Note: The final shipping legends were the product of numerous incredibly talented individuals across multiple departments and disciplines. While I initiated, implemented, and drove these character designs in terms of abilities and gameplay, the final product was only realized through a team effort.
Live Service Disclaimer: Apex Legends is a live service game. Legends are subject to balance changes and even full kit redesigns. I stopped working on Apex in late 2019 and my last Legend design released in 2020. I claim neither credit nor responsibility for the current live state of Apex characters. While much of my work survives in its original form, subsequent alterations and balance changes are the unique contributions of other designers. My commentary, observations, and philosophy on Apex character design extends to my designs at the time they launched and no further.
Live Service Disclaimer: Apex Legends is a live service game. Legends are subject to balance changes and even full kit redesigns. I stopped working on Apex in late 2019 and my last Legend design released in 2020. I claim neither credit nor responsibility for the current live state of Apex characters. While much of my work survives in its original form, subsequent alterations and balance changes are the unique contributions of other designers. My commentary, observations, and philosophy on Apex character design extends to my designs at the time they launched and no further.
Key Details
Project: Apex Legends
Feature: Bloodhound - Tracker Character
Fantasy: The Ultimate Hunter
Niche: Finding and Initiating Fights
My Role: Pitched, Designed, and Scripted Character Abilities. Provided researched historical, linguistic, and mythology guidance for narrative team.
Released: February 4th, 2019
Feature: Bloodhound - Tracker Character
Fantasy: The Ultimate Hunter
Niche: Finding and Initiating Fights
My Role: Pitched, Designed, and Scripted Character Abilities. Provided researched historical, linguistic, and mythology guidance for narrative team.
Released: February 4th, 2019
Kit Summary
I designed Bloodhound’s kit to solve the problem of reliably finding fights in Battle Royale. Drawing inspiration the fantasy of an ultimate hunter, I built an evidence‑tracking Passive, a directional scan Tactical, and a berserker-inspired Ultimate to accelerate pursuits.
Work Overview
- Pitched, designed, implemented, and iterated all three abilities. Collaborated with Designer Roger Abrahamsson on final polish.
- Prototyped numerous ability alternatives to find final kit.
- Worked closely with Art, FX, Narrative, and Animation to interweave character persona with gameplay mechanics.
- Provided historical, linguistic, and mythological research/context for narrative team.
Designing Bloodhound
Joel Emslie's original maquette.
Design Overview
I designed Bloodhound to solve a specific issue I encountered playing Battle Royales: finding a fight when you want one.
When you're new to Battle Royale, it's hard to know where to find enemy players. You eventually learn that players gravitate toward points of interest and move in response to the circle. This takes time to learn, and some players lose interest in the process. Bloodhound helps reduce this friction.
I figured many of our early adopters would come from popular arena shooters. These players are used to target-rich environments where engagements occur frequently. These players would need to be eased into the slower cadence of Battle Royale. If I couldn't bring the fight to the player, I could bring the player to the fight.
This meshed well with a player fantasy I wanted to explore: the ultimate hunter.
Much of my thinking on character design, squad composition, combat, and player strategy is shaped by historical military texts. The core premise of Bloodhound's kit originates from a specific statement in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. "If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Bloodhound's power would come from superior information. Players could leverage this advantage to pick fights that favored them.
Gunplay drives Apex combat, but tactics and strategy shape it. Good players can sometimes shoot their way out of bad situations. However, when all other factors are equal, tactics and teamwork make the difference. If you can force a great player into a terrible fight, you should win the majority of the time. Bloodhound was my first time applying this philosophy to a character design: you win by making better decisions than your opponent.
The Abilities
Tracker [Passive]
The Tracker ability is the keystone of Bloodhound's kit. The other two abilities interact with the evidence markers this ability generates.
I wanted players to feel like a hunter or detective, following a trail of evidence to find their foes. This led me to implement the "evidence marker" system.
Essentially, Bloodhound can see evidence markers that are generated by almost every enemy player action in the game. You can see where players picked up loot, opened doors, took damage, fired their weapon, used abilities, moved through the level, and more. Taken together, they create an emergent evidence trail you can follow to track down enemy squads.
This level of granular detail is mostly about selling the fantasy of tracking. The important aspects of a marker are its location and age. Fresh markers start out bright red and fade to gray over time. This creates a color gradient across multiple markers that players can use to determine event directionality at a glance.
Initially, I didn't generate markers for mobility actions. I very quickly realized that combat actions alone didn't give players enough information for cross-map tracking. Combat is like a puddle—players tend to wiggle and orbit, rather than moving linearly. The evidence markers generated by a fight didn't reliably imply an exit direction for the surviving team.
Knowing where enemies went and tailing them is not only the fantasy, it's what makes the Tracker ability useful. I added additional markers for moving and mantling. It made a world of difference. Suddenly, Bloodhound players were regularly rolling up on enemy squads and starting fights.
When players can reliably tail their enemies, a new set of gameplay challenges emerges. Bloodhound follows the trails players leave behind, but other players are usually looking in the direction they are moving. The result is that Bloodhound almost always approaches enemy squads from behind.
Left unchecked, Bloodhound would constantly shoot enemies in the back.
When players are engaged from unexpected angles, they are much more likely to die. Bloodhound's habit of attacking players from behind had unintentionally increased combat lethality. This was something I was keen to avoid, as it reduces player participation.
Counter-play is paramount in strong PvP multiplayer systems. Abilities and weapons need to be interesting to fight against, not just interesting to use. The Tracker ability didn't alter enemy player decisions until Bloodhound pulled the trigger. For new players, the idea that someone could see their every move was hidden information. I needed to make opponents think about Bloodhound.
Rather than altering the Tracker ability, I applied the techniques I learned while designing Gibraltar to help Bloodhound's Tactical and Ultimate orient fights.
Eye of the Allfather[Tactical]
Bloodhound needed a tool to confirm the enemy's position and open a fight. However, I also wanted to avoid a low-stakes scan players would spam thoughtlessly. Since Bloodhound was quietly tailing squads by following their evidence markers, it was also important that opponents had an opportunity to orient themselves in the opening moments of a fight.
Since Bloodhound's Tracker Passive allows them to reliably approach enemies from behind, their scan needed to clearly communicate threat direction. In terms of counter-play, it's extremely important that opponents know where to look. When squads initiate fights facing each other, you generally get higher-quality fights for more players.
I made the scan originate from Bloodhound and ran a variety of experiments to find its exact shape and range. The ability needed to strike a balance between revealing opponents and orienting fights. I quickly discounted variations that revealed opponents outside Bloodhound's field of vision. Bloodhound wouldn't see these players, but they were very aware of Bloodhound. It just increased the likelihood that Bloodhound would be shot from an unexpected angle, inverting the problem.
I arrived at an aimed scan. Bloodhound sends out a visible pulse in the direction they are looking, revealing enemies within Bloodhound's field of vision. This gives Bloodhound greater control over announcing their presence. It also ensures that scanned enemies know they are about to be attacked. They can face the rough direction of the threat, but Bloodhound still retains the distinct advantage of perfect information.
I also tied the scan into the Tracker Passive. It reveals evidence markers at extended ranges through walls. This encourages Bloodhound to ping while tracking, which gives opponents additional opportunities to identify the approaching threat.
This dynamic helps create counter-play for the Tracker Passive by making Bloodhound announce their presence, in exchange for an information advantage.
Beast of the Hunt [Ultimate]
With the Passive and Tactical in place, I wanted to use the Ultimate to button up a few remaining gameplay dynamics.
First, Bloodhound had no mid-fight abilities. They could find fights, but tended to lose protracted firefights. Other characters simply had more tools to steer the fight and gain the upper hand. Second, with all players moving at roughly the same rate, Bloodhound couldn't always catch up with enemy squads. It was also difficult for Bloodhound players to spot enemies while following evidence markers. Like a dog following a scent, players weren't looking past their noses. The bright red markers in the foreground naturally draw the player's eye, leading to a kind of nearsightedness. Bloodhound could easily miss opponents preparing to engage them in the distance.
The Ultimate attacks these challenges while delivering a primal berserker fantasy. Bloodhound gains a speed boost, thermal vision to see through smoke and gas, and real-time footprint tracking. Evidence markers are also visible from twice the distance. It's a tool for aggressively entering fights, catching up with enemies, and quickly spotting threats. I wanted players to feel like they were closing in for the kill.
Like the Tactical, the Ultimate needed to announce Bloodhound's presence so that opponents understood they were being engaged and could orient themselves. Bloodhound emits a distinctive "roar" that gives enemies a rough idea of threat direction.
This ability rounded out the kit by allowing Bloodhound to briefly boost their combat capabilities. Its relevance while tracking reinforces that Bloodhound's power is finding and starting fights, but it also gives players tactical flexibility in protracted engagements.
I designed Bloodhound to solve a specific issue I encountered playing Battle Royales: finding a fight when you want one.
When you're new to Battle Royale, it's hard to know where to find enemy players. You eventually learn that players gravitate toward points of interest and move in response to the circle. This takes time to learn, and some players lose interest in the process. Bloodhound helps reduce this friction.
I figured many of our early adopters would come from popular arena shooters. These players are used to target-rich environments where engagements occur frequently. These players would need to be eased into the slower cadence of Battle Royale. If I couldn't bring the fight to the player, I could bring the player to the fight.
This meshed well with a player fantasy I wanted to explore: the ultimate hunter.
Much of my thinking on character design, squad composition, combat, and player strategy is shaped by historical military texts. The core premise of Bloodhound's kit originates from a specific statement in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. "If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Bloodhound's power would come from superior information. Players could leverage this advantage to pick fights that favored them.
Gunplay drives Apex combat, but tactics and strategy shape it. Good players can sometimes shoot their way out of bad situations. However, when all other factors are equal, tactics and teamwork make the difference. If you can force a great player into a terrible fight, you should win the majority of the time. Bloodhound was my first time applying this philosophy to a character design: you win by making better decisions than your opponent.
The Abilities
Tracker [Passive]
The Tracker ability is the keystone of Bloodhound's kit. The other two abilities interact with the evidence markers this ability generates.
I wanted players to feel like a hunter or detective, following a trail of evidence to find their foes. This led me to implement the "evidence marker" system.
Essentially, Bloodhound can see evidence markers that are generated by almost every enemy player action in the game. You can see where players picked up loot, opened doors, took damage, fired their weapon, used abilities, moved through the level, and more. Taken together, they create an emergent evidence trail you can follow to track down enemy squads.
This level of granular detail is mostly about selling the fantasy of tracking. The important aspects of a marker are its location and age. Fresh markers start out bright red and fade to gray over time. This creates a color gradient across multiple markers that players can use to determine event directionality at a glance.
Initially, I didn't generate markers for mobility actions. I very quickly realized that combat actions alone didn't give players enough information for cross-map tracking. Combat is like a puddle—players tend to wiggle and orbit, rather than moving linearly. The evidence markers generated by a fight didn't reliably imply an exit direction for the surviving team.
Knowing where enemies went and tailing them is not only the fantasy, it's what makes the Tracker ability useful. I added additional markers for moving and mantling. It made a world of difference. Suddenly, Bloodhound players were regularly rolling up on enemy squads and starting fights.
When players can reliably tail their enemies, a new set of gameplay challenges emerges. Bloodhound follows the trails players leave behind, but other players are usually looking in the direction they are moving. The result is that Bloodhound almost always approaches enemy squads from behind.
Left unchecked, Bloodhound would constantly shoot enemies in the back.
When players are engaged from unexpected angles, they are much more likely to die. Bloodhound's habit of attacking players from behind had unintentionally increased combat lethality. This was something I was keen to avoid, as it reduces player participation.
Counter-play is paramount in strong PvP multiplayer systems. Abilities and weapons need to be interesting to fight against, not just interesting to use. The Tracker ability didn't alter enemy player decisions until Bloodhound pulled the trigger. For new players, the idea that someone could see their every move was hidden information. I needed to make opponents think about Bloodhound.
Rather than altering the Tracker ability, I applied the techniques I learned while designing Gibraltar to help Bloodhound's Tactical and Ultimate orient fights.
Eye of the Allfather[Tactical]
Bloodhound needed a tool to confirm the enemy's position and open a fight. However, I also wanted to avoid a low-stakes scan players would spam thoughtlessly. Since Bloodhound was quietly tailing squads by following their evidence markers, it was also important that opponents had an opportunity to orient themselves in the opening moments of a fight.
Since Bloodhound's Tracker Passive allows them to reliably approach enemies from behind, their scan needed to clearly communicate threat direction. In terms of counter-play, it's extremely important that opponents know where to look. When squads initiate fights facing each other, you generally get higher-quality fights for more players.
I made the scan originate from Bloodhound and ran a variety of experiments to find its exact shape and range. The ability needed to strike a balance between revealing opponents and orienting fights. I quickly discounted variations that revealed opponents outside Bloodhound's field of vision. Bloodhound wouldn't see these players, but they were very aware of Bloodhound. It just increased the likelihood that Bloodhound would be shot from an unexpected angle, inverting the problem.
I arrived at an aimed scan. Bloodhound sends out a visible pulse in the direction they are looking, revealing enemies within Bloodhound's field of vision. This gives Bloodhound greater control over announcing their presence. It also ensures that scanned enemies know they are about to be attacked. They can face the rough direction of the threat, but Bloodhound still retains the distinct advantage of perfect information.
I also tied the scan into the Tracker Passive. It reveals evidence markers at extended ranges through walls. This encourages Bloodhound to ping while tracking, which gives opponents additional opportunities to identify the approaching threat.
This dynamic helps create counter-play for the Tracker Passive by making Bloodhound announce their presence, in exchange for an information advantage.
Beast of the Hunt [Ultimate]
With the Passive and Tactical in place, I wanted to use the Ultimate to button up a few remaining gameplay dynamics.
First, Bloodhound had no mid-fight abilities. They could find fights, but tended to lose protracted firefights. Other characters simply had more tools to steer the fight and gain the upper hand. Second, with all players moving at roughly the same rate, Bloodhound couldn't always catch up with enemy squads. It was also difficult for Bloodhound players to spot enemies while following evidence markers. Like a dog following a scent, players weren't looking past their noses. The bright red markers in the foreground naturally draw the player's eye, leading to a kind of nearsightedness. Bloodhound could easily miss opponents preparing to engage them in the distance.
The Ultimate attacks these challenges while delivering a primal berserker fantasy. Bloodhound gains a speed boost, thermal vision to see through smoke and gas, and real-time footprint tracking. Evidence markers are also visible from twice the distance. It's a tool for aggressively entering fights, catching up with enemies, and quickly spotting threats. I wanted players to feel like they were closing in for the kill.
Like the Tactical, the Ultimate needed to announce Bloodhound's presence so that opponents understood they were being engaged and could orient themselves. Bloodhound emits a distinctive "roar" that gives enemies a rough idea of threat direction.
This ability rounded out the kit by allowing Bloodhound to briefly boost their combat capabilities. Its relevance while tracking reinforces that Bloodhound's power is finding and starting fights, but it also gives players tactical flexibility in protracted engagements.