Whether you’re new to the Apex Legends scene or a grizzled veteran, players are always looking for the top legends to use in their matches. Unless you’re a die-hard main of a certain legend, you don’t want to use one who's considered underpowered in the current season. Instead, you want to ensure you’re utilizing the best legends possible.
In Season 20, we’ve seen the legend meta go back and forth after different updates have come through. Recently, the Shadow Society event in Apex Legends introduced a plethora of new changes to the game’s legends, which has turned any previous tier list on its head.
To account for those recent changes in Season 20, we have an updated legend tier list for Apex Legends, which you can see below.
Apex Legends Season 20 tier list
You can see the full legend tier list below, but we’ll get into the reasoning behind some of our picks further down in the guide.
TIER | LEGEND |
|---|---|
S-tier | Bloodhound, Caustic, Horizon |
A-tier | Bangalore, Conduit, Pathfinder, Revenant, Wraith, Valkyrie, Catalyst, Maggie, Wattson, Octane |
B-tier | Lifeline, Loba, Ash, Vantage, Ballistic, Mirage, Newcastle, Gibraltar, Rampart |
C-tier | Fuse, Seer, Crypto |
S-tier
Bloodhound
You won’t find many tier lists without Bloodhound in the higher tiers, and it’s for good reason. Bloodhound remains a top legend in Apex Legends solely due to its tracking ability, which helps out the entire team and the player utilizing it. If you go up against a squad that has a Bloodhound and yours doesn’t, your team is at a massive disadvantage right from the start.
Bloodhound has a consistent pick rate across all ranks in Apex Legends and is crucial to having a solid team composition in Season 20. They also weren’t really hit with any nerfs or buffs in recent updates, solidifying their spot at the top of the list.
Horizon
Similar to Bloodhound, Horizon wasn’t touched in the recent Season 20 update and has remained a top legend pick for several seasons. You have to use the right team composition to get the most out of Horizon and use her abilities at the correct time. However, as long as you know how to use her, she’s easily one of the best legends in Apex Legends.
While many lower-ranked players still like Octane for mobility purposes, Horizon remains the better choice for high-ranked players.
Caustic
Caustic is a recent addition to S-tier in Apex Legends, but since his swift rise, there aren’t many competitive teams that don’t utilize his strengths. The gas-wielding legend has been buffed and nerfed more times than we can count recently, including receiving both buffs and nerfs in the Shadow Society event update. However, through all this, Caustic remains a fantastic legend to pair with other legends such as Bangalore and Bloodhound.
You might be turned away from Caustic due to his larger hitbox, but that doesn’t make too much of a difference, especially at the higher levels in Apex Legends.
A Tier
Bangalore
We’ll start off A-tier with Bangalore, who recently was considered an S-tier legend until she was hit with some pretty hard nerfs in the Shadow Society event update. This update primarily nerfed Bangalore’s smoke, increasing its cooldown, taking away its damage, and reducing its duration. There were also some other massive nerfs that make Bangalore much less usable now, but she’s still not ready to be thrown down another tier.
Octane
Across the board, Octane is easily one of, if not the most picked legend in Apex Legends. The speed demon has an average pick rate of 8.5%, with most of that stemming from the lower ranks. While he’s not ideal for higher-ranked lobbies, his beginner-friendly abilities and mobility are enough to warrant an A-tier selection.
Revenant
Revenant is another legend was has been hit hard with nerfs in past updates. Recently, Revenant has seen their Ultimate ability severely nerfed, which the developers felt was seeing too much use and the removal of Agile Assassin. However, this was offset by improving Revenant’s Tactical, so staying in A-Tier feels right until we see just how big of an effect this has on the meta.
Pathfinder
In terms of sheer gameplay, Pathfinder remains one of the best overall legends to pick, regardless of your rank and skill. However, the main drawback to selecting Pathfinder is its hitbox, which is quite large compared to other legends. You’re taking a big risk using Pathfinder, but if you can take full advantage of the robot’s abilities, then you should still be able to succeed in any kind of lobby.
Wraith
Throughout the life of Apex Legends, Wraith has never steered too far away from A-Tier in either direction. She’s been an S-tier legend most of the time, but in Season 20, she remains in the upper echelon of A-tier. Her movement is still fantastic, allowing you to easily flank enemies and disrupt their pushes. Wraith is still one of the most-picked legends in Season 20, but she’s not the overall best pick as she used to be.
Other A-Tier legends: Catalyst, Maggie, Valkyrie, Wattson, Conduit
B-tier
Lifeline
Lifeline has always been a legend to rise and fall through tier lists in Apex Legends, given how many times she gets updated by the developers. In Season 20, Lifeline remains a viable option in the lower ranks, boasting a 5.7% pick rate overall, but you rarely see her in higher-ranked lobbies. You’ll see even less of Lifeline in higher-ranked lobbies after the developer removed Gift Wrapped and replaced it with Gold-Plated in the Shadow Society event update.
Still, Lifeline is a solid support legend that can still be quite useful for most players.
Gibraltar
Another polarizing legend in the meta, Gibraltar, could make a case for A-tier, depending on your personal playstyle and team composition. The support legend has seen his pick rate plummet in recent seasons, going down to 1.3%, as his large hitbox is always going to be seen as a negative. Right now, given recent nerfs to his abilities and his ever-large hitbox, B-tier feels like a solid compromise for Gibraltar in Apex Legends’ current state.
Ballistic
Ballistic is an intriguing legend that many players still haven’t gotten around to mastering, as he’s one of the later additions to the lineup in Apex Legends. The Shadow Society event update did give Ballistic some buffs, however, adding Speedy Whistler to his repertoire alongside Lasting Bullet and Extra Bullet. While Ballistic won’t become a meta legend off this change, he’s an enjoyable character to use that excels in most team compositions.
Mirage
Mirage is in a weird spot in the meta. Some players absolutely swear by his strength, while others don’t see much of a point in using the duplicating legend. The developers haven’t made many changes to Mirage in Season 20, and many in the community still consider his abilities too one-dimensional. However, players who have mastered Mirage can likely throw him into A-tier in their personal tier list.
Other B-Tier legends: Loba, Ash, Vantage, Rampart, Newcastle
C-Tier
Fuse
Finally, we’ve arrived at our final tier. Fuse is first up, and this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to any high-ranked players in Apex Legends. While lower-ranked players still get some use out of Fuse thanks to his strong Ultimate, this ability is easily out-maneuvered by those with more experience. Still, Fuse could make a case for B-tier, but we don’t feel he’s better than any of the legends that come before him on this list.
Seer
Seer received some of the most changes of any legend in the Shadow Society event update. His Tactical ability now hits more frequently, with Racing Hearts fully integrated into it. However, Seer’s Ultimate ability is fairly weak, and his major nerfs over the last year or so are still significantly weighing him down.
At this point, you’re better off selecting Bloodhound as your tracking legend and leaving it at that.
Crypto
The final spot on the list goes to Crypto, who has one of the worst pick rates across the board in Season 20 of Apex Legends. Crypto isn’t a horrible legend per se, and he’s even a terrific pick in some niche use cases. For example, if you’re an extremely passive player and that’s your desired playstyle, there are few legends better suited for that than Crypto.
Overall, there are far stronger legends to pick than Crypto, but he’s better than his place on this tier list would suggest.
Best team compositions in Apex Legends
No matter if you’re playing a casual match or in a high-ranked competitive lobby, you need to have the proper team composition if you want the best chance to succeed in Apex Legends. Your team composition is the foundation of how you're able to play with your team, and it’s not something you should take lightly.
There are dozens of possible team compositions you can effectively use in Season 20 of Apex Legends, but here are some of the best we came up with for all different playstyles:
- Aggressive playstyle: Bloodhound, Conduit, Revenant
- Passive (bunker down) playstyle: Caustic/Wattson, Valkyrie, Crypto
- Hybrid playstyle: Horizon, Maggie, Conduit/Newcastle
Of course, there are far more team composition possibilities than what we laid out, but those three comps are terrific to build off of in Apex Legends, especially if you’re just starting out. We had to adjust the comps slightly to account for Bangalore's recent nerfs, who could have technically fit any one of the three comps up until the Shadow Society event.
We have yet to see what the professional Apex Legends players are running after the update, so that could also affect the ideal team compositions. For now, though, this is our tier list and best team compositions for Season 20 of Apex Legends.
