Apex Legends Season 31: Lifeline and Revenant's Buffs and New Upgrades Explained

Season 31, officially titled Cipher, launched in Apex Legends on November 3, 2026, and most of the spotlight went to Crypto's rework. But buried lower in Respawn's own patch notes are real kit changes for two older Legends: Lifeline and Revenant. Both picked up faster cooldowns and brand-new upgrade options that change how they should be played. Here is exactly what changed for each Legend, pulled directly from EA's official Cipher patch notes and the current Apex Legends character pages, plus how to actually use the new kits.

1. Crypto's Rework Was the Headline, But He Wasn't the Only Legend Who Changed

Cipher's biggest system change is Crypto's rework: his drone now scans in a full 360 degrees, recalls faster, and his ultimate was reworked into a line-of-sight EMP. The season also added the Akimbo Wingman, a new airdrop structure called Strongholds, and Legend ban voting in Diamond-ranked matches and above. Those changes are covered in depth in the full Cipher patch notes breakdown, so this guide focuses on the two Legends that got quieter, but still meaningful, updates: Lifeline and Revenant.

2. Lifeline's Current Kit, Explained

According to EA's official Apex Legends character page, Lifeline's kit now reads like this:

• Passive — Grab D.O.C.: Lifeline can grab D.O.C. and glide for a few seconds. She can deploy D.O.C. to revive teammates, which leaves her free to move and defend instead of being locked into a revive animation.
• Tactical — Combat Medic: D.O.C. heals all nearby allies and can be assigned to follow a specific ally once deployed.
• Ultimate — Care Package: Lifeline throws D.O.C. to activate his Halo Shield System. Every player standing inside uses healing items and consumables faster.

The patch notes add one more detail on top of that kit description: D.O.C. now heals Lifeline herself while she's gliding with him, turning her passive mobility tool into a small self-sustain window as well. Respawn also cut her tactical cooldown from 25 seconds down to 15 seconds, so she can deploy D.O.C. far more often over the course of a fight.

3. Lifeline's New Upgrade Tree

Lifeline's upgrade options also moved around for Cipher:

• Level 2: Improved Flight and Enhanced Radio were both moved down to Level 2, making them available earlier in a match.
• Level 3: A new Ultimate Cooldown upgrade was added, and Revive Shield — which deploys a shield in front of her while she revives a teammate — replaces the old Tactical Cooldown option.

Revive Shield is the standout pick here: it directly protects the single most dangerous moment in Lifeline's kit, the open revive, by giving her and her downed teammate cover from incoming fire while D.O.C. or a manual res is in progress.

4. Revenant's Current Kit, Explained

Revenant's official kit description reads as follows:

• Passive — Stalker: Highlights nearby visible enemies who are low on health. He also crouch-walks faster and has improved wall climbing.
• Tactical — Pounce: Unleashes a powerful pounce forward. Holding the button charges it for a farther jump.
• Ultimate — Forged Shadows: Forges a shroud of hardened shadows around Revenant that blocks and regenerates damage. Getting a knockdown on an enemy starts his shadows regenerating.

On top of that base kit, the Cipher patch notes cut his tactical cooldown from 20 seconds to 15 seconds and gave it a faster charge time, and reduced his ultimate cooldown from 180 seconds to 150 seconds. Both changes let a Revenant player initiate, disengage, and pop his shroud noticeably more often across a long fight.

5. Revenant's Three New Upgrades

Season 31 also adds three new upgrade options to Revenant's tree, according to the official patch notes:

• Ever Lasting: Extends his ultimate's duration by 10 seconds whenever he gets a knock while it's active.
• Silence: Applies an area-of-effect silence on enemies where his tactical pounce lands.
• No Escape: His tactical refreshes instantly whenever an enemy is marked by his passive.

Those three upgrades push Revenant toward three distinct playstyles: Ever Lasting rewards a Revenant who dives straight into the backline to start fights, Silence is built for shutting down an enemy's abilities the instant you engage, and No Escape turns his passive's low-health highlight into a chain of free pounces against a fleeing squad.

6. Where These Buffs Fit Into the Rest of Cipher

Lifeline and Revenant's changes land alongside a season built around faster, more aggressive play: Strongholds give every squad a fought-over loot objective mid-match, and Ranked now runs Legend ban voting in Diamond and above. If you're trying to climb this split, it's worth reading up on Season 31 and 32's Ranked overhaul and Legend banning system separately, since banned Legends can't be picked at all in those lobbies. New players adjusting to the season should also check a full breakdown of every Legend class and game mode before jumping into Ranked.

7. How to Adjust Your Playstyle Around the New Kits

With a 15-second tactical cooldown, Lifeline players can afford to throw D.O.C. more liberally to zone a doorway or top off chip damage mid-fight instead of saving it only for full revives. Because D.O.C. now heals her while she glides, using the passive to rotate between cover doubles as a small heal — worth doing even when no one is down. At Level 3, picking Revive Shield over the old cooldown upgrade is almost always correct in contested lobbies, since a protected revive is worth more than a slightly faster D.O.C.

For Revenant, the faster tactical charge means pounces can be used to scout sightlines or punish an isolated enemy far more often than before, not just as a panic escape. If you're running No Escape, prioritize marking low-health enemies with your passive first — each mark effectively refunds your tactical. Silence pairs best against ability-heavy compositions, since landing the pounce shuts down tacticals and ultimates right as the fight starts. Ever Lasting rewards diving in with a squad that can follow up on a knock immediately, so it's a stronger pick in coordinated groups than in solo queue.

Whichever Legend you're running, dialing in your settings matters just as much as upgrade choices — see this guide to sensitivity, FOV and HUD settings if your aim or visibility feels off after the update.

8. Official Resources

• Apex Legends: Cipher official patch notes (EA)
• Lifeline official character page (EA)
• Revenant official character page (EA)
• Apex Legends on Steam

Quick recap: Lifeline's tactical cooldown dropped to 15 seconds, D.O.C. now heals her while she glides, and Revive Shield at Level 3 protects her revives. Revenant's tactical cooldown dropped to 15 seconds with a faster charge, his ultimate cooldown dropped to 150 seconds, and he gained three new upgrades — Ever Lasting, Silence and No Escape — that support three different aggressive playstyles. Neither Legend got a flashy rework like Crypto, but both are noticeably stronger picks in Season 31: Cipher than they were before it.