Apex Legends tips

Here is a concise starter for people getting into the game. It’s easier to show your friends this than explain it all (over and over again).

Deleted tips have subsequently been patched out of the game since launch.

Tips below refer to the PC version wrt keybinds.

• Instead of pressing MB3 twice to ping an enemy, use the default F
• Instead of dragging inventory items to drop them, press MB2
• Bind your map to LALT instead of using M
• B changes the fire mode of weapons
• Ping a weapon inside your inventory to ask your friends for ammo for it
• If you call “Dibs” on a pinged item, the marker won’t disappear over time
• There is no friendly fire, although I wouldn’t try standing under Lifeline’s supply drop
• … Because Lifeline’s supply drops pack a punch
• Don’t drop in a straight line; drop straight down to build speed
• Enemies and squad mates who are knocked down can use Wraith’s TP
• Mute your friends in-game in the lobby screen if you’re using Discord
• Some weapons change completely when you attach a hop-up¹ to them
• Legendary weapons use their own ammo
• The Mastiff has absurd range
• Enable the game’s text-to-speech feature in the settings
• Pathfinder can still use relay towers after they disappear on your map
• Pathfinder can use his grappling hook ability to pull people towards him
• Use a quick double jump or hold jump to scale those high walls
• If you start climbing a wall and stop going forward, you can peak above the wall without exposing yourself
• Doors can be destroyed by anything including melee
• You can body-block entrances and doors while upright and knocked down
• Caustic can also use his cannisters to block doors and chokepoints
• Wraith can use H to share your ability whispers with your squad
• Wraith’s passive whispers are very easy to miss, it’s not just you
• Bloodhound’s tracking range increases with better scopes
• Run faster with weapons unholstered, 3, as often as possible
• Remember that legendary equipment has unique perks; mouse over to see
• The colour of damage indicators shows enemy armour: red, white, blue, purple
• Headshots have a yellow damage colour
• Enemy armour makes a sound when you break it
• A respawn station can only be used once; have all banners ready before use
• Grenades can’t be cooked
• Equipping a new armour restores full shield; make good use of that
• Bloodhound’s tactical ability is excellent, but gives away your position; don’t spam it
• The game has its own loot goblin in the form of the loot robot you know from unlocking customizations
• Punch the loot robot to save ammo and stay silent
• The flight leader has an icon next to their name in the selection screen
• Finishers don’t kill instantly and can be interrupted
• Wraith’s tactical ability makes you invincible
• Caustic’s canisters can be destroyed by shooting the marked bottom
• Lifeline should always be the one reviving, unless you don’t want her shield to give you away
• If someone’s running out in the open like an idiot, it’s probably a Mirage bamboozle. Or me.
• Downed enemies are bullet sponges so take out their allies first
• Attacking a downed enemy is called “thirsting” for a reason
• That means you’re a bullet sponge, too; help your friend reach you rather than sitting on your ass with your knockdown shield up
• The entire team dies instantly when the last person is knocked down
• Caustic can keep creating canisters without limit, but only a set amount can be active; then newest canister will replace the oldest
• Shooting legs deals less damage
• Don’t sleep on the Arc Stars sticky nades; just don’t hit yourself with them
• You can cancel your falling animation
• You can basically fly as much as you want by using freelook
• Pathfinder’s grappling hook movement angle is your crosshair relative to the hooking point to a maximum of 90 degrees
• Pathfinder can use strafing and jumping to increase grappling verticality and momentum
• Pathfinder nerds can check out Frothy’s longer video on grappling
• Pathfinder’s grappling hook creates a spark when it his a surface
• There’s a swap icon in the loot menu you can use to switch weapons; or you can just switch the usual way
• Don’t rebind CTRL to C since you can’t hold C and strafe left and right simultaneously
• If you see an enemy running from the closing circle, shoot them a bit to increase the likelihood fo the cicle finishing them off
• Don’t be afraid of stepping outside the circle, no matter how late in the game
• You start out with 100 HP and gain 25 for each tick of shield to a max of 200
• Gibraltar’s shield ability is up for 15 seconds, so time your grenades, airstrikes, and mortar attacks accordingly
• Lifeline’s revive shield is indestructible, so try using it more tactically
• You can use your tactical ability while healing and other things
• The game did not have a default screenshot keybind for me so make sure it’s bound to F12
• Your Arc Star sticks to your teammates
• Try to work on looting a location as fast as possible, might require map knowledge
• You can ping items in loot and inventory screens
• Remember to reload your weapons after picking up extended magazines
• Instead of reloading during a firefight, consider switching to your other weapon
• Remember to check whether you should swap your attachments to your other weapon
• Switching attachments during combat also gives you more versatility
• Before dropping, you can use MB2 to zoom in(!)
• Mirage can create a copy while dropping
• Open doors by shooting their handles
• Wraith has a small hitbox which makes her harder to hit than most, not even considering her abilities
• Pathfinder’s hitbox is completely broken and worse than Gib’s
• Bangalore’s ult disorients allies, too—but doesn’t damage them
• You can see your team’s equipment in your inventory screen
• The gold Wingman scope isn’t Digital Threat, and it can’t be replaced
• Wraith can’t move through her portal with her tactical active
• You can cancel your Legend selection with Esc
• Wraith can use her tactical while riding a zipline to avoid taking damage
• Lifeline’s drone heals enemies, too
• Total squad kills is listed at the top of the end-game screen
• Wraith can use her tactical while her ult is active
• Pathfinder can cut his grappling hook by crouching. Useful for dropping hooked enemies
• Bloodhound’s tactical is not 360 but cone-based so look in the right direction when using it
• Make a habit of arranging your primary and secondary guns so you always use the right one; try sorting by range
• Caustic gas seems to disable Lifeline’s healing drone
• You can drop some of your ammo (×20) with LMB
• If you can’t out-DPS the enemy, out-heal

Aiming and DPS

• Take your time to aim a few good shots rather than quickly whiffing 11 out of 12
• Similarly, a few good hits with a single-shot or semi-automatic are preferable to spraying bullets everywhere with an SMG or LMG
• This way pick weapons based on your probably DPS rather than per-bullet damage

Go back to the general Apex Legends page.

Wrote up some concise tips for getting started with #ApexLegends. No SEO crap and pop-ups; just to the point https://t.co/SDikwSWrwr

— Cygnatus (@cygnatus) February 9, 2019