Picking your Apex Legends main is a difficult decision, and your best option is usually to pick a character who you enjoy playing with. It’s just not going to work if you hate the way that Caustic speaks or you’re trying to play Wraith with a sniper loadout.
But when it comes to competitive matches, there are some legends that are simply better than others – it’s the reason we have our Apex Legends tier list. Wraith is the best legend, and the likes of Octane, Loba, and Crypto are… Not. This year we’ve seen some interesting trends of Gibraltar rising the ranks and Bloodhound receiving huge buffs, but legends rarely move more than a few places up or down at a time.
However, analysis of the Apex Legends Global Series Playoffs this weekend has revealed some very interesting statistics about which legends were used the most. The data for North America and EMEA regions was analysed, and the biggest revelation was that the seldom seen Crypto was picked in over 25% of teams.
Other results were less surprising, with Wraith being chosen in 100% of teams and the popularity of Bloodhound and Gibraltar continuing to skyrocket. But it was the quantity of Cryptos that was really shocking, as the technological hacker was the third-most picked legend in EMEA, and the fourth-most in NA.
Furthermore, the second-most popular team composition across both regions was Wraith, Gibraltar, and Crypto. Despite Crypto being a seemingly useless legend in many situations, he’s a great counter to the Gibraltar meta that has been steadily rising through 2020.
#ALGS @PlayApex Autumn Circuit Playoffs NA/EMEA Pick Rates 👇
2nd major event on Season 7.
– Gibraltar & Bloodhound keep their momentum & set new all-time highs 📈
– Wattson slides to a firm niche-level pick 📉
– Wraith-Gibraltar-Bloodhound claims the title of new meta comp ✅ pic.twitter.com/0ebLMPABx1— Singh Labs (@ApexSinghLabs) December 21, 2020
Crypto’s ultimate, an EMP blast from his drone, does damage to enemies in range, but most importantly destroys enemy traps – including Caustic gas canisters and Gibraltar’s bubble. So, as well as being useful to respawn allies and get ring information, Crypto offers a counter-meta option that players wanted a slice of.
The other surprise was that 30% of EMEA teams picked Caustic. This led to some very gaseous final circles and made it easier to bunker down in buildings, protected by the deadly vapour.
Wattson has seen a huge decline in usage, as she was picked by 96% of teams in the first Summer Circuit Super Regional back in June this year – and had been hovering between 90% and 100% usage in tournaments for the six months prior to that. In the Autumn Circuit Playoffs, she was used in just 11.8% of teams from NA and EMEA.