Apex Legends - 6 Underrated Tips I'm Using In Season 14
Season 14 is here, and, hang on, I'm getting cooked. I know these tips will help all players of any skill level, so let's get into it. Tip number one: I'm rotating early in the season. The zones close faster than they ever have before. In fact, it is three times faster. It used to take 180 seconds for the first ring to close, but now it only takes 60.
This means that rotations have to be in the forefront of your mind as you land. If you're taking too long with either looting or fighting off drops, well, both of these will trip you up and usually set you up for late rotation. Learning to wrap up fights faster goes a long way as you climb the ranks in Apex, because the higher you go up, the more and more teams are aware of their partying.
Each other's rotating late this season is straight up asking for trouble, not only because round one storm is doing more damage than before, but also because the combination of the storm and a team trying to fight you as they're rotating late can be extremely annoying. You also have teams that camp on the edge of the circle because they are looking for teams rotating late and coming out of the storm.
When the enemy team has that leverage over you, it will be extremely difficult. One thing players tend to screw up is when they think the zone closes. That's when they should start their rotation. This isn't true for most rotations; in fact, it's totally contingent on how far you need to go to get into the next circle if it's halfway across the map.
You need to leave much earlier than right when the zone closes. This will be difficult because you're not going to know where the zone is pulling until you land, but it is something you need to think about within those first 30 seconds of landing. It's very similar when you leave for a commitment in real life; you usually want to take him for some traffic.
If you avoid all roadblocks as you rotate, you should consider yourself lucky. I would try not to make a habit of it. This season, tip number two, I'm taking selective fights. I'm not trying to play other people's games. If they're sniping and my team isn't, I'm solely focusing on how I can close the gap, or we're just not going to give that enemy team these damage-dealing opportunities.
Now this may sound easier said than done, but it's usually possible in most situations. Obviously, those situations where you're fighting a team and you're getting griefed by a third party with snipers from Narnia. Yeah, there's not too much you can do about those moments, but when you figure out what guns your opponents are using, this should then gauge how you're going to take that fight or not.
I often see so many players will entertain the idea of these poor trade-off scenarios, like when an enemy has a charge rifle and you have a flat line and there's 70 meters between the two of you, there's no way in which you're going to get the better of that exchange. So don't even entertain it this season.
This is simple sports psychology. If a team is trying to run a play on you, you have to learn how to play defense. And sometimes offense is the best defense, whereas other times you just gotta d up. This can also work on the flip side too. If your team is using ranged weapons, then don't feel obligated to close the gap until you get a knock or some clear opening.
The one issue that I found with this is that if you're solo queuing and you're using a sniper but your teammates aren't, this can and usually will create somewhat of a conflicting play style for the team as a whole. It generally has some risks attached to it, but really don't let that stop you. If you want to be a sniper and your teammates don't, then go for it.
I'm just saying, think about the differences in playstyle. As you go about taking on a team, players can have different motives from game to game contingent on what guns they're using. Tip number three: following the meta The meta has shifted in season 14 and I'm heavily focused on it. This will also help me when it comes to countering or combating the current legend and weapon meta.
Right now the legend meta is centering around legends like vantage, horizon, Valkyrie, Newcastle, Seer, Bloodhound, Octane, Caustic, Mad Maggie, and a couple others. These legends provide a diverse set of abilities and require a lot of thinking to realize what's possible. Game in and game out, the Sierra meta is really difficult to deal with as there's usually no real counter to wall hacks.
I mean, yeah, of course you can destroy his ultimate if you see it, but that's not always possible and he'll still have his passive. How did teams counter it? Well, they had to have one on their team too. See, apex has a huge reactive component to metas and it's important to understand why that is.
If a team scans you with a bloodhound, there's no counter, but if you scan back yourself, then you basically have equalized their edge over you. The same thing works for caustic. Let's say a caustic team wants to push another team indoors, and that team indoors doesn't have a caustic. Well, the caustic team is going to feel way more confident about pulling off that push.
As far as the weapon meta goes, well, I can't remember a time where there have been so many different weapons that are actually viable. It feels like sniper and marksman rifles are really strong right now, and part of that is because the Vulcan is so popular at the moment, and her ultimate is being paired with other long-range guns like the G7, scout, the 30/30, and the skull piercer longbow, with the reemergence of the volt.
R and Wingman back to floor loot. While those are definitely back in the meta too, most of you know that the EV8 got buffed like crazy too, which is giving another viable option for shotguns. I mean, there are just so many good options to use this season beyond the normal r301, Flatline, and Peacekeeper combo.
I did cover all the legends and weapons in two different tier list articles, so check those out after this one if you're interested. Tip number four: I'm not being apprehensive with my playmaking. Stalling will get you killed. Apex is often a game of seconds. If I lose a fight, I try to figure out why.
Was it something I missed, like an audio or visual cue that changes the circumstances of the fight; did I misinterpret something my teammate said; did I mean, context is super important and communication is no exception; or did the opponent just execute better than me? Was I outnumbered? I mean, there's always a reason for a death or a kill, and I like to get to the bottom of it so that I can learn what works and what doesn't.
