Who Apex Legends New Character Horizon Is (& Why She's Awesome)
Apex Legends Season 7 is the biggest season update to come to the game, with a new map, vehicles, and clubs being added to Respawn Entertainment's battle royale. On top of that, the new Apex Legends character, Horizon, is stepping onto the scene with gravity-themed powers unlike anything players have ever seen in Apex.
A brilliant astrophysicist with a focus on gravitational studies, Horizon was betrayed and abandoned on the event horizon of a black hole. She escaped, but time dilation meant that she arrived back on Olympus, Apex Legends' Season 7 map, 87 years after she left. Now she wants to get back to her own time but needs money to do it, and the Apex Games are the perfect way for her to get the funds she needs.
Beyond her cool lore, many players care more about her abilities and what she can bring to her squad in a game of Apex Legends. How much are Horizon's gravity-based abilities going to change how players interact with the world of Apex Legends?
Horizon is a movement-based tactical legend who excels at controlling and changing the momentum of fights. She is a master of verticality, getting her team to hard-to-reach places and controlling better in the air than any other character in Apex Legends.
Horizon's passive is connected to her spacesuit and gives her increased air control, and drastically reduces fall impacts. Apex Legends has never had fall damage, but any character that falls from a meaningful height needs to take a second to stabilize themselves before they can pull out their gun or sprint. Horizon lands without needing to take this second, which means that she's incredibly good at getting the drop on players, as well as sprinting towards loot immediately after launching into Apex Legends' map from the dropship.
Horizon's tactical ability is a gravity lift grenade that she can throw a short distance. The grenade pulls all players in a small area, allies or enemies, up into the air. Practically, this ability is great for reaching high areas, similar to Pathfinder's grapple, but it can also be used aggressively; a good throw can catch enemies behind cover and toss them up into the air where they will be easy targets for Horizon and her squad. This ability combines well with Horizon's passive, as she is the best character for landing after taking the gravity lift.
The key to Horizon's ultimate ability is her small robotic companion N.E.W.T. Horizon can deploy the little robot to create a miniature black hole that sucks in nearby enemies and holds them in place. This ability plays similarly to Zarya's ultimate from Overwatch and can absolutely devastate a huddled team. That said, Horizon's squad needs to be careful, as enemies pulled in by the black hole can still fight back, and some Legends' movement abilities can grant them a quick escape.
The developers of Apex Legends were clear during a press conference that they were keeping a close eye on Horizon's abilities to ensure that they were both fun to play against and to play with in a game where death is almost assuredly permanent. Horizon's skills are definitely fun to play with, but some players are worried that getting stuck in a fast-moving game like Apex, could become frustrating if Horizon turns out to be a popular choice for squads.