With Apex Legends now out in the wild (and breaking all sorts of records), players the world over are jumping into Respawn’s take on the thriving Battle Royale genre.
As with any new take on the genre, it can take some getting used to in order to truely understand and perfect the game’s fundamentals, and part of the process is coming to terms with the game’s basic traits, even where they may seem like such trivial and natural facets of the gaming experience.
In this guide we’ll run through the most common How To’s in Apex Legends.
How To Execute
The finishing move is part and parcel of the Battle Royale experience, and Apex Legends is no exception to the rule.
While you may get plenty of satisfaction in downing an enemy with a full magazine clip, you’ll need to finish the job and shut them down for good before they’re out of the picture.
This is where Apex Legend‘s Finishers come into play.
You won’t find much about these in the game’s main tutorial, but finishing off an enemy is as simply as holding down E/X/Square when standing new the enemy. A cutscene will trigger, and your Legend will finish off the enemy in style.
Be careful, however: while in this animation, you’re vulnerable to enemy fire, and if you’re hit during the act it will mean an early end to what will become an ineffective Finisher.
Finishers will cost you 1200 Crafting Materials each for their Legendary status: aside from Bangalore and Mirage, who have one Finisher, all Legends have three in total (one to start, two to unlock).
How To Get Legend Tokens
Legend Tokens stand as a key in-game currency, and you’ll stock up on this by simply playing the game and levelling up your profile.
600 Legend Tokens are up for grabs with each level, so you’ll earn plenty early on, but as expected the grind can mean larger gaps between an influx between levels as you get more experience.
Legend Tokens can be used to unlock additional Legends, such as Mirage and Caustic (the two only locked characters currently, with more sure to come in the near future). Each will set you back 12,000 Legend Tokens.
The Apex Coins area of the game, where you can purchase alternative skins, is also where you can spend your Legend Tokens. These alternate skins are available if you own via a loot box, or purchase a particular skin: this in turn will unlock alternate colours of the same skin, available for purchase with your new Tokens.
How To Get Crafting Metals
Along with purchasing skins as noted above, you can also create a number of different skins using Crafting Metals.
These Crafting Metals can be attained by unlocking and opening Apex Packs, which need to be purchased with Apex Coins, or by receiving them with each new level up.
While Crafting Metals are exclusively for crafting cosmetic items, which have no direct impact on the outcome of a match, they are still great for carving an identity for yourself with a variety of skins, banners, and Finishers.
Crafting Costs
You can craft the following items using Crafting Metals:
- Legend Skins
- Banner Frames
- Banner Poses
- Banner Tracker
- Intro Quip
- Kill Quip
- Finisher
- Weapon Skin
The costs are the same for each of the above:
- Legendary: 1,200 Crafting Metals
- Epic: 400 Crafting Metals
- Rare: 60 Crafting Metals
- Common: 30 Crafting Metals
How To Access Your Inventory
Managing your inventory is a pretty important component of the Apex Legends experience, because you need to be on top of the resources and tools available to you throughout a match.
To open your inventory:
- On PS4, hold down “Options”
- On Xbox one, hold down “Menu”
- On PC, hold Tab.
How To Be Good
Check out this guide for some beginner tips.
How To Play Cross Platform
Cross-platform support has become a pivitol component of the success of the Battle Royale genre, particularly Fortnite. With the release and subsequent success of Apex Legends, this has of course prompted plenty of questions as to whether Respawn’s popular entry will also bring action across multiple platforms.
We know that cross platform play on Apex Legends is happening. When it’s happening is up for much debate.
Respawn has been clear across multiple interviews, Tweets and clips regarding the game that it’s working on cross-platform play, but hasn’t really divulged further as to when it will drop … or how it will work.
Looking at cross-platform where it has been applied, one would expect that cross-purchase and cross-progress probably won’t occur: whatever your lead platform is, you’re stuck playing on that platform. That means that if you opt to build up your skills on console and eventually find yourself battling it out against PC players, that you won’t be able to then jump on a PC, login, and boot up your character.
Given the success of Apex Legends, the growing fanbase, and continued support from developer, Respawn, it goes without saying that we should see cross-platform support coming to Apex Legends in the very new future.
How To Change Your Weapon’s Fire Mode
Some weapons are built for quick bursts, automatic firing and bombastic blasts, but some just need that slow, precise and hard firing rate that makes for the most efficient battlefield banter.
Thankfully, Apex Legends allows you to switch the firing mode for select few weapons. This means you’ll be able to switch between automatic, and single-fire.
These three weapons allow for different firing modes:
- R-301 Carbine
- VK-47 Flatline
- Hemlock Burst AR
Simply tape right on your d-pad, and you’ll alternate between the two firing modes.
How To Self Revive
Apex Legends has a number of different gameplay features that keeps it firmly in a league of its own in an increasingly crowded genre. One such feature is the way it deals with death, and respawns/revives.
Your teammates can revive you during battle, or respawn you at select locations across the map, provided they collect your beacon at the location you were downed.
There’s also a way you can self-revive.
What you’ll need is a Knockdown Shield. Supply Drops are your best bet here given the (higher) rate with which they drop Legendary items. You may find it drop down with Lifeline’s care package, but I wouldn’t hedge your bets on it.
Legendary items all have a unique, special ability, but the Knockdown Shield really stands out amongst the crowd. It comes with its own “Resurrection Ability”, which is as obvious as you can get.
