The new kid on the battle royale block has been live for well past a month now and gone into its first season of content. And millions of former Fortnite addicts, PUBG refugees and newcomers alike are on board for the ride, forever chasing that widely coveted game over screen declaring them as the Apex champions. In fact, they’re probably chasing after it so fervently that they’ve managed to overlook a few things, despite hundreds of hours put in surviving and thriving in Kings Canyon.
Whether it’s a neat alternate function on a weapon, an obscure mechanic, a hidden detail, or one of the finer points of using an ultimate or tactical skill, you’d be surprised what even a seasoned legend will miss out on until well into their career. But the good news is you can take measures to make sure you’re not that guy. Like reading lists of these things to ensure you’re on top of what’s what when it comes to Apex Legends. You want some even better news, though?
You’re already doing just that! I mean, you might’ve inferred that from the title. But still, here we are. And here we go with twenty-five things even veteran Apex champs have a tendency to miss out on. Make sure to us know what you learned in the comments! Or let me know how entirely disappointed you are in me and my life decisions. But seriously mom, stop commenting on my articles.
25 Use Select Fire On Rifles
It might seem a little basic, but I know that I definitely went a while before I figured this one out. While weapons like the Prowler SMG or Havoc rifle require a special hop up modification to do this, there are quite a few guns that have a select fire function by default.
This list includes the Flatline, Hemlok, and R-301 assault rifles, with the first two alternating between single and fully automatic fire, and the latter having both burst and single fire options.
24 Turn Your Shotgun Into Sniper Rifle
The Peacekeeper is a hugely popular selection for players of all skill levels, being the typical shotgun that every FPS player knows, loves, and is comfortable with. It’s also one of the most damaging weapons in the game, breaking shields and dropping players with incredibly powerful blasts. The catch is that you really do need to be up close, since it’s, you know, a shotgun.
While saying that it “turns it into a sniper rifle” might be a bit of an overstatement, attaching the precision choke modification tightens the pellet spread exponentially when aimed down the sights, extending the already incredible damage potential out to mid-range.
23 Imitate Bloodhound’s Ultimate With Digital Threat Scopes
There are currently two legendary “Digital Threat” scope attachments that you can get in the game, one being a close-range holographic sight, and the other being a long range, variable zoom sniper scope.
You definitely don’t want to leave these behind if you have a weapon that can take them, as aiming down the sights with either will highlight targets in bright red just like Bloodhound’s ultimate skill. While they’re a bit more limited than Bloodhound’s ability, they’re every bit as useful when it comes to picking out targets obscured by smoke or soft cover.
22 Summon Nessie, The Loch Ness Monster
If you’re really hurting for things to do, why not summon a mythical creature? If you can manage to survive a match long enough to do so, anyway, as there’s a lot of running all over the map involved, and other squads aren’t going to make it easy for you.
“Nessie,” as the creature is affectionately dubbed, continues a long tradition of gags in Respawn’s gaming catalog. You’ll need to locate and shoot a series of Nessie plushies hidden away in Kings Canyon, and you’ll need to do so in a particular order. Luckily, there is a map to help you out if you’ve decided to take on the challenge.
21 Destroy Lifeline’s Healing Drone
If you’re in a sniper duel with a squad that keeps on dropping that annoying DOC drone to heal up after you’ve smacked them a few times, you can decide that you’ve had enough and start putting bullets into that thing if it’s exposed.
Lifeline players had a tendency to place them haphazardly when they’re rushing to get themselves or their friends some much-needed health during a firefight, and generally, never learn that the drone can be destroyed because it doesn’t seem to be very widely known. But now that you know, you can get out there and teach them the hard way!
20 Block Doors
When being chased down or fortifying a building, any obstruction placed behind a door will prevent it from being opened. Frustrating for your opponents, and incredibly advantageous for you.
This can be accomplished utilizing Caustic’s poison barrels, the loot box a player leaves behind when defeated, or when truly desperate, your actual body. It’s worth noting that this also works while you’re downed, so if you can manage to crawl a few more inches into that doorway and shut it behind you, you can buy yourself quite a bit of time as your opponent struggles to understand why that darned door won’t pop open.
19 Craft Your Cosmetics
You’re actually not entirely at the RNG’s mercy if you’re gunning for specific skins to customize your legend. Opening Apex packs will sometimes give you “crafting metals,” which you can actually use to unlock those shiny cosmetics directly.
This doesn’t work for exclusive skins awarded through events or the Battle Pass, but it works just fine for the greater majority of the offerings. Just navigate to the armory or legends tab from the main menu, find the the skin that you’re after, and select it to see what the cost is in crafting metals.
18 Break Down Doors
While it’s true that you can block doors to frustrate or reroute your pursuers, if you find yourself on the other end of the stick, you can also smash them to pieces rather than find yourself entirely foiled.
It’ll take a couple of melee hits or explosives to blow them off the hinges, so it’ll be just a little time consuming, as well as the precise opposite of stealthy. In fact, it’ll be quite loud, if you can imagine that. But desperate times do call for desperate measures. Just mind that you can’t repair the door afterward. I mean, seriously. You don’t have time for that. There’s a championship to win, and you’re sitting here wanting to play “Sci-Fi door repairman.” Get your priorities straight, man.
17 Use Lifeline Packages As A Decoy
This is another one of those “so obvious, but it’s genius” bits, so bear with me. But the fact that Lifeline dropping a care package generates so much attention can easily play to your advantage.
You can drop it into the middle of a firefight to generate chaos or attract nearby teams to join the fray, or pretend that you haven’t noticed that squad eyeing you up from the nearby building, allowing them to assume you’re vulnerable and unaware while the rest of your buddies set up for a counter-ambush. The possibilities go about as far as your imagination does.
16 Keep Items Highlighted Longer
Have you ever run from across the map the pick up a choice piece of loot that one of your mates pinged for you, only for the ping to disappear before you’re near enough to get your hands on it, finding yourself forced to scrounge around as you play hide-and-seek with that Skullpiercer hop-up, or that sorely needed Phoenix Kit?
Well, if you hover over that item’s ping symbol on your head and call “dibs” on it with another ping, it’ll keep the item highlighted for a much, much lengthier period of time, allowing you to locate it a lot faster. It’ll also let your teammates know that you really, really want that item. Though whether or not they’ll actually care is another story entirely.
15 Quickly Highlight Foes For Your Allies
You don’t always need to utilize the communication wheel to send out the pings that you want to send – sometimes the game’s smart enough to figure that one out for you. And it can save you a few valuable seconds when it comes to pointing out threats.
If your crosshairs are over a hostile target, you’ll automatically send out a hostile ping to your squadmates if you choose to ping them. This also makes it easy to highlight multiple targets very quickly.
14 Swap Your Damaged Armor
Well yes, duh, of course, you can replace your empty common armor with that slick suit of ultra-comfortable, ultra-protective purple loveliness. But you can also replace it with armor of the same tier if yours is in worse shape.
You can’t do this if your armor’s undamaged, or if the loose piece is in worse shape than yours is. Because, well, what’s the point? But replacing your depleted blue armor with one that you just found will save you time and shield batteries. You can also do this with armor of a lower tier, say if your purple armor’s broken, but that white one is in good shape. Whether or not that trade-off is worth it is a situational consideration. Still, it’s one that could save your life.
13 Outrun The Ring With Bloodhound’s Ultimate
Bloodhound’s ultimate is insanely useful when it comes to acquiring and hunting down your targets, graying out your surroundings but highlighting hostiles in bright red. But people often completely overlook the fact that it provides you with an incredibly useful speed boost as well.
Whether you’re trying to give an enemy squad the slip, catch up with your squad or outrun the ring as it closes, Bloodhound’s ultimate provides a lot more utility than most players give it credit for.
12 Use Pathfinder’s Grapple On Enemies
It’s a little unconventional, so you can be totally forgiven for never giving it a try. But man, have you been missing out on one of the more fun and quirky uses for Pathfinder’s grappling hook.
This can be particularly useful on downed enemies that are crawling through an area that’s too hot for you to dash in and finish them off. Since you can’t get to them, just hit them with your grapple and drag them to you! You’ll have a much easier time finishing them off from behind cover.
11 Meet A Developer And His Dog
Well, not like, in person. Anyway, this touching tribute might actually tug on your heartstrings a bit. You see, Respawn Entertainment’s Jason McCord lost his beautiful canine, Shadie, while he was working on Kings Canyon.
So he paid tribute to his ever-faithful companion by building her an in-game shrine! The location, hidden away in the Market area, consists of a dog plushie in Shadie’s likeness, standing vigil over an actual picture of the dog herself as well as a picture of Jason and his wife. If you happen across it while you’re venturing across the map, take a moment to pay your respects before continuing the quest towards victory.
10 Absorb Grenade Blasts With Your Knockdown Shield
A common tactic for people that don’t want to waste their bullets trying to punch through a downed player’s knockdown shield is to drop a few grenades near them and then move on.
But that isn’t exactly a foolproof method, as the fact that you can actually absorb explosive grenade blasts by pointing your shield towards them is often overlooked. Of course, it helps if your shield’s still in good shape, but make sure you keep this in mind next time you’ve dragged yourself behind cover and someone thinks they’re being clever by tossing a frag grenade in after you.
9 Make Mirage’s Decoys More Realistic
Mirage’s decoys don’t always run in a straight line towards their assigned location. They’ll mimic whatever action Mirage is engaged in at the time as best they can, with some obvious limitations. If you’re running, they’ll run. If you’re crouching, they’ll crouch. If you send them towards a loot box, they’ll act like they’re digging through it and changing equipment.
These little touches can go a long way, and can often be the deciding factor between your opponent knowing it’s a decoy and revealing their position with a torrent of totally wasted bullets.
8 Share Your Equipped Items
Granted, you won’t want to do this often, but if you’re in the late game and have just respawned an ally that needs equipment, you can drop things that you actually have equipped if you’re feeling generous. That generosity might just save your skin, though.
This can mean the difference between going into battle with a well-armed squadmate or one that’s got nothing to hit the enemy with but their own two hands. All you need to do is bring up your inventory screen and hover over any item in your equipment slots.
7 Use Enemy Portals Against Them
If your party stumbles across an opponent’s Wraith tunnel, there are two things that need to be immediately processed. First, they’re probably not that far ahead of you. Second, you could perform a really slick ambush by hopping into that portal with guns blazing.
Think before you leap after them, though. Do they know that you’re there? If so, they might be expecting you on the other side. But if you’re certain that they’re unaware of your presence, it’s pretty gratifying to pop out of the other side to catch them healing, looting or otherwise vulnerable.
6 Revive Yourself When Downed
Have you ever dropped the last member of an enemy team, only to find yourself confused when they aren’t immediately eliminated? No, you didn’t miss one, they’ve all been downed. And then your pondering of this peculiar situation is rudely interrupted by a hail of gunfire coming from that last guy that you thought you’d downed.
No, you’re not going crazy. If you’re lucky enough to find a legendary knock down shield, you’ll be able to pick yourself up from being downed. Just make sure you’ve managed to drag yourself into hiding before you use it, as the animation is very telling and can take quite a while. Still, talk about a dream clutch situation!
