Apex Legends might not be the original battle royale, but it’s probably the most popular. Besides Fortnite, which is its own juggernaut entirely… With 22 characters to play as, four maps and new content added in each season, it’s not hard to understand the appeal of Apex. But it’s also quite different to any other game out there, with a strong focus on movement and abilities.
To help you become the legend of the arena, we asked streamer and Apex pro Fangetta for her best tips and tricks to get better at Apex Legends.
Understand the Objective
Apex Legends is a fast-paced battle royale with up to 60 players in a game at once. You want to be the last person or squad standing when every other team has been eliminated.
Like all battle royales, the safe zone on the map is constantly shrinking, forcing players to stay on the move. To survive, you need to stay inside the zone, pick your fights carefully and find high-end loot that’s powerful enough for the end-game.
Master a Character
Fights in Apex Legends can be won or lost by how you use your abilities, so it’s a good idea to master one or two characters so you know exactly when to use their abilities to be most effective.
“I’m obsessed with Octane. He’s a very fast character and I’m drawn to movement characters,” Fangetta says. “I also like Valkyrie and Ash — all the ones who can go very fast with their abilities. I really like moving around the map and keeping the game pace quite fast.”
Revenant, Fuse and Bangalore are aggressive characters with high fire-power. If you prefer a more defensive playstyle, legends like Wattson, Caustic and Gibraltar are good picks, while Bloodhound can gather intel, Lifeline can heal teammates and Loba can pick up powerful loot through walls.
Keep Moving
Apex Legends is a fast-paced game and, because it’s a battle royale, the map is constantly changing, forcing players to stay on the move. Sometimes, though, you can temporarily hunker down in a secure location and use your time there to rally and wait out other teams.
But it’s not just about running wild, Fangetta cautions. You should always be aware of where you’re going and what’s happening around you. Listen out for nearby team fights to either keep a safe distance or to swoop in at the last second to steal the loot. And try to plan ahead so that you don’t get caught out when the Ring shrinks.
Use Your Abilities
Each character has a Tactical, Passive and Ultimate ability. Tactical abilities are the main ones you’ll use and they recharge quickly, like Lifeline’s healing drone, Valkyrie’s missile swarm, Pathfinder’s grapple and Newcastle’s shield.
Passive abilities are always active, or can be activated at will without a cooldown. Bangalore’s passive lets her move faster when she’s under fire, Rampart gets extra magazine capacity and faster reload speeds when she’s using certain kinds of weapons and Octane heals over time when he’s not taking damage.
Ultimate abilities, as the name suggests, are the most powerful abilities in the game and can often change the course of a fight. Horizon’s Ultimate deploys a black hole that sucks nearby enemies in, Lifeline calls in a special drop of high-quality gear and Wraith can create a teleport between two locations on the map.
Use your abilities often, and over time you’ll learn when they’re most effective for you and your team.
Learn When to Fight and When to Retreat
“Generally speaking, the best way to win is to win it quickly,” Fangetta says.
The “third party” is an important concept in Apex — if you hear two squads fighting nearby, try to hang back until the fighting’s almost over and then swoop in to clean up the winners (before they have a chance to heal) and pick up the loot of both teams.
And when you’re one of the first two teams? “You want to win it quickly. And as soon as the fight starts going fast, you want to be thinking about whether you should abandon it or back up a little bit.”
Learn When to Drop
Every Apex Legends game begins with the teams dropping onto the map from above, and where you drop can make or break a game. It comes down to how comfortable you are as a player.
“A lot of people go to the loot-orientated drop spots where there’s a lot of loot for the whole team. Personally, I’m a very aggressive player so I like to drop at the hot drops — that’s where lots of people drop in at the same place — and take all of those fights.”
“But that’s not something I’d recommend for everyone. If you’re new to the game and want a quiet drop, you want to aim for the far ends of the map, away from the dropship. There’ll be quite a lot of big loot locations at the edges, and you can look at the other teams dropping with you and decide if you want to take them or not.”
Ping!
Like any online FPS game, communication is vital in Apex. But microphones aren’t your only option — there’s also a ping wheel that lets you quickly communicate things like where enemies are, where good loot is and which areas you want to attack or defend.
“If people are paying attention, you can communicate everything you need to with the ping wheel,” says Fangetta.
Whether you’re using the ping wheel or a mic, she advises that the key things to communicate are when to start a fight, when to leave a fight and where you want to go.
Know When to Swap Weapons
When you’re in the middle of a fight, it’s almost always faster to change to your second weapon than to reload your main weapon. Get into the habit of switching weapons when you run out of bullets, and only reload when you have cover or it’s the last option. As a last resort, Apex Legends has a fairly powerful melee ability that can save your life in a pinch.
Watch the Pros
Besides playing, one of the best ways to get better at Apex Legends is to watch streamers. Look for people who play the same characters as you and take note of when they use their abilities and how they position themselves in team fights to be most effective within the squad.
Browse the Apex Legends category on Twitch to find them, or tune into Fangetta’s stream to pick up more tips and tricks from her.
“There’s a lot to Apex. A lot of different characters and abilities which tie into things like which characters are better, which are worse, how do you play with or against these characters… It’s really complicated but in a great way, because there’s so much to learn and so much to be constantly improving on.”
Watch Fangetta stream Apex Legends and other games on Twitch and follow her on Twitter here.
