Returning to the Battle Royale genre after a long while? Perhaps, you have ignored all the mainstream titles like Fortnite and PUBG, but want to get an idea of what a futuristic Battle Royale game feels like.
Maybe, you are just a loyal and hardcore Respawn Entertainment fan and will try out anything they throw your way. Either way, we have got you covered when it comes to surviving, fighting, and ultimately winning in Apex Legends.
Apex Legends Beginners Tips
Before you drop down onto the battlefield, look around for colored enemy trails to see where they are likely to land by holding down the left trigger.
This gives you a chance to land away from the danger zone and slowly make your way towards the center of the map when you are fully stacked with weapons and armor, so you stand a better chance in combat.
For a start, stick to sub-machine guns and assault rifles since they are well-rounded weapons and are easier to use without any complications.
Until you have a clear understanding of how other types of weapons work and perform, resort to the aforementioned types for best results.
Explore around the map in your first few matches. Get to know about how the regions of the map are divided in terms of geography, foliage, accessible features, and terrain.
While you trek across the King Canyons, you’ll come across hot air balloons or “Jump Towers” that let you glide across the map to escape the enemy or moving to a more promising spot. Similarly, ziplines will allow you to cover distances quickly.
Choosing a Legend
Although the actual survival and success rate will depend on individual skill and coordination between the teammates, some characters will work better and suit your play-style compared to other ones.
It is important to know what each character brings to the battlefield and how their skills may be incorporated into your game plan.
Although all these characters will be balanced in terms of strength, speed, and power attributes, they come with their unique abilities (passive and tactical) and ultimate attacks titled “Finishers”.
These abilities give the game an RPG feels as you are essentially choosing a class.
This is because some abilities are catered towards healing teammates, shielding them from damage while others work to track the location of the next storm or let their allies travel instantly from one place to the next.
In total, there are 6 characters with an additional 2 only unlockable via purchase through the in-game currency.
For more details on these Legends, check out our Apex Legends Characters Guide.
Teamwork is Key
Contrary to the likes of Fortnite and PUBG, APEX Legends focuses on teamwork and the working solo is not an option … That is until your teammates are eliminated of course, but that is what we will be aiming to prevent.
For this purpose, it’s always advised to uphold the responsibilities and perform the essential job of sharing loot, ping enemy locations for your teammates, and most important of all, always stick together.
The Smart Comms mechanic of the game makes highlighting and tracking any useful items or threats to avoid, easier.
You will proceed in a squad of three members who can voluntarily take up roles like scouting for enemies, gathering supplies and leading the pack when it comes to assault.
In the unfortunate case where one of your friends is “downed”, the revive mechanic works a little differently in APEX Legends.
Once your ally has been knocked out, you will need to move closer to collect the “Legend Banner” near their body.
Now take this banner, and under a time period of 90 seconds, make it to the respawn beacon and plant the banner there to successfully get your friend back into the fight. Note, reviving your ally will run over a time period of 5 seconds.
Weapons and Items
From healing consumables and shield restoration batteries to weapons, armor, gear and firearm attachments, the maps are riddled with loot crates and cylindrical containers that you can open to gather all sorts of useful items that will further your chances of survival. These items come in four different rarities: Common (Grey), Rare (Blue), Epic (Purple), and Legendary (Gold).
Although the first three class of weapons can be obtained with some decent exploration, the last rarity has you scouring every inch of the map in search for these Legendary Weapons.
With that said, there are some locales that are made visible to all players. These spots on the map known as Hot Zones and these spring up randomly during a match at different points that cannot be predicted.
Within these zones, a player can find weapons and gear of the Epic and Legendary grade, so though every player will be swarming to reach the area, it’s a risk worth taking if you believe in your ability to make it out alive, and with the best gear in town!
As for the weapons themselves, you can collect between standard firearms, to futuristic weapons to out-right OP guns that can instantly put enemies down.
Although sniper rifles have always been a top choice in shooters, APEX Legends allows for combat based in-doors so camping spots and sniping venues are limited.
Shotguns and LMGs are really powerful in this game, which, if you can land all the pellets or shots, you will be doing decent damage.
The fire-rate and reload speed for the said weapon types are not so abysmal either, unlike tradition. Check out our full APEX Legends Weapons Guide for details including statistics and characteristics of each weapon.
Rewards and Bonuses
Achieving victory, bagging kills and generally playing through the matches earn you XP that contributes to your overall Player Level.
The more you progress in this regard, the more “APEX packs” you can open for rewards including weapon skins, cosmetic items and even the 2 additional characters that we mentioned above.
Apart from the obvious modes of earning XP as mentioned previously, you can track down and eliminate the current “Champion”, a title given to the player who had the best performance (usually the victory) in the previous round.
Putting him down will net you 500 XP for your troubles.
Some Tips to Help you Along
There is no drop damage in the game, so jump off a huge cliff or from the top of a tall building if you have to.
Holstering your weapon will give you a slight boost in movement speed. Though this will not look like much, it could mean the difference when you are escaping the shrinking ring.
Always clear your inventory space so you never struggle to make capacity for a useful item that you come across later down the line.
Thanks to the highlighted color that accompanies every item, you’ll know which items are better than the ones you’ve already equipped in terms of rarity allowing you to manage inventory space more efficiently.
Since Finishers or ultimate attacks will have some start-up frames or take time to initiate, you can interrupt them by shooting or performing a melee attack on the foe so the move never comes out in the first.
Crafting metals can be used to unlock and apply skins to your existing weapons for a better look!
