Common Mistakes Apex Legends Noobs Make

Apex Legends is still a fairly new game, but that doesn't mean that people haven't learned the best ways to play it. There are already a set of best practices to follow, actions to take and strategies to employ to ensure your squad is still around in the final stages of a match.

But if you're brand new to Apex Legends, you might not know any of them. And that simply won't do.

Below, we're offering you beginners some of our best tips. We don't want you to embarrass yourself when jumping into Apex Legends for the first time, so we've laid out some of slip-ups that plague new players in the game, along with instructions for what you should actually be doing. After all, losing is never all that fun. But when your team is constantly getting trounced because you don't quite understand the game yet? That feels worse.

Here are the common mistakes Apex Legends noobs make.

Apex Legends is a shooter, so naturally, you might believe that bullets are warranted in just about every situation. But you have to remember, this is a battle royale game, not a round of team deathmatch. Your team has to contend with 19 other squads that could be just about anywhere on the map, which means you need to exercise caution. If you see an enemy, your first instinct should not be to fire on them immediately. That'll alert them to your presence, and will let every other team know where you are, too. That's what a noob would do.

Instead, you should approach with a little bit of stealth.

If you happen upon another player, you'll want to assess the surrounding area. Are his or her teammates nearby? Are there other squads in the vicinity that could turn this into an even bigger gunfight? If so, you'll want to know where those other players are, and you'll want to think really hard about whether or not your team can survive the encounter. Sometimes, you'll decide that your best course of action is to go in guns blazing. But sometimes, you might find you're better off slipping by unnoticed — especially if a scuffle could break out between two other squads.

You don't need a bunch of kills to win in Apex Legends. You just need to use your noggin a little bit.

The path toward winning a match in Apex Legends starts with dropping in a good place and securing gear. Some areas have higher-tier loot than others, and you can almost always count on those higher-tier locations being more populated. Still, some people like to chance it. Some think they can beat other squads to the punch, grab some weapons, and dispose of any threats, all while keeping the best loot to themselves.

One of the best places to get top-of-the-line loot in Apex Legends is the supply ship. But if you're a noob, you should not, under any circumstances, go there.

The supply ship might seem tempting as you see it flying by at the start of a match. You might've heard stories of the awesome gear people have stocked up on from the ship. The problem is, it's not uncommon for three, four, or even five squads to try looting the supply ship at the same time. It goes without saying that there is nowhere near enough loot at that location to support all of those teams, and quite often, someone who's caught without a gun can wind up in the crossfire between other teams without any means of retaliation.

The odds are very good that you'll either die on that supply ship, or have to jump overboard, possibly separating yourself from your squad in the process. So it's best to just avoid it altogether.

So you shouldn't land on the supply ship, because it's almost certainly going to lead to your death. Where should you go then? Maybe a lower-tier loot spot is the safest, as there aren't usually a lot of players heading toward those spots. You might not hit the jackpot with gear, but you'll at least last a bit longer and give yourself a chance to scrounge some up elsewhere. Or maybe you try your luck with a higher-tier spot after all? They won't be as cramped as the supply ship. Your odds are certainly better.

Believe it or not, the answer is quite simple. Simply check out where everyone else is going, and make your decision from there.

Apex Legends does something immensely useful when squads leave the jumpship: it gives each three-player group a colored streak that is clearly visible in the sky. When the countdown hits zero, you'll see a bunch of squads leave immediately, while some will hold tight and choose to jump later. But you can follow the streaks to see where most squads are landing, and where the higher-traffic landing zones will be. And that is something you definitely want to keep track of.

If you ignore where others are going, you do so at your own peril. But if you stay aware, you have a much better shot at landing your squad in a safe place.

Apex Legends does everything it can to encourage team play, right down to assigning your squad a jumpmaster so that you all descend from the sky as a group. This is intentional: the game wants to keep you together. It's how you'll be most effective, especially when threats could show up from any direction, or all of them at once. You'll need all of those eyes and all of those guns to stand a chance. But some new players don't understand that.

Here's the cold, hard truth. If you choose to peel off from your squad and land somewhere else, you're being selfish. And you're being an idiot.

For starters, the odds of you surviving on your own are pretty slim. If you engage one enemy, there are likely two more lying in wait, ready to exact revenge. Your absence also puts the other two squad members at a disadvantage, as they'll also lack the firepower to take on a full team. Should you go down, your teammates will have to grapple with whether or not to come resurrect you, taking all the surrounding enemies into consideration. And should you lone wolf it and leave your team behind, you'll basically be telling them that you have no intentions of reviving them at all.

In fact, they may just leave the game if you decide to go it alone. So don't do that.

Look, we get it. When you land in Apex Legends, you're almost instantly in a rush to grab whatever you can get your hands on. The weapon doesn't matter. The armor doesn't matter. You just want to make sure you have something, so sometimes, you feel compelled to grab everything. You can always replace a lesser item with something better, right? But if you come face to face with an enemy, your fists aren't going to get the job done alone.

But here's the problem with that approach: you can run through and scoop up all of the supplies, but if your teammates aren't equipped, you might as well have nothing at all.

You should always be aware of what others in your squad have on them. If you have two guns and someone else has none, drop one — even if it's a crappy Mozambique. If you're head to toe in body armor, but one of your teammates is entirely exposed, at least give them a helmet for some added protection. And look at the type of ammo your guns are using. If you swiped up a bunch of energy ammo but don't have energy weapons, why not see if someone else can use it?

In Apex Legends, sharing is caring. If you share, you're a hero. If you hoard, you're a villain.

Apex Legends is a battle royale shooter — that much you probably know. But like almost every other battle royale game, the threat of other players alone doesn't keep the game moving. Apex Legends doesn't let squads camp in their respective corners for hours on end.

There is a deadly storm circle that is constantly shrinking, and a countdown clock that tells you when the circle will shrink next. You should pay attention to it.

It's rather stunning how many new players will completely forget about the storm circle, pushing further and further in the wrong direction as they search for loot. Every person on every squad should be aware of both the circle and the clock. But since that's not always the case, you should take up that mantle for your team. Know where you and your squad are in relation to the circle and how much time you have to move. And if it's time to go, make sure you're on your way, and that you're yelling at your teammates to come with you.

Because nothing is more embarrassing than getting killed by the circle. Nothing.

If you're coming from another first-person shooter — say, a Call of Duty, a Destiny, or a Halo — you might be used to having a scout rifle weapon class. They're mid-to-long-range weapons that don't quite pack the punch of a sniper, yet don't fire as quickly as an assault rifle. They're nice to have in your arsenal for some situations, which is why you'll find them in just about any game with guns.

But not Apex Legends. So be careful — that scout rifle you think you picked up could actually be a sniper rifle. And not knowing that could get you killed.

Here's the thing about the sniper rifle class in Apex Legends: they're pretty much useless without a scope. You're meant to pick up a scope for it while you're looting, but if for some reason you don't, the weapon you'll be carrying will be slow to fire and super inaccurate. The one exception in terms of firing speed is called the G7 Scout, which has the name "scout" but is technically classified as a sniper rifle inside Apex Legends. It fires a bit more like a scout rifle but suffers from the same issue as the rest: it's inaccurate without a scope.

Remember: if you pick up a G7 Scout, a Longbow, or a Triple Take, you had better have a scope for it. If you don't, you're almost certain to lose any firefight you enter.

Almost every multiplayer shooter is best approached with a full squad of players in the same voice chat party. But we understand that, sometimes, that can't always happen. Sometimes you have to play alone, and sometimes, you want to avoid any potential toxicity from your squad. That's what makes the ping system inside Apex Legends so great. It gives you a non-verbal way to point out loot to your teammates, or let them know that you've spotted an enemy.

In fact, the ping system is so good that, even if you're in a party with friends, you should still be using it.

Nothing will make you look more like a noob than saying "here's a Level 2 helmet" or "I see someone over there" without using the ping system to mark the exact location. Doing so eliminates the guessing your teammates will have to do and, instead, tells them exactly where to go or where to look. And if you're able to stay on task, do what you have to do quickly and keep chatter to a minimum, your odds of survival are a whole lot greater than they'll be if you and your teammates are running around confused.

Learn to love the ping system. Chances are, those you're playing against already do.

One of the biggest noob mistakes you can make is to play Apex Legends like it's a typical battle royale game. Sure, it has the look of something like PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds or Call of Duty's Blackout. And sure, guns are going to be your primary method of destruction, just as it is in those other games. But something sets Apex Legends apart from those other titles, and it's something you'll want to keep in mind if you want to survive.

Your character in Apex Legends has special abilities. More importantly, a tactical ability that you can use quite a bit during the course of a match.

Everyone on the Apex Legends roster has a tactical ability that can either help do damage to enemies or can otherwise aid the team in some other way. And thanks to the low recharge time on tactical abilities, they're ready to use pretty often. Lifeline, for instance, can deploy a healing drone to add some HP back to members of your squad. And Mirage can send out a decoy hologram to confuse a trailing enemy or, perhaps, draw one out into the open. Whatever the tactical ability your character has, you should be looking for opportunities to use it whenever possible.

If you're not, you're just someone with a gun, and that's significantly less useful to your team.

The other type of ability your character wields in Apex Legends is called an ultimate, a far more powerful ability that has a slower recharge rate. In a typical match, you may only be able to use an ultimate once or twice, though if you're fortunate enough to land some Ultimate Accelerants, that number could go up. Still, many players will sit on a fully charged ultimate, waiting for the right moment to use it. And many will die with that ultimate having never been activated.

Your ultimate is no good to anyone if you're dead. So if you have one, and you have the chance to impact the game with one, use it.

It doesn't matter if you're dropping mortars from the sky with Gibraltar or laying down toxic gas with Caustic. And it doesn't matter if you're providing your team with a quick means of travel using Pathfinder, or if you're calling in supplies with Lifeline. If you see an opportunity to kill an enemy or two with an offensive ultimate, or if you think you can put your team in a better position with a defensive ultimate, it's almost always better to use it than to hold on to it.

If it works out, you might live long enough to get another one later on. And if you die anyway, well, you didn't really lose anything.

If you're fortunate enough to pick up some body armor during a match of Apex Legends, you're giving yourself a much better shot at living. That's because you're essentially getting two life bars: one for your body armor, and one for your actual health. Enemies who fire at you will have to tear through that armor before they can do actual damage to your character, and if they're not packing some armor themselves, you could win a shootout by simply outlasting them.

But here's something some new players don't always pick up on. If an enemy busts up your body armor, you haven't lost it forever. And you don't have to go searching for replacements. All you need is a shield cell, a shield battery, or a Phoenix Kit.

The three items above will either partially or completely restore your armor, depending on which you pick up. A shield cell restores some of your armor. A shield battery will restore all of it. And a Phoenix Kit — the best you can get — will actually restore all of your body armor and all of your health, too. If you've gotten really banged up in a scuffle, the Phoenix Kit will fix everything. Remember: you can use these in the middle of a fight, while your teammates keep the enemy distracted.

If you see shield cells, shield batteries, or Phoenix Kits laying around while you're looting, be sure to pick them up — even if you don't need them right away. You might later.

Apex Legends, like some other battle royale games, allows players to apply first aid and revive their teammates. Bringing a teammate back can help your squad tremendously, as it's far easier to win a match with three players than with two. And trust us, you'd much rather revive that teammate — who probably has a bunch of gear already — rather than run to a respawn beacon and watch them drop in with empty pockets.

But there's a time and a place for a revive. So if a teammate gets gunned down, ask yourself the following questions: Did either I or my teammate kill the enemy who shot our teammate? And did we also kill that enemy's other squadmates, who are undoubtedly lurking around? If the answer is no to one or to both, it's not a good time to revive your friend.

When you attempt a revive, you are incredibly vulnerable. You can't quickly cancel it should an opponent find you and start pumping you full of bullets. And that means that, by the time you can react, you'll probably be knocked down or dead yourself. And that'll put your other remaining squadmate in a rough spot, if they haven't already been killed themselves.

Before you revive, you should ensure the area is clear — otherwise your teammates will think you're a noob. And they'll be right.