces shouldn’t be seen as obstacles, but opportunities. Instead of simply jumping off of a building and landing on the ground to escape an enemy, try more creative moves, like Shadow Pouncing from the roof of one building to the side of another one, then climbing to the safety of the second building’s roof. Reexamine your usual escape routes on each map’s various POIs and reassess the way you’re getting from place to place to ensure you’re making the most of Revenant’s speed-demon skill set.

Step aside

Revenant has always been the strongest climber in the game, capable of scaling entire buildings on World’s Edge. But his buffed passive ability means he can now climb horizontally. It’s not a straight horizonal climb–Revenant is still climbing upward, but he can now climb diagonally, too, which makes escaping enemy fire far easier than it’s been in the past.

Since no other legends have the ability to climb horizontally, this ability is the one most Revenant players unintentionally overlook. It can be easy to forget in the heat of battle, but if you find yourself climbing something to escape the enemy (or sneak up on them), remember that you can now climb towers in an upward spiral pattern that makes landing shots on you much more difficult for any enemies who may be in range.

Get up close and personal

Revenant’s ridiculously powerful passive ability allows him to track enemies with low health–but only if he’s within 30 meters of them. Make sure to keep this in mind when engaging with the enemy. You’ll want to be close enough to be able to keep tabs on their health, but not so close that you come face-to-face with the business end of their Triple-Take.

Pounce on every opportunity

Shadow Pounce makes for an excellent way to both reposition Revenant and distract his enemies. If you’re planning an ambush, one great way to confuse the enemy is to have Revenant toss down an Evac Tower, fly across the battlefield and land on the opposite side of the bad guys, then activate Forged Shadows, fire some shots at them as his squad attacks from the opposite side, and use Shadow Pounce to safely return to the other side of the battlefield if things get sticky. This method is surprisingly reliable when planned out ahead of time, and most squads will have no idea what hit them–the initial encounter tends to give off the impression that Revenant is alone with no squadmates, making the subsequent ambush highly effective.

Revive the fallen

Revenant may not be a team player when it comes to his personality, but his abilities tell a different story. Just like his old ultimate Death Totem ability was useful for allowing him to revive fallen squadmates without risking getting downed himself, Forged Shadows also makes picking up squadmates much less risky. You’ll still want to find a safe, secluded spot to revive your fallen brethren, but that 75-point overshield goes a long way when it comes to getting your squadmates back on their feet without getting knocked to your knees. Keep an eye on your teammates’ health, and make sure you’re close enough to lend a hand should they need it, especially if you don’t have a Lifeline around to help heal the wounded.

Knock ’em down

As previously mentioned, Forged Shadows lasts for 25 seconds (or until Revenant takes 75 damage). But to really make the most of this ability, you want to knock enemies down. Every knockdown refills the Forged Shadows overshield back to 75 hitpoints, and also recharges Shadow Pounce. If you’re having trouble getting from one enemy to another in time to knock them down, don’t forget to use Shadow Pounce to expedite your arrival.

Finish them

Another thing that Forged Shadows makes much easier is finishing off your enemies. You’ll still want to quickly make sure the coast is clear if you can, but between that ever-so-useful Forged Shadows overshield and Revenant’s default finisher (which sees him crouch and temporarily disappear from sight, making him difficult to hit), finishing downed enemies has never been easier. As with all legends, finishers restore Revenant’s body shield hitpoints, so it’s always worth it to pull one off if you can do so safely. Make sure you take out the most dangerous enemies first–a downed Lifeline should always be finished off before a downed Wattson, for example, due to Lifeline’s ability to remotely revive enemies while continuing to fight.

Watch your back

For all the benefits granted by Forged Shadows, it does have one little drawback: It paints a giant, three-dimensional glowing target on your back. The minute a squad sees you coming with that big red overshield engaged, all optics are going to be on you. That’s why it’s best to activate Forged Shadows when you’re behind cover, and make use of it when ambushing the enemy–the element of surprise goes a long way when it comes to keeping Revenant alive (or undead, or whatever he is). If you absolutely must to go in guns blazing with Revenant and his very visible overshield front and center, make sure at least one squadmate is positioned elsewhere, taking shots at the enemy to provide cover fire and more importantly, a distraction. If there’s one thing that will always bring a Forged Shadows party to an end, it’s an organized enemy squad focusing their fire. Just because Revenant no longer has to scout out safe places to plop down a Death Totem doesn’t mean he no longer needs to plan ahead when pushing an enemy squad.

It takes a little getting used to, but once you’ve mastered Revenant’s new skills, you’ll find yourself wiping squads left and right without even breaking a sweat. He may put on a grumpy, standoffish act, but from a tactical standpoint, Revenant’s an excellent team player when his skills are utilized well. With a bit of practice and squad communication, you’ll find he makes for an invaluable asset to the team, especially when things are looking particularly dire.

Stay tuned for more Apex Legends news, and be sure to check out the Death Dynasty Collection Event to see Revenant’s new Heirloom Weapon and snag a double XP bonus to help you get a head start on your Resurrection battle pass.