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: Wraith - Skirmisher Character
Fantasy: Extra-dimensional Skirmisher
Niche: Skirmisher & Team Rotation Specialist
My Role: Pitched, Designed, and Scripted Character Abilities
Released: February 4th, 2019
Feature: Wraith - Skirmisher Character
Fantasy: Extra-dimensional Skirmisher
Niche: Skirmisher & Team Rotation Specialist
My Role: Pitched, Designed, and Scripted Character Abilities
Released: February 4th, 2019
Kit Summary
I built Wraith’s kit to offer a fresh take on repositioning in Battle Royale. I reshaped Phase Shift into a proactive skirmishing tool, added a squad‑rotation Ultimate, and created an early warning Passive that primes players to Phase early — all in service of transforming a reactive escape mechanic into a kit designed for strategic maneuver warfare.
Work Overview
- Pitched, designed, implemented, and iterated all three abilities. Hooked up assets for final polish.
- Built generalized system for detecting threats and playing corresponding voice lines.
- Prototyped numerous ability alternatives to find final kit.
- Worked closely with Art, FX, Narrative, and Animation to interweave character persona with gameplay mechanics
Designing Wraith
Design Overview
The story of Wraith is the story of Titanfall's evolution into Apex. It's the story of how a soloistic, hyper-mobile, twitch shooter became a 1000 hour game about strategic squad play and maneuver warfare.
Phase Shift was the most popular ability in Titanfall 2: a character based around it would be an easy win.
Sweet summer child, if only I knew the trials that lay ahead.
I quickly realized a problem. Phase Shift allowed players to cheat death at the press of a button. The ability puts you in an alternate dimension instantly. You are invisible and immune to damage while in Phase. A few moments later you pop back into existence, guns up and ready to rumble.
The core tension of Battle Royale is the risk of dying. The reactive nature of Phase Shift made Wraith the queen of not dying. She could correct bad positioning instantly. This was compounded by double jump and wall-running, which were still a central part of the gameplay. Phase Shift mitigated the careful planning and positioning of more strategic players. It was an frustrating ability to face in a single-life Battle Royale mode.
My real goal became clear: make the kit work in Battle Royale.
The Abilities
Into the Void [Tactical]
Into the Void closely resembles Titanfall 2 Phase Shift, but it has several key differences. First, it has an activation delay before you enter Phase. Second, there is a visual trail that reveals your location while Phased. Third, there is a weapon draw delay when you exit Phase. Fourth, you can see opponents while Phased.
These may sound like small tweaks, but it took a surprisingly long time to arrive at these changes.
When I started work on Wraith, wall-running and double jump were still key features of the combat. The path forward for Phase Shift became clear once hyper-mobility was officially removed from the game.
Rotations, spatial control, and positioning came to the forefront of the new grounded combat. Previously, you would be hard pressed to stop a wall running player from making a rotation. They could reposition effortlessly. In this new world, incoming gunfire could actually slow an advance. This presented a new character niche: a kit that specialized in safer rotations. This was a clear role Wraith could fill.
With hyper-mobility off the table, it was much easier to tailor Phase Shift to the needs of Battle Royale. I made it my goal to make Wraith a skirmisher: someone who would offensively probe the enemy perimeter looking for gaps to exploit. My hope was to rework Phase Shift to increase Wraith's survivability without increasing her lethality.
I added the activation delay to Phase Walk encourage players to use the ability pre-emptively to move between islands of cover. It allowed you to make high-risk rotations more safely, but still gave enemies the ability to punish you if they caught you out of position. It also allowed Wraith to bypass traps like Caustic's gas traps to compromise defensive positions, adding further nuance to building sieges.
The Phase Trail effect that reveals Wraith's position while she is Phase was also a key change I made. In Titanfall 2, Phase Pilots are invisible while Phased. They can pop out anywhere and attack instantly. This positional guessing game gave Wraith the ultimate "peeker's advantage." I added the visual trail to further reinforce that Phase should be used maneuvering rather than attacking. The trail allows opponents to see where Wraith is moving and gives them a visual cue right before she exits Phase. In theory, this allows opponents to be ready if she tries to go "guns up," attacking them right out of Phase.
To further deter this "guns up" playstyle, I added a weapon draw delay. This prevents Wraith from shooting for a few moments after she exits Phase. This ensures that if she goes toe-to-toe with an opponent coming out of Phase, her opponent has the shooting advantage.
The game health benefits and strategic nuance the changes introduced were immediately apparent. They forced Wraith to make better tactical decisions. Players could no longer lean on Phase to just play reactively.
While the perfectionist in me feels like I could have made her Tactical easier to balance, I'm very proud of Wraith's kit overall: she became one of Apex's most iconic characters.
Dimensional Rift [Ultimate]
I designed Dimensional Rift as an ability that specialized in safely rotating an entire squad. The ability is a strategically interesting risk reward proposition. Essentially, you can rotate an entire team by risking Wraith.
The ability is a form of point-to-point teleport. When Wraith activates the ability, they place one entrance to the rift. They can then move to a different location and place the other entrance. The portals transport players along the same path Wraith used when placing it.
I felt that the teleport needed to have travel time so opponents could spot the rotation and react. The ability gives opponents two distinct reads. First, opponents see Wraith moving to place the portals. Then, they see a phase trail that follow the same route whenever a player travels through the portal. This allows them to react to both the setup to the rotation and the rotation itself.
The ability to rapidly advance an entire squad into battle via a damage-free rotation is incredibly powerful. The lethality of Apex fights increases as range decreases. I wanted to discourage Wraith from using the ability to blitz to point-blank range and summon reinforcements. For this reason, you do not have access to your gun while you are placing the portals. If an enemy downs Wraith, the portal placement is canceled. This gives opponents an avenue to contest the rotation before it occurs.
Advancing into the unknown without a weapon drawn can be a hard sell for players. To combat this apprehension, I gave players a speed boost and allowed them to activate their Phase Walk tactical while their Ultimate was active. These changes gave Wraith players confidence to rotate their squads under fire, while still punishing reckless plays.
While the ability's primary purpose is squad rotation, it is extremely expressive and tactically flexible. You can use it to make tactical withdrawals, extricate downed teammates, kidnap enemies, bypass traps, or even delay final circle damage.
I was very happy with the final result. Wraith's Ultimate was one of the most strategically useful rotation tools in the game at launch.
Voices from the Void [Passive]
Of all the abilities I developed for Apex, the inspiration for Voices from the Void is the most personal.
It originated from the wish that things were different. As an homage to a good friend and the central role he played in my path towards game development. Fate robbed him of his ability to make games, so I make them for both of us.
I decided that Wraith's Passive would be an internal voice that warned of impending threats. The ability would synergize with Phase Walk by giving players more information about when to Phase.
The ability detects when opponents are looking or aiming at Wraith and plays warning voice lines. It also detects proximity threats like traps, grenades, and bombs. These warnings prime Wraiths players to activate Phase proactively.
The voices immediately added a strong sense of identity and situational awareness. To maintain competitive balance, I focused on warnings that supported survivability rather than providing tactical information. In a world where Bloodhound can track your every move, a voice telling Wraith that someone was watching wasn't going to break the game's competitive viability.
It was a risk I felt confident taking to introduce a novel mechanic to multiplayer.
The story of Wraith is the story of Titanfall's evolution into Apex. It's the story of how a soloistic, hyper-mobile, twitch shooter became a 1000 hour game about strategic squad play and maneuver warfare.
Phase Shift was the most popular ability in Titanfall 2: a character based around it would be an easy win.
Sweet summer child, if only I knew the trials that lay ahead.
I quickly realized a problem. Phase Shift allowed players to cheat death at the press of a button. The ability puts you in an alternate dimension instantly. You are invisible and immune to damage while in Phase. A few moments later you pop back into existence, guns up and ready to rumble.
The core tension of Battle Royale is the risk of dying. The reactive nature of Phase Shift made Wraith the queen of not dying. She could correct bad positioning instantly. This was compounded by double jump and wall-running, which were still a central part of the gameplay. Phase Shift mitigated the careful planning and positioning of more strategic players. It was an frustrating ability to face in a single-life Battle Royale mode.
My real goal became clear: make the kit work in Battle Royale.
The Abilities
Into the Void [Tactical]
Into the Void closely resembles Titanfall 2 Phase Shift, but it has several key differences. First, it has an activation delay before you enter Phase. Second, there is a visual trail that reveals your location while Phased. Third, there is a weapon draw delay when you exit Phase. Fourth, you can see opponents while Phased.
These may sound like small tweaks, but it took a surprisingly long time to arrive at these changes.
When I started work on Wraith, wall-running and double jump were still key features of the combat. The path forward for Phase Shift became clear once hyper-mobility was officially removed from the game.
Rotations, spatial control, and positioning came to the forefront of the new grounded combat. Previously, you would be hard pressed to stop a wall running player from making a rotation. They could reposition effortlessly. In this new world, incoming gunfire could actually slow an advance. This presented a new character niche: a kit that specialized in safer rotations. This was a clear role Wraith could fill.
With hyper-mobility off the table, it was much easier to tailor Phase Shift to the needs of Battle Royale. I made it my goal to make Wraith a skirmisher: someone who would offensively probe the enemy perimeter looking for gaps to exploit. My hope was to rework Phase Shift to increase Wraith's survivability without increasing her lethality.
I added the activation delay to Phase Walk encourage players to use the ability pre-emptively to move between islands of cover. It allowed you to make high-risk rotations more safely, but still gave enemies the ability to punish you if they caught you out of position. It also allowed Wraith to bypass traps like Caustic's gas traps to compromise defensive positions, adding further nuance to building sieges.
The Phase Trail effect that reveals Wraith's position while she is Phase was also a key change I made. In Titanfall 2, Phase Pilots are invisible while Phased. They can pop out anywhere and attack instantly. This positional guessing game gave Wraith the ultimate "peeker's advantage." I added the visual trail to further reinforce that Phase should be used maneuvering rather than attacking. The trail allows opponents to see where Wraith is moving and gives them a visual cue right before she exits Phase. In theory, this allows opponents to be ready if she tries to go "guns up," attacking them right out of Phase.
To further deter this "guns up" playstyle, I added a weapon draw delay. This prevents Wraith from shooting for a few moments after she exits Phase. This ensures that if she goes toe-to-toe with an opponent coming out of Phase, her opponent has the shooting advantage.
The game health benefits and strategic nuance the changes introduced were immediately apparent. They forced Wraith to make better tactical decisions. Players could no longer lean on Phase to just play reactively.
While the perfectionist in me feels like I could have made her Tactical easier to balance, I'm very proud of Wraith's kit overall: she became one of Apex's most iconic characters.
Dimensional Rift [Ultimate]
I designed Dimensional Rift as an ability that specialized in safely rotating an entire squad. The ability is a strategically interesting risk reward proposition. Essentially, you can rotate an entire team by risking Wraith.
The ability is a form of point-to-point teleport. When Wraith activates the ability, they place one entrance to the rift. They can then move to a different location and place the other entrance. The portals transport players along the same path Wraith used when placing it.
I felt that the teleport needed to have travel time so opponents could spot the rotation and react. The ability gives opponents two distinct reads. First, opponents see Wraith moving to place the portals. Then, they see a phase trail that follow the same route whenever a player travels through the portal. This allows them to react to both the setup to the rotation and the rotation itself.
The ability to rapidly advance an entire squad into battle via a damage-free rotation is incredibly powerful. The lethality of Apex fights increases as range decreases. I wanted to discourage Wraith from using the ability to blitz to point-blank range and summon reinforcements. For this reason, you do not have access to your gun while you are placing the portals. If an enemy downs Wraith, the portal placement is canceled. This gives opponents an avenue to contest the rotation before it occurs.
Advancing into the unknown without a weapon drawn can be a hard sell for players. To combat this apprehension, I gave players a speed boost and allowed them to activate their Phase Walk tactical while their Ultimate was active. These changes gave Wraith players confidence to rotate their squads under fire, while still punishing reckless plays.
While the ability's primary purpose is squad rotation, it is extremely expressive and tactically flexible. You can use it to make tactical withdrawals, extricate downed teammates, kidnap enemies, bypass traps, or even delay final circle damage.
I was very happy with the final result. Wraith's Ultimate was one of the most strategically useful rotation tools in the game at launch.
Voices from the Void [Passive]
Of all the abilities I developed for Apex, the inspiration for Voices from the Void is the most personal.
It originated from the wish that things were different. As an homage to a good friend and the central role he played in my path towards game development. Fate robbed him of his ability to make games, so I make them for both of us.
I decided that Wraith's Passive would be an internal voice that warned of impending threats. The ability would synergize with Phase Walk by giving players more information about when to Phase.
The ability detects when opponents are looking or aiming at Wraith and plays warning voice lines. It also detects proximity threats like traps, grenades, and bombs. These warnings prime Wraiths players to activate Phase proactively.
The voices immediately added a strong sense of identity and situational awareness. To maintain competitive balance, I focused on warnings that supported survivability rather than providing tactical information. In a world where Bloodhound can track your every move, a voice telling Wraith that someone was watching wasn't going to break the game's competitive viability.
It was a risk I felt confident taking to introduce a novel mechanic to multiplayer.
