Apex Legends‘ season 11 character is a blast from the past, and she’s bringing both the “blast” and the “past” when she launches. A Titanfall 2 veteran and a simulacrum Pilot, Ash has been a part of the lore of Apex since its fifth season—and now she’s in the spotlight.
Here’s everything you need to know about Ash, including her lore and abilities.
Ash’s lore in Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends
Ash first appeared in Titanfall 2, years before she made a splash in Apex. In Titanfall 2, she’s an enemy boss and a member of Kuben Blisk’s Apex Predators. As part of the campaign, she goes up against protagonists Jack Cooper and his Titan BT-7274, who take her out.
After that, Ash remained largely missing from Apex until the game’s fifth season, when she made a harrowing appearance during the quest’s finale. In the quest, the legends assemble a mysterious artifact for Hammond Robotics in exchange for the location of Revenant’s source code. The artifact turned out to be Ash, and she greeted fans with a series of chilling messages, including that “all roads lead to branthium” and that “the path ends here. Welcome to Olympus.”
Related: The Broken Ghost: Apex Legends’ season quest recapped and explained
The simulacrum appeared briefly during the season six quest, The First Ship, alongside her former leader Kuben Blisk—the same Blisk that gave Rampart an invitation to the Apex Games. Blisk tells Ash he was trying to “stash her away,” that they “had a deal,” and he was “coming back… eventually.”
Ash’s reappearance in season five set the stage for several key developments that would come two seasons later. Horizon disappeared in search of a mineral called Branthium, and the new season brought fans to the same Olympus Ash ominously teased at the end of The Broken Ghost.
With the arrival of Horizon (and her untrusty sidekick Dr. Ashleigh Reid), Apex gradually resparked Ash’s story by giving Reid a pivotal role in the history of the Outlands nearly a century before the Apex Games would take place.
Dr. Reid was responsible for sending Horizon into space, leaving her stranded in the outskirts of a black hole. After she returned, Reid was part of the Group—the callsign for Pathfinder’s creators. They were looking to find a way to refine the branthium Horizon discovered and solve the energy crisis plaguing the Outlands. Reid had other plans.
She overthrew the Group and sold them out, planning to use the Phase Runner to send the branthium to Gridiron, the IMC stronghold at the time. An official video recounts those happenings, which took place at the end of Pathfinder’s Quest.
Dr. Amelie Paquette—Wattson’s grandmother—was responsible for injuring Reid, leaving her nearly for dead. That seemed to be the end of Dr. Reid’s story until Respawn brought her back in the build-up to Escape.
In the season 10 Twitter comic series, Horizon decided to “wake” Ash up to discover more about her son. She believed Ash was her old friend, Lillian Peck, who knew the Olympus access codes—the same access codes Hammond took from Ash’s programming.
Except Ash wasn’t Lillian Peck. She was instead Horizon’s old assistant, Dr. Reid.
Related: Who is Lillian Peck in Apex Legends?
Ash and Reid seem to have a unique dynamic heading into season 11, with Ash as the “dominant” personality and Reid locked inside the simulacrum’s brain somewhere. Horizon wants to “free” Reid, because the former assistant said she knew what happened to Horizon’s son before the blast. Ash, on the other hand, wants to wipe Reid out for good. This sets the stage for a big storyline in Apex‘s future.
Ash’s abilities and gameplay
While Respawn hasn’t yet released Ash’s abilities, developers may have given fans a taste of her kit in the gameplay trailer.
At some point in the trailer, she opens up a dimensional portal and moves through it, similar to Wraith’s ultimate. This will likely be a part of her kit to some capacity, mimicking the Ronin’s ability to phase in Titanfall 2.
Early in the trailer, she also throws an electrified knife that sticks to the ground near Caustic and zaps the target. This will likely be her tactical ability, though Respawn hasn’t officially detailed its effects and functioning.
After the initial skirmish, Ash also uses her data knife on Caustic’s body. It’s yet unclear if this will feature in the kit or if Respawn used it only for cosmetic reasons.
