Apex Legends’ fifth anniversary isn’t just about moving forward with new and exciting content. Sure, that’s a big part of it, but there’s more to it than that. It’s also about celebrating what helped make the game a phenomenon in the first place. Part of that involves celebrating some of the game’s original characters. One of them is getting a major overhaul as part of season 23, titled From The Rift, and it’s the combat medic, Lifeline.

Apex Legends: From The Rift offers an exciting new overhaul of Lifeline. She is the second member of the game’s original roster to be renewed after Reborn starting in Season 18. As part of Lifeline’s redesign, she will receive updated abilities to make her a more effective teammate. Part of that means making DOC, your healing drone, a more useful tool.

Lifeline can now use DOC as a passive ability, allowing you to pick it up and use it as a glider. Legends designer Evan Funnell noted that Lifeline has used DOC in this way in animated shorts and trailers, so the team worked to make this possible in the game as well. Sliding with DOC will make it easier for players to stay close to their more mobile teammates and keep them healed.

Individual DOC actions have also been updated. Lifeline Tactical Movement can now assign your drone to follow a specific teammate, ensuring they remain healed. It is possible to reassign DOC to a different ally at any time, which can be useful when an ally it is linked to suffers an early demise.

Similarly, DOC has been revamped to be part of Lifeline’s Ultimate. Respawn removed Lifeline’s previous care package and replaced it with a DOC-produced halo. The halo is capable of neutralizing all outside fire, protecting anyone inside. Anyone inside the DOC halo will heal quickly. That is anyso even if the opposing players somehow enter the halo, they will also heal quickly. All that said, this is a halo, not a dome. That means enemies can still attack from above, either by positioning themselves above the halo for a mid-air attack or by throwing a grenade inside.

All Apex Legends characters will benefit from Lifeline updates. A new Healing Expert perk will be available for Support Legends, which will increase a character’s speed if they are actively healing their teammates. Meanwhile, a revive speed buff will prove useful for anyone looking to revive their teammates, getting them back into the fight 25 percent faster and with increased health regeneration.

There’s more to get Apex Legends players excited about Season 23. A balance patch will tweak several characters, Rift Relics will appear during sessions with special weapons and booster kits, a new Battle Pass will be released, and Respawn will continue working to implement it. additional anti-cheating measures. Also, look for Trios Revival and Straight Shot Revival modes to return at some point during the upcoming season for a limited time. The latest additions can be found in the Apex Legends website. Look for Apex Legends: From The Rift to start later today.

This preview is based on a developer briefing held via Discord.

Ozzie has been playing video games since he bought his first NES controller at age 5. He’s been interested in gaming ever since, only stepping away briefly during his college years. But he returned after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, primarily spending time helping propel the Guitar Hero series into its heyday. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzles, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a big fan of anything that has a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can’t enjoy a good story with a cold Cherry Coke?