As the only current legend with healing abilities, Lifeline is one of the top-tier characters in Apex Legends. This guide will cover everything you need to know in order to become the best combat medic. From the most basic components of her kit to the most advanced tricks and mechanics, consider this a one-stop shop for keeping your teammates alive and emerging as the champion. We’ve even included a small section with some tips on how to counter Lifeline and effectively play against one of the most commonly selected legends in the game. Not much of a reader? Check out our comprehensive video guide below.
Abilities
Each legend in Apex has a unique passive, tactical, and ultimate ability. The three abilities Lifeline possesses all revolve around supporting her team.
Passive – Combat Medic
Lifeline has one of the strongest and most versatile passives in the game, offering two distinct benefits. The first is that she can use healing items 25 percent faster than any other legend. The second is beneficial to her allies. It allows her to revive them 25 percent faster and also deploys a shield to protect them both while doing so.
Tactical Ability – D.O.C Heal Drone
Lifeline’s Drone of Compassion acts as a source of healing for your entire team. Deploying it will restore health to any nearby player over time, so make sure enemies aren’t around! It has a very small range of under two meters. You will know who is in range as a tether will emerge from the drone and connect to any player it is healing. The drone will last for 20 seconds once placed and takes 59 seconds to become available again.
Ultimate Ability – Care Package
Lifeline is able to call in a care package that contains three items for use. Each of the three item slots contains different potential drops. This means a care package will never produce two of the same item in one use. The items available in the three slots are as follows:
- 1st Slot – Armor: Level 2 or 3 Body Shields, Helmets, or Knockdown Shields
- 2nd Slot – Healing: Medkits, Phoenix Kits, Shield Batteries, Shield Cells, or Syringes
- 3rd Slot – Weapon Attachment: Rig your weapon with upgrades like sights, stabilizers, and larger magazines. In rare cases, the care package may even drop a legendary attachment!
You can call in a care package every six minutes, but if you have enough Ultimate Accelerants, you can get a new pack in just 35 seconds.
Game Play
As the combat medic, Lifeline is an integral part of any team’s success. Ensuring your squad always has maximum health and higher-level armor significantly increases your chance of winning any engagement.
The first thing to note is that Lifeline has no escapes or ways to remove herself from dangerous situations. As a result, it is important to ensure you have access to cover and are a safe distance from the enemy team. This is especially important when playing as the combat medic because it is primarily your responsibility to revive any teammates who are taken out. You can’t bring anyone back to life if you’ve been taken out first.
Lifeline is a smaller legend, registering the second smallest hitbox in the game at the time of this guide being written. Respawn Entertainment, the game’s creator, has stated they are aware of issues related to different hitbox sizes and are internally discussing the matter. At the moment it isn’t clear if or how they will address this and if Lifeline will be impacted by whatever decisions they make in any way. For now, though, Lifeline is one of the most difficult targets to hit, making long distances even more effective for her.
Yikes pic.twitter.com/7rH0JVDO2J
— Marcel (@BasicallyIDoWrk) February 25, 2019
If you like being the first person into the action, Lifeline may not be the best legend for you. If you enjoy putting shots down on enemies from a distance and keeping allies alive, however, being the combat medic is a perfect fit.
Ability Usage
Using your abilities properly is an integral aspect of playing Lifeline well. Firstly, you want to ensure that you make the most out of the revive portion of her passive. The shield she deploys when reviving does not provide a full 360 degrees of coverage. Instead, it only protects a 180-degree area in front of her. When trying to revive a teammate in the middle of a battle, make sure you are facing towards the enemy. This ensures that you and your incapacitated teammate are both protected from the direction that offers the most danger.
Furthermore, if your teammate is downed near a wall, rock, or corner, instruct them to get as close to it as possible. This way, the player will be protected by the terrain behind them and your shield in front, guaranteeing a successful revive.
After emerging victorious from any skirmish, make sure to gather your teammates and deploy your healing drone. This will save their healing resources for more intense moments where the drone is not a viable option. Dropping your drone while looting dead enemies is also a great way to save time.
Lifeline’s “Care Package” ultimate can also be very helpful for your entire squad. Getting some key armor, healing items and weapon attachments at the right time can be a huge difference maker. As a result, make sure to use Ultimate Accelerants whenever you find them and ask your teammates to mark any they find for you. You can even thank whoever gave you an accelerant by giving them first dibs on the loot that drops!
You want to call in your Care Packages early and often. As the circle shrinks, the action becomes more concentrated and the game becomes more chaotic. As a result, it gets increasingly difficult to use Lifeline’s ultimate as the game progresses.
Advanced Tactics
One very important thing to note about Lifeline is that her passive does not stack with the passive from the Gold Backpack item. Both passives reduce the time it takes to use healing items; the Gold Backpack does so by 50 percent which is the game’s current cap on reduced healing time. If you are fortunate enough to find one of these in the game, you can slightly increase your own healing speed or give it to a squad member so two of you have faster healing.
This leads to the second point about properly utilizing Lifeline’s passive: healing in the middle of combat. Being able to heal more quickly means you can generate more effective health for yourself in a fight, especially if you remain at a safe distance. Poking in and out of fights will allow you to take advantage of your sustainability in combat. Doing this will allow you to win battles you otherwise may have lost.
Ability Usage
Lifeline’s heal drone can also prove incredibly useful in certain combat scenarios. If you are behind cover and at a safe distance, drop the drone to provide constant sustain without being forced to stop shooting. If one or both of your teammates are close to you and the fight is taking place over longer distances, using your drone this way will have an even greater impact. It is also important to note that you can move your drone by walking into it. This can be used to nudge it closer to a teammate who is busy looting and also offers interesting synergy with Gibraltar. If he deploys his tactical ability, Dome of Protection, directly on top of your drone, you can move the shield around too!
Use Lifeline’s ultimate as often as possible. Ideal times include when you don’t have to move anywhere in a hurry and when you are relatively sure nobody will come and surprise you. Using it inside towns or highly covered areas is best as it prevents enemies from getting a jump on you. Just be aware that her ultimate cannot be used indoors or in caves. You can also significantly assist a teammate whom you had to resurrect at a beacon by holding your care package until they are back in the action. Calling it in after they have respawned will immediately give them some armor and sustain items to help them stay alive. It can also be used as bait if you are looking for a fight. Call the care package and see if it attracts any attention from nearby squads!
Counter Play
If you spot an enemy Lifeline, there a few things to consider. Firstly, you want to make it a priority to focus her down and take her out before anyone else, if possible. This removes the possibility of her reviving an enemy you used resources on taking down. You will also want to make the fight as close-range and chaotic as possible to prevent her from making the most of her decreased healing times or her healing drone. Fighting Lifeline at long range is generally not a good idea, especially if your squad didn’t bring a Lifeline of your own.
You should also constantly be watching the skies in Apex Legends to see if you can spot an incoming care package. This way you can track and potentially surprise opposing squads who are busy equipping their new gear. Lifeline’s care package is colored blue and white, making it distinct from the red and white in-game care packages. It also doesn’t ping the mini-map and alert the entire server the way a normal drop will. If you see a care package incoming but don’t see that blue circle, you can be sure that enemies will be waiting for it!
Take note of the color if you see a care package on the ground as the blue ones suggest enemies are nearby!
Conclusion
We hope this guide has taught you a few things about using Lifeline or playing against the only healer currently in Apex Legends. If you follow these tips you will be well on your way to becoming the best combat medic around. Now all that’s left for you to do is go and heal some legends. You may just become a champion in the process.
For more informative Apex Legends content, check out our quick guide on Gold Items & Legendary Gear!
Published: Mar 1, 2019 03:15 pm