Apex Legends Season 4 is here - and we could be in line for a few shocks.
Respawn Entertainment ruthlessly killed 'Augmented Brawler' Forge during the"Up Close and Personal" teaser, thanks to Revenant (who is a confirmed character).
But is it really the end?
There are already a load of theories that suggest the hero is still alive - because the person killed in the trailer was a DOUBLE.
Reddit user u/ChainsawSwan spotted a clue in Forge's description.
Here, it's mentioned that he is "often imitated", and that his character on the TV show had a scar across his left eyebrow. But, that scar is not visible on his character in the other teasers.
Interesting.
It certainly adds weight to the idea that Forge gas a body-double and that the real Forge is still alive and well.
"Revenant kills Forge, [Respawn] add Revenant, but actually it turns out Revenant killed Forge's stunt double," the theory goes.
"Forge trains in secret on Kings Canyon for the first half of the season, then when the maps change, Forge makes a surprise return to get revenge on Revenant thus releasing two characters in one season."
So, who is Forge?
Known as the "Augmented Brawler", Forge is one of the front-runners to be the next Legend in Season 4.
Most if not all of the characters were created before the game released however Forge appeared out of nowhere when data miners such as Shrugtal saw him in the game files for the November 5th, 2019 patch.
Forge has supposedly been in production since August 2019 obviously due to Respawn Entertainment seeing a gap for a character that shines in close quarters combat.
The unique selling point of this character is that his abilities are almost all melee-based as befitting the Brawler title.
Forge and his abilities
Forge still seems to be in the development stage as he is listed as having six abilities instead of the usual three that all the other legends have. Here’s a list of what they are:
- Pull Shot: Short-range grapple that pulls enemies into you or can be used to launch yourself into the air.
- Ground Slam: Press crouch while airborne to slam into the ground below.
- K.O. Punch: Jump forward in a direction. Press crouch while airborne to slam into the ground below
- One-Two: Bull rush in a straight line. If you hit an enemy along the way, press again to do an upper-cut launching you into the air.
- On The Ropes: Enhances your melee to do more damage the lower your health is. Dealing melee damage gives you temporary overshield.
- Victory Rush: Killing a player with a melee attack restores your health and gives you a 30% speed boost for 10 seconds
These abilities are obviously very aggressive, designed to rush an opponent and secure a melee kill that’ll keep you in the fight.
My initial worry is the same with many melee characters in a game that is built for players to kill at range, is that of how much damage they can tank before falling.
A lot of the time, you rush into someone and it’s not just a 1v1 but a 1v3 as people will shoot the closest person since the odds of getting a kill are higher which looks great on scoreboards.
We’ll need the numbers before making a final verdict but getting an overshield for melee damage as well as a health restore for each kill could make this legend very dangerous.
Concept Artwork of Forge provided by @iLootGames
Would an escape button make it too overpowered or is the point of this character to reward high-risk plays? We’ll only know once the character gets into players hands.
When is Forge released?
Forge's Season 4 inclusion was all but certain as he was categorised in the game files under 'season4chars' during the run-up to the official announcement, as highlighted by @That1MiningGuy.
Overall, this character could be perfect for aggressive players looking to get right up into the fight and cause chaos however we just need the numbers to really see how long he could stay in the fight for.
Now that Season 4 has dropped, we're hoping that Forge will make a surprise come back at some point during the coming months.