Apex Legends dev reveals 4 ways to get better at the game
Mike Cook, Respawn Entertainment’s Senior Technical Artist, gave four helpful tips on how to improve for struggling players.
Apex Legends is an always-evolving game, with new weapons, heroes, and even maps added each season. When you add balance changes to the mix, it becomes difficult for casual players to keep up with the meta and most relevant tips.
Who’s better to give players tips than the people who developed the game in the first place? One lucky Apex player was able to get a guide directly from the source.
Redditor, u/NightWillReign, created a post on the r/Apex Legends subreddit, asking for help after 60 hours of playtime. “I don’t know how everyone is so good at shooting in just silver,” they wrote. “Every game, I either lose or get carried with the lowest damage/kills. I could stand right behind an enemy and shoot first, miss everything, and they turn around to kill me … Now I’m thinking that shooting games are just not for me, or maybe there’s a guide somewhere that could help me in this.”
Senior Technical Artist for Respawn, Mike Cook, saw this post and gave some tips to the struggling player. He added some general tips on positioning and which weapons to choose, but the bulk of his input came in the first four points he made.
Tips from an Apex Legends developer
- Understanding the recoil pattern of the weapon. Firing range helps a lot with this. Once you understand the recoil you can counter it while you fire to keep the bullets going as straight as possible.
- Understanding your engagement distance and bullet drop off. Firing range helps with this as well. Knowing how far your enemies are and aiming higher to counteract the drop off so they land where you want.
- Predicting player movements. If someone is running to your left and they jump, you can guesstimate where they will land and aim there instead of aiming directly on them. This gives you a split second to predict, aim, and shoot.
- Crosshair placement: If you’re up close, aim right below people’s necks, recoil makes your weapon kick upwards and you can get some headshots in.
One of the most difficult parts of Apex Legends is learning which weapons you like and which you don’t. You can ask people for recommendations, but some players like certain weapons more than others. There’s always going to be a best-in-slot choice, but player preference plays a big role, here.
After giving these general aiming tips, Cook moves on to talk about positioning – arguably the most important element in a game like Apex Legends. “Positioning is key!” he wrote in all-caps. “You can have potato aim like me, and still pull off good plays based solely on your positioning.
Apex Legends isn’t the easiest Battle Royale game to pick up and play, but that’s part of the reason we love it. Mastering the game is difficult, and there’s always some way that you can improve through your experience.
Hopefully, these tips from Mike Cook helped this and other struggling players get some more kills, wins, and see a path forward to Apex Predator. If not, we have plenty of Warzone articles you may want to read.
