How To Self-Revive In 'Apex Legends'

In a lot of ways, Apex Legends turns the battle royale genre on its ear. Early takes on the concept — dating back to the PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale mod for ARMA 3 and later to PUBG – nurtured a lone wolf mentality. Your shooting ability mattered far more than anything else. And even if you had a team, it was comprised more of several lone wolves than a complementary cast of characters.

In that context, it's far easier to appreciate what Apex Legends has done. A hero-shooter squad with a tank, a DPS character and a healer can work together in the game and play off of each other's abilities. Those abilities can help keep you in the game, even if you're not the best shot in the world. And interesting new systems ensure that the game isn't over for you if you go down. Someone can pluck a card off of your dead body and take it to a beacon, giving you a second chance at life. And you can even resurrect yourself with the right equipment.

Wait, you say. You can self-revive in Apex Legends? Go down and get back up again? Why yes, you can. If you get shot down during a match, you haven't bled out completely, and you've been lucky in your looting, you can absolutely revive yourself in Apex Legends.

It involves something called a Knockdown Shield.

Now, you may be familiar with the Knockdown Shield. Chances are, you've managed to snag one of the many white-colored Common shields on the map. What that allows you to do is block incoming fire when you've been, well, knocked down. And the hope is, your shield will hold long enough for a teammate to show up, dispatch the enemy who is doing you harm, and plunge a syringe into your body to revive you.

Knockdown Shields don't last forever. If you're all alone with an enemy, they'll eventually take the shield down and kill you. So if all you can do is use one to block, you're only buying yourself a little bit of extra time.

However, much like the other pieces of loot you can find in Apex Legends, Knockdown Shields come in tiers. The better the Knockdown Shield you find, the more damage it can take. So a Common shield can block 100 damage, for instance. A Rare shield can block 250. And if you manage to pick up an Epic Knockdown Shield, you can block 750 damage.

The one you want, though — the one that is going to get you back on your feet and back in the game — is the Legendary Knockdown Shield.

The Legendary Knockdown Shield blocks 750 damage, which is nice. But it has an extra perk that all the other Knockdown Shields don't have called Resurrection. The perk can only be used once, so be mindful. But should you employ it while in your knocked-down state, it'll pull you away from death's doorstep and revive you completely. No teammate required.

It's important to remember that the Legendary Knockdown Shield won't solve all of your problems. It takes a little bit of time to use, and you'll be wide open for damage when you use it, so you should do your best to be alone. And if you're completely surrounded with no teammates in sight, the shield itself won't do you much good at all, and you won't get anywhere close to using Resurrection.

Still, the Legendary Knockdown Shield can come through for you in the clutch. If you happen to get shot down from a long distance, the odds are good that you'll have enough time to pick yourself up. And in a team-focused game like Apex Legends, your ability to cheat death could mean the difference between a win and a loss.

If you still don't have your tiers and colors straight when it comes to the loot in Apex Legends, no problem. Common is white, Rare is blue, Epic is purple, and Legendary is gold. The gold-colored Knockdown Shield is the one that'll let you self-revive. And in order to get one, you'll likely have to chance it in an area with high-tier loot and high traffic. More than that, you'll need a little bit of luck on your side.

Should you get one, though? You'll have a self-revive in your back pocket. And who knows when that might come in handy.