Down but not out: How do you respawn allies in Apex Legends?
The key differentiators between battle royale games and regular multiplayer shooters are as follows:
- Everybody drops into the battlefield (there are no spawn areas);
- You start with no equipment and have to loot what you need to survive (there are no loadouts);
- The last player (or team) standing is the winner (there are no points or scores);
- And once you’re out, you’re out (there are no respawns or do-overs in battle royale).
That last one, however, is a little more fluid in Apex Legends.
As in most battle royale games – and in most shooters – you can revive a fallen ally if you get to them before they die proper. That’s DBNO, or Down But Not Out, if you’re not up on your acronyms.
That is, of course, still the case in Apex Legends, but if your buddy dies? That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re gone for good.
Unusually for a battle royale game, you can actually respawn allies in Apex Legends. Here’s how you do it:
1. Grab their tag
When your buddy goes down – that’s down, not just DBNO – you’ll have 90 seconds to get to them to start the respawn procedure. When you get there, you’ll find their loot box. If it’s a loot box of an enemy, you’ll go straight into the looting section. If that box is a fallen teammate, however, you’ll be presented with their tag. Your character will hold the tag up in front of your view, just to make sure you know you’ve got it.
2. Optional: Steal their stuff
Once you’ve got their tag, you can loot your fallen teammate as normal. But try not to take all the best stuff for yourself, you selfish bugger; keep some of it in reserve for step 4 below.
3. Find a respawn point
Respawn points, or respawn beacons, are marked on the map by green dots. You’ll also see them appearing as shafts of light, projected from the ground into the sky (if you’re carrying any respawn tags). When you get to one, they look a bit like red tripods with green light coming out the top. Jam the respawn tag in there, and see what happens.
4. Try to keep them alive
When you respawn allies in Apex Legends, they don’t just pop back into life on the ground before you. That’d just be unrealistic! What in fact happens is your buddy is sent – via some sort of technological, Titanfall magic – back up to the dropships overhead. They’ll then have to re-insert onto the battlefield, with no stuff, at a far more dangerous point in the round. This makes them easy pickings, so you’ll want to guide them back to the ground safely with covering fire, then help kit them out with that stuff you stole off their still-warm corpse held onto for safe keeping.
The ability to respawn allies in Apex Legends might mean the difference between victory and defeat.
Also, it’s the right thing to do. Look after your buddies, as you can’t play Apex Legends solo.
