A Lifeline Guide: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Tips for Optimal Play.
This is going to be the shortest and simplest of the guides for Apex Legends characters. Not because Lifeline is a bad character (she’s actually in my top 3), but her abilities are incredibly straight forward. She’s just solid and sweet. So, let’s get to it.
Tactical: D.O.C. Heal Drone
The DOC is the turtle-resembling homie. The amount of healing it can provide is actually fairly large (I think 200 hp total per summon?) and lasts a decent amount of time. The DOC can be moved by running into it with your character. DOC also pretty much out-heals every ring level’s damage, so you can last a long time in the danger zone with it by your side.
Passive: Combat Medic
Lifeline can revive downed allies roughly 25% faster than other characters and summons a shield that protects the front half of your character during the revive. Additionally, Lifeline can use recovery items (hp/shields) 25% faster than other characters (this is in addition to the gold backpack’s recovery speed increase, which makes it sonic fast for Lifeline).
Ultimate: Care Package
Lifeline can call in a care package. Yup, pretty simple. These don’t include the gold weapons the natural world drops can provide and seem to have a lower average item quality, but they can still provide things like purple armor.
Strengths:
The DOC is amazingly convenient for all stages of the game. Low on heals early game? Drop the DOC. Running from the ring late because of a fight or bad map luck? Drop the DOC to heal effectively in the ring or recover once escaping. Want to achieve a pacifist victory by out-healing the enemy in the final ring enclosure? Drop the DOC.
The DOC is also great for recovering quickly mid-fight. Get HP back for you and/or your allies while using shield cells or a battery. Popping those shield recovery items are already faster from the passive, so you can return to fights quickly. This is a huge advantage when both you and an enemy chunk each other out and disengage to recover. You can re-engage faster to claim an advantaged position or push before they can get their recovery finished if you’re fast enough.
Most teams funnel ultimate stimulants to the Lifeline to get the loot steroids going. The care package arrives pretty quickly after summoning it and can get used as cover mid-fight. I like popping one immediately when a fight starts so my side of the battle can have extra cover and it might provide useful recovery items or even an armor piece I can hot swap mid-fight for instant recovery. Lifeline also has one of the smallest character models, which makes her a rather difficult target to shoot and her rapid left/right strafing in a gunfight makes it even harder.
Weaknesses:
The DOC just wants to spread the love and doesn’t care who it’s given to. If you place it and run away, the enemy can rotate to it and use it for healing. Be careful where and when you use it as it can also give your position away due to the glowing lights and audio buzz.
The shield that automatically deploys while reviving can give your position away just like the DOC. It’s a very large, glowing shield that projects a buzzing sound that can be heard from a decent distance. The shield is also kind of bait because it’s only deployed while reviving and disappears during the stand-up animation you’re locked in after reviving. This makes you and your 30hp ally easy targets for the patient enemy if you’re in their line of sight.
The care package blatantly gives away your position to just about the entire server. The package arriving is loud and leaves a giant smoke trail during entry. Natural world drops have pulsing blue circles on the map as well, so you can know if it’s a Lifeline’s package if nothing appears on the map.
Lifeline doesn’t have any elaborate movement abilities or escape mechanics like Wraith or Bangalore. Getting caught away from cover makes survival difficult, even with the faster recovery passive. You’ll struggle alone because of this, so it’s best to be relatively close to your team.
Works Well With:
Honestly everyone. Lifeline is probably the closest you’ll ever get to a “healer” class type in Apex. Some creative combos would be Gibraltar’s bubble shield to provide her cover if caught in the open and buy time to use the DOC. (This may get patched, but you can drop the Gibraltar bubble on top of the DOC and move the bubble around with your team.) Bangalore’s smokescreen also works well for quickly covering a stranded Lifeline under fire. Wraith and Pathfinder also work well by providing Lifeline an escape route with their rift and zipline (respectively).
Summary:
Lifeline is simplistic but incredibly strong. If you don’t want to deal with super complex abilities and effectively operate a standard playstyle, she’s a perfect choice. I personally love having movement abilities, so I generally stick with Wraith, Bangalore, and Pathfinder. But, I always love having a Lifeline on the team and enjoy her natural ability to recover rapidly to get back into a fight. I’m also a fan of her loot safety net (via care package). If you decide to play Lifeline, please remember to check your team’s health status and offer the DOC when you safely can.
