Designing Conduit's Kit: The Role of a Team Comp in Apex Legends

Apex Legends' upcoming season update, titled "Ignite," will introduce map adjustments, fresh challenges, and a brand-new addition to the roster of Legends. Season 19 is set to launch on Halloween, unveiling the arrival of Conduit, a support class hero. Conduit possesses a tactical ability that enables her to temporarily restore depleted shields for her allies. Ever since the release of her Stories from the Outlands Trailer, Apex Legends' fans have been eagerly discussing and anticipating the arrival of this new hero. Soon, players will have the opportunity to step into her shoes.

In a recent interview with our website, Respawn provided insights into Season 19, where we spoke with Chris Winder, the Lead Gameplay Engineer for Conduit. We delved into the process of developing her unique kit. Adding a new character to a hero-based multiplayer game is no simple task, as it involves numerous iterations and meticulous testing to ensure balance within the ensemble shooter.

An Evolving Kit

Winder initially designed Conduit's kit to focus on a distinct tactical ability. In the initial plan, Conduit had the ability to genuinely heal a teammate's shields instead of providing temporary relief, but with the drawback of sacrificing some of her own shields. Additionally, she possessed a passive shield regeneration similar to Wattson, but with a slightly quicker rate.

Conduit's self-sacrificing nature, although consistent with her brand, caused some issues during gameplay. When her ability was too strong, it made battles with Conduit squads feel never-ending and unfair. On the other hand, there were times when Conduit had no incentive to use her ability, as sacrificing her shield to heal another player was a reactive move and a significant demand. Additionally, Conduit struggled to keep up with faster Legends like Octane, limiting her healing capabilities.

To address these problems, the developers made changes to Conduit's tactical ability. The shield boost is now temporary and does not require sacrificing it, resolving two of the character's stumbling blocks. Players can now utilize the ability for both offensive and defensive purposes, serving as a defense against attrition without granting unlimited shield strength to teammates. Furthermore, the developers adjusted Conduit's passive ability, granting her the necessary speed to be an effective support Legend.

Best Apex Legends Team Comps with Conduit

In numerous hero shooters, an excessive number of support units can disrupt team composition, either by lacking damage output or overwhelming survivability. However, Winder is enthusiastic about witnessing the various methods players utilize to integrate Conduit into their squad, even alongside other support Legends.

"Conduit and Lifeline synergize effectively as Conduit specializes in shields and providing in-combat support, while Lifeline excels in revives and post-combat health recovery. Incorporate a Newcastle into the mix, and you'll have the ultimate support squad!"

Content

Support Legends like Lifeline and Conduit have a crucial role in the game and must be versatile and balanced. This is particularly evident with Conduit, who needs to keep up with heroes of different speeds. With her new passive ability, Conduit is particularly effective in teaming up with fast characters like Pathfinder and Octane, as their speed is enhanced.

However, it is important to note that simply teaming up with a fast hero or a pair of formidable Legends does not guarantee victory. Conduit's abilities are not as offensive or versatile as many other Legends. To overcome this, Conduit teams will need to adopt an aggressive playstyle to compete against teams focused on damage-per-second.

Conduit's Support Sweet Spot

Balancing Conduit's tactical skill during the design process is the most challenging aspect, as Winder acknowledges. Giving her too much healing power can make her overwhelming on the battlefield even when playing defensively, while too little healing makes the ability unsatisfying and makes Conduit players feel like their contribution is lacking. According to Winder, finding the right balance for the shield recharge rate, skill cooldown, and shield boost potency is crucial to making the ability fair and impactful.

Only time will reveal if Respawn has achieved the perfect balance with Conduit, but some level of character adjustments, whether buffs or nerfs, is inevitable in hero shooters. Fortunately, the important design challenges, such as maintaining conceptual cohesion and role synergy, have already been solved. This means that any necessary tweaks will be straightforward and incremental, rather than requiring drastic overhauls.

Apex Legends is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.