Apex Legends is finally coming to mobile devices, with so much of what you know and love about the battle royale game still intact, just in a handheld form factor. And yes, this runs much better than Apex Legends on Nintendo Switch, rest assured of that. Whether you’re a brand new Apex player or experienced elsewhere, this guide is for you.
In this guide we’ll be giving you the tips you need before you dive into Apex Legends Mobile. Follow the advice we have below and you’ll have the advantage over your foes in the early hours of play. Read on and drop into the battle zone.
Adjust the controls
When jumping into a mobile shooter for the first time, adjusting the controls to your liking is essential. By default the game will offer you several UI choices, one for experienced Apex players who wish to imitate that experience, one for players of other mobile FPS games, and another for people brand new to Apex Legends and mobile shooters.
You can further customize your choices in the settings menu after your initial decision, and you should. There is a myriad of tiny tweaks you can make to ensure playing the game feels as natural as possible, depending on what you’re used to dealing with.
Weapon practice
Apex Legends Mobile has multiple new modes for you to use to get in some quick games instead of a lengthy battle royale session, and of course, you can also find the Firing Range here, in addition to a new tutorial and training mode.
You can use these modes to adjust to the weapons – with mobile shooters you’ll be feeling recoil much more than on console or PC, so be ready to compensate and adjust your weapon choices if you’re a regular Apex Legends player.
New multiplayer modes
We mentioned new multiplayer modes already, but they really are worth mentioning. Battle Royale and Arena modes are present, of course, but we also have classic Team Deathmatch to keep us entertained, with random a base respawn variants to keep things fresh. There are also new event modes, which include a Battle Royale quickplay, which is where you’ll find familiar Apex gameplay, squeezed into a tight timeframe.
Auto functions
Tapping buttons on a controller or keyboard is easy and feels like second nature to anyone that has played video games for more than a few hours, but tapping a touch screen in multiple precise locations – whilst also being able to see – is a different experience. That’s why mobile games often simplify the experience and automate certain actions.
You can automate the process of opening loot bins, doors, and picking up weapons and ammo. By default you’ll automatically pick up ammo for weapons you have equipped, up to a certain amount, but you’ll need to swap out weapons for better weapons manually, and this also does not pick up weapon attachments you might want.
Complete challenges
Sounds obvious, but if you’re just coming over from regular Apex, they’re easy to miss. You do have your usual selection of daily and weekly challenges to complete, but there are even more challenges with include leveling up, logging in daily, and more. Even if you don’t intend to actually play a game, it’s a good idea to log in once daily and check for any challenges you can tick off the list.
Unlock characters
Apex Legends Mobile, just like the main game, does not start with the whole roster unlocked. Luckily you can unlock most of the available characters just by leveling up your profile and completing challenges.
Fade, the new mobile-exclusive Legend, is a bit more difficult. To unlock Fade you’ll need to focus on your battle pass challenges, as he’s a free reward. Or at least pieces of him are. Once you collect 10 Legend fragments, you’ll be able to assemble and unlock Fade.
Bunny hop
Apex Legends veterans will remember the early overpowered days of bunny hopping which saw talented players skip around the battlefield at speed while healing up. This advantage was toned down massively after a few patches, but bunny hopping is very strong right now in Apex Legends Mobile.
While a nerf is definitely in the works, you should be using bunny hopping and sliding as much as possible to get an advantage. You can expect the aim of your foes to not be as good as on console and PC, so sliding down a hill and bunny hopping through an area is a surprisingly safe way to move.
Prepare for bots
Massive shooters are more commonly introducing bots onto the battlefield. The satisfaction of taking down an AI that doesn’t really have any concept of tactics isn’t great compared to a real player, but it does give you an ideal arena in which to practice your moves so you can overcome the greater odds when real players get involved.
The early few matches will likely be riddled with bots, so just be warned, and rack up some great scores while you’re there.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
