For everyone saying Gibby killed lifeline, you are mostly wrong. Gibby just sped the process. The map changes did.
If anyone had played since s0/s1 you will know how scarce the loot was in Kings Canyon. It was a blessing to get a level 2 shield and level 3/4 shields felt like the gods are on our side and we are unstoppable. Unlike now where the requirement of round 2 is a blue shield ie everyone has a blue shield until round 2 and a purple shield in round 3. Weapon attachments like anvil receivers and selectfire were rare and hell, even medkits and shield batteries were rare af. This is where lifeline was useful. Her healing drone was much more useful before as nobody had 3-4 medkits(even during endgame) and lifeline's drone was useful af as a medkit. Her ultimate was probably the best ultimate in s1 as it gave you a medkit/shield battery/attachments and PURPLE ARMOUR! Which was invaluable at the time we had level 1 shields. Combine this with a very low hotbox and a strong passive, season 1 was either Wraith or lifeline and at times, lifeline was considered better than Wraith.
Now, Season 2 did start to have more loot but it wasn't that much and lifeline was still in top tier but until the end of season 2, where new places like the lab and octane's gauntlet came, her usability fizzled out a bit more.
But a massive blow occured to her usability when World's Edge in season 3 rolled out.
World's Edge was brimming with loot, with level 2/ level 3 body shields being as common as level 1 body shields in season 1. Medkits and shield batteries were so common that lifeline's drone kind of lost its usability as a you could just stack medkits in a level 2/3 backpack(which was also much more available than ever before). Her ultimate was much less useful as higher level body shields were much more common and so did attachments and healing items(like I stated before) and what it did was just drew more enemies to your location.
The final nail in the coffin was when Gibby turned into a support troop.
Then, respwan supposedly buffed lifeline by adding extra loot in blue loot bins, which is the most pathetic and idiotic buff I've ever seen(wtf will I do with a level 1 knockdown shield or an extra syringe?). But ultimately, they just needed her by increasing the legshot damage for all low profile legends(which itself is idiotic) but even more idiotic considering lifeline's legs are thicc.
Now, she's still strong in the right hands. She still has one of the strongest passives in the game(only rivaled by Gibby's gunshield, or wattson's instant ult) but her tactical and ultimate are no longer useful(also, I've seen people who play lifeline put their drone much more sparingly than before). So, here are my suggestions for a lifeline buff.
1)I'm not sure about this but probably the cooldown for her tactical should be reduced to atleast 40s rather than a minute. 20s can make a very big difference in a fight.
2) But to make her the top-tier legend she was, Respawn should rework on her ult.
Her ultimate should be a care package that carries rare weapns(now I don't mean it should be like a normal care package and carry stuff like devotions(OP) or krabers but more like fully kitted weapons like prowlers or r-301s or peacekeepers. Now they are powerful but not OP. And like normal gold weapons(not rare platforms), their attachments cannot be swapped). So, for every care package, a fully kitted weapon also arrives.
3) Now, I think this buff plus the second buff can make lifeline OP but here's the 3rd buff.
She can choose what drops as her loot. Now, I don't know how they can implement this but it can be combined with the second buff like she can choose if she wants a rare weapon or a purple body shield. Idk.
Also, just remove the legshot thing, it is annoying af and would be another buff to lifeline.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/apexlegends/comments/gg9l3j/lifeline_buff/