The exciting battle royale romp Apex Legends has seen quite a dip in activity from its explosive launch in February 2019. While the intense FPS gameplay brought in records amount of gamers with its enticement of free-to-play content, it had its flaws. Perhaps the biggest criticism the game has garnered is the insane grind it took to gain significant XP and unlock rewards.
Though Respawn Entertainment has heard these suggestions loud and clear with the July 2nd Season 2 launch. With it comes the implementation of more daily and weekly challenges, and additional XP bonuses. With these tweaks, there are a number of means to help you climb up the ranks for the game's 2nd season. Though with the inclusion of a brand new weapon, a new Legend, and minor adjustments to some existing weaponry, the dynamics have changed somewhat.
With that said, let's examine 10 ways to optimize your play within the Season 2 conditions so that you can gain XP, Battle Pass levels, and land rewards quickly and efficiently.
10 The Deadly Duo of Wraith And Lifeline
Sure, the new electrified legend known as Wattson can be amusing to play, and, similar to Caustic, can be particularly effective indoors with her traps. Still, the Legends you'll often want to utilize in order to increase your muscle and survivability are Wraith and Lifeline.
Wraith's potent offense and small hitbox help make her the Legend with the highest ratio of kills per match among players. Lifeline, meanwhile, is a favored selection among the top Apex players thanks to her useful Healing Drone and Care Package. Opting for this duo —or at least one of the two—will help maximize your odds for a more successful run.
9 Frequent Communication With Your Squad
Communication is key in Apex; almost as much as mechanical and offensive prowess. The game utilizes a detailed ping system which is easy to use while conveying vital bits of information quickly. Take advantage of this to ensure you stay on the same page as your squadmates.
If you are looking for that more scarce energy ammo, let your squad know in case they stumble upon some. If you find an Ultimate Accelerant that could be beneficial for your Lifeline player, let them know. You'll also want to stay together and assist in skirmishes as much as possible. Efficient comms—both pings and actual voice chat—will help you achieve this, along with more victories.
8 Focus On XP Bonuses
Apex has seen the introduction to various daily and weekly challenges, which can be burned through to earn you XP and Battle Pass levels. However, players often forget that a number of more basic tasks can also notch you heavy doses of XP and expand well beyond merely getting kills or pulling off wins.
Some of these include; a top 3 finish, which will net you 300 XP; ally respawns, which give you 200; and playing with/killing the champion, which gets you 500.
7 Take Out Flyers And Dragons For Good Loot
One of the cool new S2 inclusions brings a Fortnite-esque element to Apex, with the introduction of Flyers and Dragons. These flying monsters allow you to pick up some rarer loot in a new way while giving you a bit of target practice in the process. You'll want to keep your eyes peeled for them flying around at random points in King's Canyon.
The smaller Flyers will yield loot when shot down, while Dragons actually carry Death Boxes that can provide a plethora of blue and purple goodies. While these creatures won't attack you, they'll retreat after being shot, so you'll want to be swift and sharp.
As a cool side note, Pathfinder can temporarily grapple onto them, which you can exploit to keep up with them.
6 Utilize The New L-Star EMG
One of the biggest S2 additions to Apex Legends is the enjoyable new Legendary LMG, known as the L-Star EMG. This beast isn't just fun to use, but it's quickly climbed its way to near the top of the heap in terms of most effective weapons. Unfortunately, being one of the best weapons means it's also quite rare and is exclusively found in airdrops.
This energy weapon comes with a very high DPS and rate of fire, similar to the Devotion, except the Devotion's annoying warm-up isn't present here. It can overheat, however, so if you are lucky enough to happen upon one, you'll want to fire in short bursts to avoid this. Used effectively, this LMG can wipe out foes rather quickly, putting you and your team in a good spot to reign supreme.
5 Hone Your Survival Skills
Now more than ever with the launch of Season 2, dropping "cold" can actually prove beneficial, even if you don't see a ton of action. With the new inclusions of daily challenges, there are a plethora of ways to rake in ample XP and rewards without just opting for kills. Even if you aren't exactly the most powerful or aggressive offensive weapon, simply playing smart, being evasive, and outlasting many players can bring you rewards.
The longer you and your team are playing, the more points you'll ultimately gain. Specifically, you'll get 180-230 XP per minute, the rate of which increases the longer you survive. You'll also get bonus XP for top 10, top 5, and top 3 finishes—so winning isn't everything!
4 Practice Up, Soldier!
With the various adjustments of weapon stats and traits along with an all-new weapon, it can be difficult to keep up with the every-shifting meta and mechanics. Thus, you'll want to spend some time at the training mode to get more accustomed to the fire rate, accuracy, kick back, etc, of each weapon.
You'll need to get through a few minutes of boring tutorials, but after this comes a useful training area which bombards you with a vast array of the game's guns. You'll also be given a variety of targets differing in sizes and movements. It may seem dull and pointless, but getting used to the "feel" of each distinct weapon can mean the difference between life and death.
3 Complete Challenges
One big incentive to revisit Apex frequently is its rotating daily and weekly challenges. Of course, the name of the game is to be the last squad standing, first and foremost, but honing in on various challenges will land you stars which are put towards your Battle Pass level.
This can also help inspire you to be more efficient in battle, as some of the challenges involve effective tactics like landing a certain amount of headshots or dealing a certain amount of damage inside a bunker. Completing 5 daily challenges alone with grant you an entire Battle Pass level.
2 Play With Friends
Playing Apex Legends with some buddies isn't just helpful in terms of communication and staying on the same page when in the arena. As it happens, you can actually get additional XP for doing so.
Believe it or not, one of the more effective ways to get a constant stream of bonus XP in Apex happens to be one of the simplest: just play—and survive)—with friends. Each friend you play with grants you an additional 2.5% bonus of XP. So get a couple of buddies together, assemble an elite squad, and watch the points roll in!
1 Play Often!
It might seem simple, but Apex Legends has increasingly taken on a Pokémon Go method of rewarding regular players with its cycling of daily challenges as well as bonus XP. Like many of the methods listed here, this doesn't necessarily require you to even play well - just frequently.
Simply notching the first kill of the day will reward you with a bonus 500 XP, for instance. You can further milk this reward by playing with different Legends, as each one will give you this first kill bonus. Of course, this won't work towards your individual Legend statistics, but the XP/Battle Pass levels will still be compiled to your overall stats.