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Apex Legends tips and tricks [Season 11]: a beginner’s guide to Apex LegendsReal, practical Apex Legends tips to help you win more fights
Real, practical Apex Legends tips to help you win more fights
Looking for some practical, top-tier Apex Legends tips and tricks?This beginner’s guide toApex Legendsis about as comprehensive a list of tips and tricks as you’ll find online. I’ve sunk over a thousand hours into Apex Legends since its release, and I can tell you there’s no better time to start than right now, in Season 11 - also known as Apex Legends Escape.
These practicalApex Legends tips and tricksfor Season 11 will kickstart your journey in Apex, and help you more consistently win fights and matches as any Legend.
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Winning a match in Apex LegendsWatch on YouTube
Winning a match in Apex Legends
Apex Legends tips: how to win fights and matches
Apex Legends is a team-based hero-based battle royale, where 60 players drop down onto the same map, loot up, and fight until one team is left standing. It’s a tough old world out there, so here are some tips for players who want to win fights and matches more consistently.
Start strong with a good landing
Learning how to drop properly is very important in Apex Legends. You need to beat your competitors to loot if you’re landing in a hot zone. Check out our in-depthlanding guidefor the best possible landing method.
Play aggressive
Apex rewards aggressive players. Practice closing the gap between you and the enemy while fighting, rather than getting stuck in a loop of popping out of cover, spraying, and hiding again to reload and heal. Learn the best tools for the job with ourbest guns and weapon statsguide.
Maintain a presence while wounded
Most players will push hard if they score a good hit on an enemy. If you’re hit hard, do whatever you can to maintain a presence and keep the enemy from pushing you. Sometimes it’s best to continue fighting and risk getting knocked, because breaking the Shields of an enemy may be enough to halt their push and save your team. If you do need to heal, use ourhealth and healing itemsguide to better understand which healing items to prioritise in different situations.
Loot quickly
Loot as quickly as you can, and don’t stay still while looting. Trust your initial scan of the items in a death box, rather than spending ages dawdling. Be disciplined with your loot time, and don’t go back for a second look. Check out our guide on finding thebest lootfor more information.
Flank carefully
Wide flanks are risky, but powerful as long as you have enough distance and cover that the enemy can’t pounce on one of you while you’re split. Make sure you maintain line of sight with allies if you do choose to flank.
Learn how to roam and hunt
The key to winning matches in Apex is snowballing from a good early start. Play aggressively after your initial looting, earn some kills to boost your confidence, and quickly move on.Olympusin particular is a great map for roaming and hunting, but on any map you need to have a firm grasp of themost popular locationsand rotation options.
Good positioning wins fights
Good positioning means three things: an advantageous vantage point on your enemy; multiple options for solid cover; and a “fall back and heal” route if things go wrong. If any one of these is absent, you not in the best position. Legends with team-repositioning abilities (Ash,Valkyrie,Horizon,Octane,Pathfinder, andWraith) take responsibility for this analysis.
Practice in the Apex Arena mode
Season 9 of Apex Legends brought a new permanent mode that now exists alongside Apex’s main Battle Royale mode. This 3v3 round-based mode drops players right into the fight again and again, which makes it fantastic for learning how to fight and survive. Lucky for you, I’ve put together a detailed guide on how to play and win in theApex Legends Arena mode.
Learn the best Legends and team combinations
The various Apex Legends characters each bring their own unique skillset to the team, and there are a huge number of opportunities for synergising abilities and great team plays. Take a look at the below tips for some premium information on team synergy and Legend choice.
Mobility abilities are essential
I’d strongly urge every team to have at least one good mobility-focused ability, preferably one which the entire team can use. Quick repositioning is a huge part of staying alive. Learn about the characters and their abilities with ourApex Legends best charactersguide.
Recon Legends are very powerful
The second thing I look for in a good team composition is scouting potential.Seer,BloodhoundandCryptoare all indispensable team players thanks to their ability to highlight threats in advance. The same is also true of Ash, who has an edge when it comes to third-partying teams thanks to her Passive ability.
Hitbox size is important
Memorise your teammates' Legends and skins
When aiming down sights at an ally, their name tag disappears, making it harder to tell friend from foe. At the start of each match, make a point of committing to memory not only your teammates' Legends, but their Legend skins as well, so you can quickly tell them apart from enemies in hectic close-quarters situations.
Don’t stick with the “meta” Legends
Don’t pay too much attention to which Legends the pros use, or which characters have the highest win rates. Apex Legends is a wonderfully well-balanced game nowadays. Try out every character you can, learn their abilities. Unassuming Legends such asLobaandRamparthave become two of my favourites over time because my teammates and I have learnt how to make the most of their powerful and not-so-well-understood abilities. And the same is true of other less-used Legends such asMirageandFuse.
The best equipment for different situations
Loot is a cornerstone of almost every battle royale, and Apex Legends is no exception. There’s so much to learn about the various weapons and equipment you can find throughout each match, but the below tips will highlight the essentials.
Use a well-rounded loadout
To maximise your chances of consistent victories in battle, you should have at least one automatic weapon. You’ll also ideally want to cover all distances with your two guns. Check out ourbest loadoutspage for ideas.
Factor in reliance on attachments
There are a great manyApex Legends attachments, and they all change their chosen weapons in significant ways. Sometimes, lacking a certain attachment can spell disaster in a fight, which makes guns like theWingmanorFlatlinemore appealing because they don’t need so many attachments to excel.
If you’re playing on the Stormpoint map, know also that defeating the NPC enemies (Prowlers and Spiders) will reward you with “smart-loot”, which means they’ll drop attachments specifically for the weapon you used to defeat them. This makes going after NPC nests very powerful for guns with a high reliance on good attachments.
Choosing guns for certain ranges
In close quarters, you can basically choose any SMG or Shotgun and you’ll be golden, because they’re all tremendously well-balanced and powerful. For mid-range, theRampage,Hemlok,Flatline, andR-301 Carbineare best. At long range, aTriple Take,Charge Rifle,Kraber, orSentinelare ideal.
Understanding Evo Shields
Executing enemies replenishes shields
There is merit to using afinisher or executionon a knocked enemy: doing so replenishes all your Shields without you having to use a consumable. It’s a risky task though, because the knocked enemy will no doubt let their teammates know what you’re doing.
Poking at enemies
Gold Gear
Gold Gear has a particular unique benefit, and is always worth picking up over Purple Gear - but not necessarily Red Gear. There is merit to picking either a Gold Body Shield or a Red Evo Shield. Red gives you more hit points for a spray-down encounter, while Gold Shields allow you to heal much more efficiently given the chance. Both have their favourable situations.
Using Knockdown Shields to good effect
Knockdown Shields aren’t just for protecting the wearer: you can also take cover behind the Knockdown Shield of your own knocked teammate in dire situations. I’ve seen many a fight won with this tactic. For more information check out our guide toreviving and respawning in Apex Legends.
It’s well worth accruing crafting materials and spending them at a Replicator for Shield Batteries and other powerful items you won’t find elsewhere. Let the placement of Crafting Materials influence your choice of landing spot for each match.
When to fight and not to fight in Apex Legends
The best teams in Apex Legends can quickly analyse their situation and figure out whether to fight or reposition in a moment’s notice. With these practical tips, you too can learn this vital skill.
Be wary at 3 teams remaining
With three teams remaining, you should be very careful deciding whether or not to engage. The advantage will always go to the last team to enter a three-way fight. Look to escape instead of fight if you’re not the final team of the three to start firing.
Pay attention to the Ring
Over the course of an Apex Legends match, theRingwill slowly contract and force players together. Over time the Ring gets far more damaging, so particularly later on you should pay attention to whether you need to move to the next circle. Factor this in when you’re wondering whether you should start a fight right next to the border.
Effective third-partying
If you’re about to third-party a fight that isn’t yet finished, analyse the situation and target the team with the highest chances of victory. Targeting the wrong team first is the most common downfall of the third-partying tactic.
Splitting the team makes for a bad defence
If one player is in bad shape and needs to escape a fight, the entire team’s goal should switch to accommodate this. Other healthier teammates should either look to escape with them, or find safe ways to stall and push back against the enemy team using abilities or a well-timed burst of gunfire.
Stick to cover
Communication tips and tricks
Let’s finish up with a couple of useful tips to bear in mind about communicating and working with your team over the course of an Apex Legends match.
Use the Ping system for effective communication
You can Ping so many different things in Apex Legends. You can ping loot, enemies, supply bins, Bloodhound tracks, Wraith portals… But you can also use pings inside your inventory to request ammo, a gun, or a specific attachment. Don’t let a lack of voice comms hinder your team’s chances of victory. Check out our guide to theApex Legends pingsystem for details.
Information overload is better than silence
If youareusing voice chat, and you’re serious about trying to win the match, you should keep up a steady stream of information both in and out of combat. Your teammates should know where you are in relation to them without them having to take their eyes off their goal to look for you.
Ask your teammates for their graphics settings
It’s very important to get your game running as smoothly as possible, and your video settings play a very large part in this. Ask your more experienced teammates what settings they’re using. Or indeed, check out ourApex Legends settingsguide for a full breakdown of every option.
