Apex Legends Octane guide – Abilities, backstory, and our best tips and tricks

Apex Legend Octane is a face – or masked face – familiar to most players of Respawn Entertainment’s battle royale. That’s because he’s one of the most popular Legends in the game, with a consistently high pick-rate and an easy-to-learn, hard-to-master playstyle.

If you’re on the fence about unlocking this new Legend, you’re in the right place. Here, we’ll cover everything you need to know about Apex Legend Octane, including his abilities, his lore and backstory, his place in the meta, and a few key tips and tricks to keep in mind when using him. If you’re wondering how we’ve ranked him on our Legends tier list, or you’re just curious who his Apex voice actor is, we’ve got you covered there too.

Apex Legends Octane abilities explained – what can he do?

Here’s a rundown of Apex Legend Octane’s passive, tactical and ultimate abilities, and how they work.

Passive ability: Swift Mend. After a short period (6 seconds) without taking damage, Octane will passively begin to regenerate lost health, at a rate of 1 HP per second.

Tactical ability: Stim. When the tactical key is pressed, Octane loses any slowness debuffs applied to him by enemies, and increases his walk speed by 30% and his sprint speed by 40% for 6 seconds. The ability costs health to use, however.

Ultimate ability: Launch Pad. On activation, Octane deploys a Launch Pad. This deployable jump pad catapults anyone who stands on it into the air, and allows for one double jump while in-air.

Octane is a skirmisher, the largest Apex Legends class in-game alongside support. He’s all about speed, and excels in aggressive playstyles and hit-and-run tactics. We’ll go a bit deeper into his strengths and weaknesses in just a bit.

Octane’s backstory – Who is he?

Octavio Silva, as the name suggests, is part of the Silva family, the corporate leaders of the Syndicate and Silva Pharmaceuticals. Son to the CEO, Octavio quickly found himself bored in day-to-day life, and started pursuing death defying stunts and races for his online following. This would eventually lead to him pursuing a race at a nearby Gauntlet, a race he won by propelling himself across the finish line with the blast force of a live grenade.

Hours later when he awoke in hospital, he learnt that this particular stunt had cost him the use of his legs. Following amputation he’d turn to an old friend, Ajay Che, better known in-game as Lifeline. She’d eventually hook him up with new prosthetic legs by forging an order for the bionic limbs. Now stronger and faster than ever, Octane would decide to go in search of the ultimate adrenaline rush – the Apex Games.

Octane’s place in the Apex Legends meta – What are his strengths and weaknesses?

Octane is a Skirmisher class Legend, and he’s perhaps the best of that class for those who value speed above all else. In a game with Apex’s move techs, its’ easy to see why he’s so popular.

Octane’s tactical is exceptionally useful for hit-and-run tactics, allowing him to enter and exit combat faster than most other Legends can contend with. He’s the perfect vanguard for leading an aggressive push, or breaking out of a fortified position for a counterattack, though of course this is all pretty heavily tied to individual skill, and it’s very much a risk-reward playstyle.

His ultimate isn’t the strongest in the game, but it is a useful tool for enhancing his superior mobility yet further. Paired with a tracker like Bloodhound and a good support Legend like Conduit, Octane can take on a vital pursuit role for teams that like to wear down their opponents and keep up consistent pressure.

Octane’s passive is a surprisingly nuanced skill. The health regeneration is slow enough to make it pretty much useless in a lot of combat situations, but again, we circle back to hit-and-runs. If done right, the health replenished can provide a perfect offset to that used when deploying his tactical, and save valuable supplies for when they’re most needed.

In short, Octane is in his element when deployed to fast, aggressive playstyles with a team that can think on their feet and act decisively. He’s able to get into and out of danger faster than anyone else. But he does have a couple of weaknesses.

First, he’s best as a solo Legend. Octane’s speed makes him a difficult fit for a lot of coherent team structures. Even that pursuit setup we suggested earlier might struggle to keep pace. Often, this can leave him at a disadvantage if he isn’t able to disengage safely or deal with an opponent immediately. Second, Octane lacks any utility tools for survivability. He is something of a glass cannon, and newer players with less experience may find him difficult to master compared to many other Legends.

Our top tips for playing Octane in Apex Legends

Lastly, let’s go over some general good bits of advice for mastering this Legend.

Short range preference

When choosing which guns to take into battle, the final decision is ultimately yours to make. We’d recommend bringing shorter range weapons like SMGs and shotguns if you’re planning on playing Octane though. These weapons are the easiest ways to knock and kill quickly in close quarters, and given that the key to a healthy hit-and-run is maintaining speed as much as possible, the sooner you can do your damage and be on your way, the better.

Don’t be afraid to take the longer route

This might seem like an obvious one, but in the heat of the moment it’s easy to forget. Flanking your enemies is often a more effective strategy, especially with Octane. Your faster speed combined with a longer distance will allow your team time to catch up. While they can take a more direct approach, you can distract and harass from an angle, pinning your opponents down. It’ll also give you an opportunity to take better stock of enemy positions and team compositions, relaying valuable data to your squad before the firefight really gets going.

Use your Launch Pads unconventionally

Though their best use tends to be as a mobility aid when running from the ring, catching up to an enemy, or making a retreat, Jump Pads can serve well as agents of chaos, too. This is largely due to the short but not insignificant throw range of a pad. Tossing one out can be a great way to send unsuspecting enemies up into the air – which in most cases will wildly throw off their aim and momentum. Don’t be afraid to use them as counters when a situation can benefit from it.

That’s everything we’ve got for you on Apex Legend Octane. There’s plenty of other Legends to learn about, though. Whether you’re interested in Ballistic, Catalyst, or someone else, we’ve got you covered. Or if you’re interested in learning more about the Apex Legends Final Fantasy even start time and Final Fantasy event skins, we can help there too.

Apex Legends Octane FAQ

Is Octane unlocked for free at the start of Apex Legends?

No, you’ll need to pay to unlock Octane by spending your Legend Points earned through matches and bounties.

When was Octane added to Apex Legends?

Octane came to Apex Legends right back at the start with the launch of Season 1.