When compared to a regular battle royale game, Apex Legends has many additional elements. The most prominent is a choice of characters to play, unlike in FPS/third-person shooter games such as H1Z1, DayZ, or PLAYERUNKNOWN’s BATTLEGROUNDS. The second noticeable difference is the choice of weapons. They’re not off-the-shelf copies of the weapons you know, which adds difficulty since you have no reference, forcing you to experiment. This is a big part of learning how to get better at Apex Legends. Besides a few graphical tweaks and good enough hardware and peripherals, it all comes down to testing, then applying what you learned.
1. Double-check your hardware
To improve your skills in Apex Legends, you must meet at least minimum system requirements. Most agree that’s stable 60 frames per second (FPS) on an equivalent monitor (60 Hz). Additionally, if your Apex Legends keep crashing, that problem has to be fixed immediately. Sometimes the only solution is a hardware upgrade to a better PC or the next console generation. Other times, the FPS can be increased for free, just as we managed to increase FPS in Fortnite. Also, read our tips about playing online games and what’s required/recommended.
2. Get acquainted with the game
The starting point for this is reading our Apex Legends review and other game-related resources. Learn about the available Legends e.g. in-game playable characters, and their advantages and disadvantages. Choose one that fits your character and playstyle the best, but that still fits into the squad you’re playing with.
Some lone wolves need a reminder – Apex Legends is an online game, so you’re meant to play as a team! Stay in a group, even if it seems your Jumpmaster is leading you to the wrong drop point. When you land as a team, you have better chances of survival. After the initial split-up and hunt for weapons and armor, you can overpower the other players and maneuver the map easily.
3. Learn to travel farther
Where you drop has a massive impact on the game. If you didn’t realize by now, the Jumpmaster is automatically the 3rd person who picks their Legend and will guide their squad. But holding the forward button won’t actually carry you to the greatest distance in Apex Legends. Instead, you’ll have to learn a little trick to maximize distance. See the two lines on the left and right? The left is for airspeed, and the right is for altitude. Here’s what to do.
- Keep holding the forward arrow on PC, and left stick up on Xbox and PlayStation at all times.
- Keep an eye on the left gauge. When it drops below 130, dive for a second or two (tilt the camera toward the ground slightly). Don’t dive straight down, just at a small angle.
- Return to the horizontal state of flying once the airspeed gauge is above 140.
- Repeat this process until you land.
4. Invest in a good mouse and finetune mouse sensitivity
You can artificially increase sensitivity on a cheap office mouse or get a better joystick. However, nothing beats the comfort, response, and precision of a gaming mouse and its optical or laser sensor. Plus, they’re relatively cheap nowadays. Unless you use dual monitors, we wouldn’t go over 6400 or 9600 DPI. Wired or wireless? Completely up to you! After that, use the combination of a physical DPI control button and in-game settings to finetune the mouse. Also, play around with the “sensitivity while aiming” value.
5. Use training mode to your advantage
Training mode is an invaluable resource that can allow you to progress at a rapid pace. With its targets (some moving) at different distances, you can practice all key game mechanics, including sliding and sprinting while switching targets or running behind cover on the fly. Plus, you have access to all weapons, so you might suddenly realize you’re doing better with some of them.
6. Minimize aim readjustment
We’re talking about keeping a crosshair at a certain height to reduce the time needed to target. Don’t look at the sky or the floor, keep your crosshair at the opponent’s neck level, or slightly above. Why here? Read to the tip below.
7. Take notice of recoil
Each weapon has a different recoil or movement while firing. Some fire in a straight line, going slightly up or down. Others, like Re-45, move slightly upward and lean to the right. Use wall impressions from a bullet in training mode to test the recoil of your favorite weapons. Then, practice aim control, so that as many bullets end up in or around one spot. That’s why mouse sensor and sensitivity settings are so important.
8. Practice shooting at targets while sliding at a decline
Remember the sliding movement when you first booted Apex Legends? Going down a hill looked cool, but it also had a very important role. In a real match, with the zone reducing and you staying on the move, you’ll often find yourself sliding toward the lower ground while being shot at. And if you stop to aim or continue sliding without a firing back or reaching cover, you’ve signed a death warrant.
9. Increase your FOV (Field of View)
By default, the FOV is set to around 70, depending on your graphical settings. This increases performance but also decreases your view of the battlefield and incoming enemies and allies. We usually increase it to around 90. Configure it to a number that feels comfortable on your monitor.
10. Manipulate doors to your advantage
Always close the door behind you to prevent snipers and enemies outside from killing you. Besides with your body, you can also block doors with death boxes and the Nox Gas Trap dropped by Caustic. On the other hand, you can destroy doors with a melee attack (2 strikes most likely) or grenade if you’re setting a trap or preparing a camping spot.
11. Pop a shield before you heal
We recommend using a shield cell over a healing syringe when both are available. The former takes 3 seconds to complete, while the latter takes 5 seconds. Those 2 seconds can be a difference between life and death.
12. Holster your weapons
We can’t promise the things mentioned next will remain this way forever. But these are still factually correct since the February 2019 speed test by a player named t_status. He discovered that all Legends have the same running speed. Then, he found out that players that run with their weapon holstered, whether it’s a pistol or full-fledged gun, run 12% faster while they’re not aiming.
To put away a weapon in Apex Legends, do this:
- On PC – press 3.
- On PlayStation – press and hold the Triangle button.
- For Xbox – press the Y button.
13. Master sliding
Now you’ll realize why we mention sliding so much – because it’s significantly faster than sprinting! In the above video tests, players running downhill unarmed managed to develop a speed of 11.9 m/s, which was 61% more than the top speed while sprinting. When a weapon is drawn, the sliding speed drops to 53% more than sprinting down the same hill. Another great benefit is that you can heal while sliding without a speed reduction.
14. Drop into player-packed zones more often
Don’t use the training mode as a crutch – nothing can replace the rush of adrenaline while fighting for your life. However, being slaughtered senselessly is no good either. Even worse, sometimes you can’t even find a weapon in time. The solution is to let your teammates know that you plan to drop in a high-tier zone at the start. Another tip – use the time while you’re downed and crawling to ping the enemy’s location to your teammates.
15. Read about subtle game mechanics
There are plenty, but here are 3 you’ll notice immediately:
- The dead enemy’s loot box will have a colored glow. It is based on items they dropped. The completely gray box is of the lowest quality and isn’t worth leaving cover for. But if it’s gold, blue, purple, or pink, the player had valuable items when he/she was killed.
- The color of damage numbers signifies the enemy’s armor level. If it’s level one (up to 50 HP), the numbers will be white. Blue numbers represent Rare armor (up to 75 HP), and purple for Epic and Legendary (up to 100 extra HP). Hitting a headshot shows in yellow numbers but doesn’t show armor level.
- You can glide on red balloons with ropes hanging. Climb on them, and you can fly at a rapid pace – great for escaping to safety.
16. Acquire a quality headset
This applies to many games, especially those that have to do with shooting or hunting. Using a gaming headset can sometimes make you feel like you’re cheating. You will be able to not only hear them sneaking or racing in, but also pinpoint their location as if you can see through the wall.