Apex Legends Season 5 kicked off this week. The two new notable additions to this season are Loba, our newest legend, and some changes to King’s Canyon that aim to shake things up a little bit. There is also going to be a new PvE mode starting up next week that you can gain access to by finding Treasure Packs in-game, but for today I’m focusing on my impressions on Loba, the newest playable character.
Check out the video to see her abilities in action or read the video transcript below:
Loba brings a few things to the mix as a master thief. Her tactical ability, called “Burglar’s Best Friend,” allows you to chuck a portal device that floats through the air on an arc, giving you the option to select a designated spot on the ground to teleport to. It’s nice for getting to hard-to-reach places or if you want to get the drop on players from a ledge.
As someone who immediately looks for the flanking opportunity in any firefight, I love this ability. I’ve used it to escape and once even rushed to the side of a teammate underfire to provide some support. The portal doesn’t linger around for your teammates to use like Wraith’s, but it’s still useful for positioning and for making it hard for enemy teams to keep track of your last known location.
Loba’s passive ability, called “Eye for Quality,” lets you spot epic and legendary loot through walls within a limited range. This is useful for prioritising rooms and crates for good loot. This pairs nicely with her ultimate ability, “Black Market Boutique,” which plants an interactive portal showcasing all of the loot nearby.
You can scroll through all of the items in one spot and grab gear, weapons and attachments. Teammates and enemy players can take up to two items each.
After playing with Loba a few times, I’m interested to see how she gels with certain team combinations. She seems to cater more to players who want to prioritise loot and weapon selection, since her two main abilities cut out the fat when it comes to scrounging for goods at the start of every round.
On her own, she lacks the flexibility of other characters who might fill in my own weaknesses with clutch abilities, such as Bangalore’s smokescreen or Revenant’s death totem. But a skilled Loba player (or one lucky enough to find some ultimate accelerants) can really help a team quickly and efficiently pick apart areas for loot. This will allow teams to gear up faster and not waste time scavenging areas that might not be worth it. For a game where positioning matters, those extra minutes could prove crucial for getting to a good spot to survive through the end of a match.
I’m really enjoying what Loba can add to the mix, but I’m also curious how many times I’ll actually pick her over my already-established favourites. Let us know how you think Loba fits into the Apex Legends roster so far and what new ways you’ve found to utilise her strengths in the comments.
Leave a Reply