Apex Legends tips and tricks

While Apex Legends is a battle royale, beginners who are just jumping in on the fun can still benefit from a guide. It’s one of the best takes on the genre we’ve played, but there are things that differentiate it from the others. From its guided emphasis on teamwork to its legends and well-made maps, there’s a lot to love and learn about Respawn’s free-to-play hit.

If you’re one of the many millions looking for advice on surviving Apex Legends, here are 15 tips and tricks that will put you and your squad on the path to becoming champions.

Choose a legend

Apex Legends has 12 playable characters to choose from. Each legend has a passive, tactical, and ultimate ability. Besides those perks, all legends play the same. They move at the same speed and can pick up and use the exact same gear. Just know that no matter who you pick, you can still make it to the end of a match, so we suggest taking each legend for a spin to see which abilities click with you.

For instance, if you like to go in guns blazing, Bangalore or Wraith might be good for you. If you’re a cautious battle royale player, Bloodhound and Gibraltar are good choices. If you play the healer role in other games, Lifeline might work for you.

Stay with the Jumpmaster

Like other battle royale games, Apex Legends begins with the drop. One player in your team of three is designated as the Jumpmaster. The other two can suggest locations to head toward, but at the end of the day, the Jumpmaster chooses the location and the angle at which you head there. Sometimes you may strongly disagree with the spot. Maybe it’s a barren area unlikely to have gear. Or maybe you can see other teams heading in the same direction. It happens.

But avoid the temptation of separating from your team, which you can do at any time during the descent. Splitting up is a recipe for an early demise. Not only are you more likely to be killed by an organized squad, but you’re also less likely to be revived if you separated from your teammates.

If you’re set on not landing right next to your teammates, we advise waiting until you’re close to the ground. That way you can land within a short run from your teammates. Sometimes this works because you can search different pockets of a larger area for gear rather than fighting for the same stuff.

Stick together

It should probably go without saying, but after you land as a team, you should stay as a team. Apex Legends is the first battle royale game to really, truly have a deep focus on teamwork.

From the revival system to the ping system to combat, it’s built for cohesive teamwork. Trying to be a lone wolf, at any time throughout a match, endangers both you and your squad.

Pick items and weapons carefully

Unlike Call of Duty’s Warzone mode, ammunition takes up a backpack slot. You only have eight slots to start, so it’s easy to fill those by picking up different types of ammunition, grenades, and health/shield replenishers.

You can expand the backpack up to six spots by finding new backpacks, but keep in mind you need an open space in your inventory in order to pick it up (weird, right?).

When you first drop, it’s fine to pick up everything you see. But after you grab a weapon or two, take a gander at your backpack. Chances are you’ll have some incompatible ammunition. It’s up to you, but we recommend shedding the ammo that you cannot currently use.

When you come across new guns, you’ll almost always find the ammunition it uses either right next to it or close by. It’s a waste to lug around unusable ammo, especially when you can use those precious slots on attachments and all important consumables.

Don’t worry too much about the ring at first

Like other battle royale games, the playable area gradually shrinks throughout the match. You shouldn’t worry too much about this until the late game, though. Once the timer for each round hits zero, a new timer starts that tells you when the ring will start shrinking. In short, you have a lot of time to avoid the closing ring. Pay more attention to the persistent threat: Other teams. You have to be really trying to die by the ring.

On the flip side of this, it’s sometimes smart to post up just inside the ring as it’s closing. You might see a team or two scrambling to get in that can be easy prey.

Heal out of harm’s way

Healing takes time. Whether you’re replenishing shields or health with consumables, you need to not be interrupted. Don’t heal out in the open during a firefight. You’re better off fleeing the scene entirely or trying to take out enemies with low health than trying to heal when under pressure.

Use of the ping system

The most novel system in Apex Legends is undoubtedly its contextual ping system. It facilitates nonverbal communication and makes playing without a mic very doable. When you see an enemy, mark them with the ping system to tell your teammates their location. Even if you think they saw the enemy too, it never hurts to place the mark.

When you find gear that you aren’t going to pick up, mark it. Your character will vocally call out the gear so your teammates can see if it’s something they could use. When you want to explore an area or head in a certain direction? Tell your teammates by placing a marker. Using the ping system often, even excessively, can go a long way towards surviving.

Grab yellow gear

There are five pieces of yellow legendary gear in Apex Legends. Their stats are identical to the purple (rare) versions of that item, but they have perks that can be very, very helpful. If you see a yellow piece of gear, grab it no matter what. Here’s what they do.

• Backpack: Consumable usage time is cut in half
• Helmet: Faster regeneration on tactical and ultimate abilities
• Armor: Shields replenish from finishers
• Knockout Shield: Lets you self-revive one time when knocked down
• Digital Threat Scope: Highlights enemies red

Be careful when reviving teammates

Just like using personal health and shield items, reviving teammates who have fallen can be risky. Hopefully, your teammate will crawl to a safe position to help you out, but you should wait till the coast is clear before going in for the revival. It’s very easy to get killed while reviving a teammate, and that won’t help you or your fallen comrade.

With that said, sometimes your teammate will have to bleed out due to the situation. If that happens, you can still bring them back to life by recovering their banner within 90 seconds. Again, be careful recovering the banner and then hoof it to the nearest beacon to bring your buddy back to life.

What you need to know about movement

Apex Legends has zero fall damage, so do not worry about jumping off buildings, cliffs, bridges, whatever. You cannot get hurt. Speaking of movement, get to know the crouching slide. It helps you move quicker down slopes and even when going down small inclines.

You can also climb a short distance by holding the jump button. This lets you scale walls and climb to the second story of buildings or rooftops. Lastly, when running, consider holstering your weapon. You run faster without a weapon equipped.

Don’t forget about your abilities

As we mentioned earlier, each legend has three abilities. Passive abilities work automatically, the tactical abilities work after a brief charge, and the ultimates become available over time (you can see the charge percentage in the bottom center icon on the screen). We suggest using these fairly frequently.

If you have an ultimate available and you’re in a firefight, use it. There’s no sense in saving these for the exact right moment. For starters, you never know when you’re going to die. Also, ultimates charge fast enough to where you can use multiple in a single match.

Pay attention to balloons

See those balloons in the sky? They let you redeploy. If you want to cover ground quickly, head over to one of them and ride the vertical zipline. You won’t launch as high as you were at the start of the match, but you can cover solid ground.

Only use finishers when the coast is clear

One of the neat, untold aspects of Apex Legends is finishers. If you down an enemy, you can approach them and press the button prompt to perform a finishing move. They look really cool, but think twice before performing them. Finishers can be interrupted by enemies and you can even be killed while the animation is in full swing. Best to only do finishers when you’ve eliminated all of the threats in the area.

Attachments make the gun

Apex Legends has a great variety of guns, from pistols to SMGS to LMGs to assault rifles and more. None of these guns, however, are incredibly easy to use (outside of point-blank range) without some kind of sight. If you have two guns, one with an attachment and another without, it’s almost always preferable to use the one with the sight.

You can also make weapons more capable with barrel stabilizers, extended mags, and hop-ups. Hop-ups alter weapons like the Peacekeeper shotgun to make them so much better, so pay close attention to the attachments you find. The more attachments your weapon has, the easier it will be to win firefights.

Perpetual motion

As a faster-moving battle royale game, Apex Legends isn’t really set up for camping. Sure, it’s fine to stake out an area when the ring is getting smaller, but in the early stages of the match, you always want to be moving. Camping restricts you in a variety of ways. Most notably, it hurts your overall build. You’ll need a hefty arsenal to come out victorious in the late game. Keep your legs moving across Kings Canyon.

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