Winning in Apex Legends often comes down to finding the right balance between caution and aggression. You want to avoid putting yourself in bad situations where other teams might get the best of you–but you also need to be sure to push the attack and best vulnerable enemies while you have the chance, or risk letting them take you down again later.
Apex’s newest character, Octane, leans much more toward the aggressive side. He’s great for running down a team and blasting away at them, especially if he has backup, but his speed demon nature can also leave you vulnerable. To use him effectively, you’ll need quick reflexes, a smart team, and a willingness to take the fight to the enemy and push your advantage. Oh, and don’t forget to bring lots of healing items.
We’ve got everything you need to know about Octane’s abilities, how they can be used effectively or paired with other characters, and what pitfalls you’ll want to avoid along the way. You should also check out the best Octane skins Apex Legends has to offer, as well as all the skins in its new battle pass.
We’ve also got plenty more guides, including things that Apex Legends doesn’t tell you, a list of myths we’ve tested about how the game works, and a full rundown of the game’s best guns. You might also want to check out our Apex Legends review while you’re at it.
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General Overview
Describing Octane as The Adrenaline Junky is Respawn giving you a sense of how you should think about the new character. He’s all about big risks and big rewards. His abilities boost his speed, which can make him a devastating skirmisher and front-line fighter, but he generally can take less damage than other heroes, since his tactical ability trades health for speed. That means you should be using him as a fast fighter up close with enemies to try to drop them fast, while the rest of your team supports you and mops up the people you damage.
A hit-and-run approach is best with Octane because he can be very hard to hit when moving quickly. Get in close with weapons like the R-99, Peacekeeper, EVA-8, and other hard-hitting guns, and try to knock people out or at least get them close to dead as often as you can. That doesn’t mean you should be throwing yourself at well-placed three-player squads, of course, but streaking in as Octane to bust up a team’s line or scatter them can be highly effective, as can isolating one player and messing them up. Octane is a great one-on-one fighter because he’s so quick, so use that to your advantage in weakening squads.
Most of all, though, you want to use Octane’s speed to your advantage without becoming a liability. That means you should get in, do some damage, and get out. Octane’s Stim tactical ability and Launch Pad ultimate are as good for escaping as they are for attacking, so use them to get out of bad situations, reposition, and attack again.
Abilities
Passive: Swift Mend
Because Octane’s tactical ability costs him health (and because if you’re playing as him, you’re probably constantly getting blasted), his passive ability regenerates health over time. You won’t get a huge amount of health back–one point every two seconds, in fact–but it can be enough to help get you healthy again after using your tactical, after getting stuck outside the ring, or after a tussle with another squad. You don’t want to rely on Swift Mend since the regen rate is relatively low, but you should factor it into your healing plans. The passive ability even heals you while you’re knocked down. If you can hide somewhere, it can help, but don’t rely on Swift Mend to keep you alive if you don’t have to.
Tactical: Stim
Swift Mend works in tandem with Octane’s Stim ability, which allows him to inject adrenaline to get a massive increase in movement speed. You’ll boost Octane’s speed by 30% for six seconds when you use Stim, and the ability cools down quickly–about another six seconds to use it again. It’s great for pressing the attack and crossing open ground, and can also get you out of dangerous situations, since you can boost through stuns from things like arc stars and Caustic gas. The trouble is, it damages Octane’s health, so going overboard on Stim can put you at a disadvantage. That big speed boost can make you very effective in battle, though, allowing you to close gaps on enemies, flank them, and execute hit-and-run maneuvers. Just be careful not to overcommit or put yourself in a losing battle right when your speed boost wears off.
Ultimate: Launch Pad
Octane’s ultimate allows him to drop a Launch Pad on the ground. Step on it, and you’ll get launched into the air–as will any other characters. The Launch Pad is great for rocketing yourself into battle, dropping in from somewhere enemies might not expect, and you can use it to quickly relocate your team, flank an enemy position, or gain high ground. The Launch Pad can also work like a Pathfinder zip line or Wraith portal to get you and your squad out of a bad situation quickly. Note that the angle of launch always seems to be the same, though, so make sure not to spring yourself straight into walls.
Tips For Playing As Octane
Octane’s speed can make him incredibly deadly. With a Stim active, you can cut distance on enemies very quickly and strafe them effectively, becoming really hard to hit–so you definitely want to use Octane to get in close and wreck enemies with your favorite and most effective shotguns and SMGs. Generally, skip carrying long-range guns as Octane, because even when fighting snipers, your speed can let you get in close and make their long-range guns ineffective. Instead, carry complementary guns like an SMG and shotgun or Wingman, which will let you blast away with one, then quickly switch to the other to finish people off. For Octane, the best way to be effective is to walk away from an engagement with a knock down.
Your weakened health from using your Stim ability means you should focus on hit-and-run tactics and on using the environment to your advantage. Get in close, blast away at an enemy, and get out of harm’s way by dancing around a wall or object. Use your speed to avoid getting shot, but remember that Stim boosts only last for six seconds, and the return to normal speed can be jarring. Try to time your attacks so that you get in close, do your damage, and get out before you’re stuck in a fight and going slow. And avoid tight interior areas like Bunker that will cancel out your speed advantage.
Octane’s passive ability, Swift Mend, means he’s always healing, but that regeneration is very slow–so make sure you keep ample healing items, especially syringes, to counteract your Stim usage. In combat scenarios, getting in to blast enemies and then getting out to heal will let you keep coming at a team over and over again without the debilitating effects of multiple Stim uses. Be sure, however, not to leave your team at a disadvantage while you’re hiding somewhere, healing up.
One of the best things you can do with Octane’s speed is reposition yourself in fights. Where other characters might commit to fighting in one location, and therefore become predictable, Octane can quickly move to new cover or flank around an enemy to hit them from an exposed side. Lots of players get tunnel vision when they start fighting a team from a specific direction, so if you can come at them from a side they don’t expect, you can usually finish them off. Octane’s speed makes that a highly viable strategy, but be careful you don’t expose yourself and get picked off in transit.
Launch Pads have a lot of uses. Drop one to give your team the ability to fling themselves over an enemy position to hit them from behind or just cause chaos, or bounce up on top of buildings to put yourself in a better tactical position as you engage another team. They’re also great for getaways, because people flying through the air are generally tougher to hit than those running on the ground. Even if you just use your Launch Pad to separate from your squad to force enemies to shoot in multiple directions to hit you all, you’re using it effectively. Drop them to help downed teammates get out of the fray, as well–they work when the person who steps on them is crawling.
You can also use Launch Pads in goofy ways to mess with enemies. Toss one in battle and you might wind up flinging an opponent away a bit in the chaos, forcing them to get their bearings. Leave one at the end of a Wraith portal and you could potentially shoot someone off a cliff. And keep in mind that you don’t need to launch people with your Launch Pads–you can also launch throwables like grenades. Get creative.
Don’t forget to use Octane’s speed to support teammates. You can potentially quickly reach a downed teammate to pick them up in a bad situation, and speed boosting through Bangalore’s smoke can help you completely surprise an enemy. Stims also help you deal with stuns, so try pairing up with a Caustic to use his gas as cover. Sprinting around drawing fire can be effective in helping a teammate flank out a distracted squad, and combining speedy relocation with grenades can help you annihilate an enemy position before they know what hit them. You can also more easily avoid air strikes or the Ring with your Stim ability, which means you might want to try fighting around those things more often, since you have a dodging disadvantage that other players don’t.
