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How to move with extreme efficiency in Apex Legends
If you have heard of Apex Legends, you’ve probably heard that its movement is a selling point. Here’s why.
Movement is key in Apex Legends. Like its predecessor in Titanfall, the game offers you all kinds of ways to traverse the map with the power of jumps and sliding or, if you’re lucky, through your Legend’s abilities. As you’ll have noticed when a high level player sends you back to the loading screen, there’s a little more to it than that, so pay attention.
There are tricks to getting from Point A to Point B which will up your game and help you master all the movement Apex Legends has to offer from wall bouncing to tap strafing. While not all are created equally, each has their uses and ways to be added to your tool kit.
Octane and Pathfinder shine when executing these movement techniques. One has a speed boost ability and the other has a grapple hook that lets him cover insane distances while picking up a lot of speed.
Wall Bouncing
Wall bouncing is something anyone can do and you won’t need any special settings to begin practicing this technique. Wall bouncing is when a player uses their momentum from a slide, and jumps into the wall at a shallow angle, briefly beginning the clamber mechanic, before removing all directional input and hitting jump.
Doing this properly lets a player gain a huge speed boost and jump height in a given situation. Pull this out when you are, quite literally, against a wall.
Bunny Hopping
B-hopping isn’t what it once was back at launch, but it’s still a great tool to get out of trouble and add a little more mobility while you’re using a healing item. Simply start running and, when you hit top speed, slide and remove any directional input from WASD/left stick and tap jump to begin.
Doing this maintains your momentum a little longer than if you had attempted a slide and stopped before beginning running again. It’s a great tool that can be the difference between making it around that corner to heal or dying just in front of it. Since every time b-hop begins a new jump, you can also add in the benefits of tap strafing to turn corners as you b-hop. This makes you more elusive and obscenely mobile when you should have no right to be.
The perks of playing on PC
The next movement option is only available to PC players. It’s a tough break, but hey, at least console players have auto-aim that makes SMGs way stronger. Playing on PC has benefits: better ability to turn and aim on a dime, far more buttons on the keyboard, and side of the mouse to ensure PC players never have to take their fingers off of WASD or the mouse, the ability to map multiple buttons to an action and the ability to map your control settings to whatever you want. Even say for example, binding your scroll wheel up to your second forward movement button.
Tap Strafing
Tap strafing is really cool. Not always the most useful ability for a given situation but it has its uses and like no other ability in the game, intended or not, it can break other legends' ankles and completely put yourself on another level. You’ve seen Imperial Hal do it, you’ve seen ItzTimmy do it, now it’s time for you to do it. It may be one of the reasons that many who glue their eyes to those streams are so enamored with Apex Legends.
First off, bind your second forward binding to scroll wheel up. Then when you are in the air and moving with a decent amount of force, turn in the direction you wish to go and scroll that mousewheel. Using a trick that makes Apex Legends movement so great. You mimic the input of moving forward multiple times at a fast rate that allows you to turn and use momentum you have gathered to boost you in another direction.
Any legend can do it under the right circumstances, the best being when using an octane Jump Pad. With the jump pad you can even complete a 180 in the air, sometimes tricking an opponent into thinking you disappeared into thin air as they take the launch pad after you.
It’s a nasty surprise for an enemy who thought you were running away, only to seemingly disappear off of a jump pad, or change the direction of your momentum to turn a quick corner, or cross up an enemy you are fighting. Try the last one only if you have mastered it.
The key to this ability is to practice it. Use Octane or Pathfinder and throw your jump pads all over the map and hit them one after another until you get the hang of it. It will take less time to get the basics down than you think, and it will surprise you how quickly you can implement it yourself.
It also feels really good to break another players’ ankles, so learn it and hope they keep it in the game!
The subtler uses of tap strafing
Like we mentioned earlier, there are the “big” uses of tap-strafing, like jump pads and being able to punish a player simply for deciding to share your jump pad. However, there are more deft uses you can find, like the ability to 180 out of a doorway, into a wall bounce to give you the advantage on an enemy who is chasing you. The way you can use a quick sprint burst while pushing an opponent to make them aim one way as you go another. These are harder to learn and master but show the ceiling tap-strafing can offer a player who can get it down pat.
Super Jumping
Super jumping has less to do with who you play and more to do with how likely you are to have access to a zipline. Sure Pathfinder makes ziplines with his ultimate and he can be a great pick to use this ability but, super jumping has a little more value when done at the map spawned ziplines where players tend to go. In the blink of an eye you can boost upward with such speed that they won’t know how to respond. You’ll be able to sympathize with them since when you first start trying to master this ability, you won’t know what’s going on onscreen either.
Practice Makes Perfect
All of these skills are mastered in the range. You can learn B-hopping and Wallbouncing fast if you have the skill but to get the consistency down is key. There’s nothing worse than trying your movement tech only to fall face first into a full squad with bad manners. The range is built for becoming a movement playground. A place to charge your ultimate to litter the range with jump pads and ziplines, then go wild. There are also plenty of spots to wall bounce and even try implementing the techniques in tandem with each other.
