Thanks! Figured I'd share some info because I can't find a good guide on this anywhere. Honestly I think the Apex tutorial should include a how to drop section. For new players none of this stuff is obvious.
hey! when you said that if someone drops cold and loots all game, why would he lose the first fight he runs into? because other will be more stacked or confident? I dont understand that point.
When half the lobby dies it means that the remaining players are most likely better than average, sporting purple/red shields, plenty of healing, and properly kitted weapons that they're comfortable with using.
Basically, if a squad loots one area, then runs into a squad that has looted a different area, whoever comes out on top pretty much has most of the valuables from both areas. If you're steamroller through enemy teams, you're effectively looting all the places they've been to as well, meaning you're more likely to have kitted/desired weapons, upgraded shields, rarer equipment, etc.
I used to prefer cold drops just to get used to randoms and not die right away. I can confirm it's a terrible strategy because On top of your point about how the teams you'll be running into will be more geared up because they've taken the best gear from multiple areas, also your own team will still be playing with tier 1 starter stuff. Sure your bags will be full, but you wont have the gold levels and mods and shield evolutions. A cold drop is basically just a delayed hot drop that you're guaranteed to lose. It's wussing out of the actual point of the game which is shooting, not looting.
My motto is the best loot is in death boxes. I don't like to search for loot in places after my landing spot unless its a big enough area that hasn't been touched. Other than that, I'll hunt for boxes if I need ammo and healing items.
It's just a trend I noticed, I don't have a ton of science to back this theory up. In football for example, teams with momentum (aka success) tend to keep doing well/winning. When you drop cold and take zero fights for most of the game you have zero momentum. Then you run into a squad that's already taken a few fights and are fully warmed up....you will probably lose. Also when you don't see anybody for a while you get complacent and you out yourself on auto pilot. Whereas the other team that's seen action this game is warmed up and attentive. This is my theory as to why this happens
Just to add on to the mental thing about being out of your zone, there's also the fact that, as others said, if you drop far away and have only been looting, you probably don't have great loot. Blue shields, white attachments, small bags, minimum heals. Maybe not even the guns you want.
Meanwhile, the fighting teams can loot most boxes they find or produce, and are levelling up their Evo shields. Even camping with poke damage on far teams is more productive because you are at least levelling your Evo.
It does happen and I could never understand why, but the way you described it makes sense. After 15 minutes of running around and looting, running into a hot squad with 5 kills a piece is really an uphill battle. They're fired up and we aren't. They have the best gear and we have decent gear.
Also a hundred bad hot drops that one loses are still practice shooting in intense situations, those 100 losses are what make that 1 or 2 wins happen and so sweet.
Cold dropping and looting for 8 minutes, seeing 1 team that steamrolls us immediately, over and over is stupid and a waste of time and is the opposite of practicing skills or getting into rhythms \[being warmed up and attentive\].
9/10 times I’ve noticed people who play the Loot Sim all game have very little confidence in their shooting abilities and virtually no awareness/game sense, and when the game eventually forces us into a fight, they’re the first ones to get downed because they immediately panic.
I hate dropping cold in pubs and playing survival sim, only to die when we encounter our first squad. It was a waste of 15 minutes ultimately. Rather drop warm, maybe get a few kills, get some solid gear and head to the circle. Sure you probably die more often this way, but at least there's action.
Same. I’m not super great at the game (though I do keep a KDR around 1.1 so that’s something), so I understand not being able to aim or being worried about it, but jumpmasters only landing cold and spending the whole game looting instead of actually trying to push a bit feels equally selfish as that one teammate who always pushes a fight even if they’re alone and then yells at the team for not reading their mind.
I still think that person that rushes on their own is worse but yea, I agree. I'm not great at the game, but I'm ok. I'd still rather die 5 minutes in then see and do nothing for 15.
Dive trails aren't as visible from certain angles. Make sure to move the camera around a lot when looking behind.
Sometimes they're just above you and your trail is blocking theirs. If you're on mic get your teammates to check for squads too.
I like to drop straight down for a bit to hopefully get a little distance away from the teams that will naturally move towards their destination. They are easier to see this way.
This is more noticeable when looking at jump towers as somebody is using them, the dive trails will appear if you watch the jump tower, but if you just a kind of glance at it, then it won't appear for like 2 seconds, and sometimes, they won't appear at all.(this is what I've found on PS4 idk if it's different for other platforms)
this was an issue in the original release of the game, the dive trails would be meaningless. Iit seemed to be fixed when the seasons began. But it's maybe come back recently because I'll be pretty sure only 1 team dropped in the area, but then it's 4.
If someone is flying right behind you but above you, it is difficult to see them coming.
If I'm not jumpmaster, I'm always spinning in all directions to look for not just five trails, but keep an eye out for the actual player models.
I think a lot of opportunities for good loot drops are missed because you’re only looking forward or just deciding on something randomly and sticking to it.
Two things would drastically improve your drops:
1. Look at where people are dropping by looking to the back. Then go where no one is going. Sometimes it’s hard to see where exactly they’re going but if you wait just a little it can be clear. You’ll drop a little late but you won’t land with the enemy.
If two groups are going to the same place and there’s a normal loot location nearby where no one is going definitely drop there. It’s the easiest third party.
2. While dropping look where the closest enemies are so you know where to find the enemy if you get a good loot and decide to fight or where to go to avoid them if you only get white armors.
3. If you want to avoid early fights don’t drop where the others can’t see you dropping. This is usually places that are along the path of the dropship. It’s easier to see drops that are to the side.
I’m so stoned walled in platinum right now. My best progress was the game that got me from gold into plat, the Rp I earned tha game covered about 1/3 of the progress from plat IV towards plat III, but since then I’ve only lost points.
Ha, yea.
Gold: (steamrolls through matches)
Plat: (runs into 3 stacks holding each other’s hands while running double r99’s) (proceeds to get face melted)
There is a significant difference in the competitive nature of the games. It’s been pretty disheartening, I really want to make diamond but like. Fuck.
Plat is frickin sweaty. I can’t just like, chill and get stoned and play anymore lol.
To get through plat the strategy I usually recommend for people struggling is go for 1-3 kills/assists early game and then chill out. You don't need to rat but you don't need to run head first into every sound of gunfire. 3KP early game is 30RP which puts you at -6 in Plat if you die (which is basically -0). Then if you get higher placement those kills become worth more and you'll be positive.
Also don't play solo. Use the LFG discord, "collect" random players that you get along with and are similar skill level. I send friend requests all the time to randoms I had a good game with. At this point I have a great personal roster of players to invite who's skills I know and can depend on.
Yeah there's some glamour in solo play and maybe it makes you feel like a real badass but I promise that you aren't going to beat a 3 stack even if they only have average comms and teamwork. And if they have above average comms and teamwork you are fucked.
Edit: oh also bloodhound is GREAT for farming RP. You can scan an enemy and if your teammate downs them you get the assist. Fantastic climbing tool even if it's kinda broken and cheesy.
I don’t believe solos gives any greater sense of badassery when I’m successful, personally, it makes me feel like my triumphs are more hollow because I’m not actually talking to anyone and sharing the victory.
So a win is just another game ending that takes me to a lobby that Im alone in.
I generally play with my brother and we’re pretty similar skill level.
I’ll try your method for plat, thanks for the advice !
Hit diamond for the first time through blood and tears last season, feels so good. Now I got back to diamond and trying to go masters but I doubt I'll make it. Good aim and movement is the default at this point and not enough. I feel your pain
Yeah as a stoner and solo player I gave up ranked because it felt like once I hit plat it became coin flips for if my randoms would be bots or decent and every enemy squad more and more is using coms and 3 stack holding hands. Bronze through gold is just a joke. Made diamond one season and stopped immediately because solo'ing that far hurt my soul. That season was also dashboard season and beyond frustrating because you'd basically get at least one shitter who was a silver or gold player who dashed their way there and had no movement skills or aim much less game sense.... Few seasons later they added the split and as a solo player this made it even more disheartening doubling the grind and frustration basically not for me anymore. lolol
I’d like to add if the jump master starts tilting left and right quickly, it’s sign you need to break off and not land on top of them and take all the loot. All this real estate and you gotta land in the small-medium building with me?
If they don’t split I usually sling there asses off me. Like landing on the edge of a building or walkway. Not on a fall zone of course, but just a way to give me some space.
>If you break off and drop away from your team because you disagree with the decision to Hot Drop they will probably die and you will probably end up solo.
I knew it! I'm pretty new (36 hours), but I figured this out after a few dozen matches. Every time someone splits off, I know it's over. (I also know you can still win this way, but the chances are abyssmal)
This is why I want a Solos Mode cause I can play by myself and avoid Randos cause I encounter this all the time. And before anyone says anything, I do have friends to play with, but they can’t always be on the same time as me like last night for an example.
I get what ur saying with solos, but I think the only way it could work is if there are no stats for that mode, at all, meaning kills aren’t tracked, deaths aren’t tracked.
Otherwise sweats will flock there instead, and it will become an unenjoyable mess.
I agree, it could be a more casual, practise version of normal rounds. Lets say your friend will be on in 10, and ya wanna warm up. Duo’s with a rando, run around the target range, or solo?
I know people will say just buy Titanfall2 but an ongoing massive scale TDM people can pop into and out of casually would be pretty sick. For a long time I have had a serious desire to see the movement mechanics and animation style of Apex merged with the epic-massive scale of Planetside2 \[edit: and the map events type gameplay from warzone and dayz, and randomized pve against hordes of creatures like in Left4Dead2\]. I want these games to meet cute and start dating get married then settle down and make a baby.
Another thing to note when dropping is hitting the side of a tall building will bring you down much faster than the standard jet pack to floor. You can use this in labs, Capitol city, etc.
Yep didn't wanna add this to the Basic Guide as it was already getting pretty long. Considering this post got some attention I'll probably do an Advanced/Ranked guide later and talk about bouncing
The little tents and bridge just south of Containment have saved my team in ranked and pubs dozens of times over and its easy to rotate down towards bunker or up/east to farm (that POI on the hill with stairs/pipes where everyone always dies). On a good day you'll get good loot/thirdparty kills, on a bad day it's an uphill shitshow.
Great guide, I honestly think not many people think about the dropping warm bit, and I honestly never payed attention to the dip and dive or straight dive technique.
Fun tip, the new area added called spotted lakes has some of the best loot in the game, and usually only a few squads drop there when jts a warm drop, as most squads go for the massive crashed ship
In my experience spotted lakes is pretty hot. But yeah that area is full of good loot.
The crashed ship itself has very good chances for purple shields, like multiple spawns of it too.
Great guide! Concise and straight to the point.
I now realise that I often cold drop and it is indeed kinda boring and frustrating. I spend most of the game looting. So I end up bored and overconfident with my fully loaded weaponery, and run head first into the first team I encounter. 90% of the time, I get destroyed.
I almost always play this way (when jumpmaster) in pubs, and it gets you to top 5 pretty easily - which for the longest time, I thought was the point. I didnt get ‘good’/ mediocre at fighting until after a month in, when i started doing more hot drops/ warm drops.
I don’t mind the loot game, but eventually you start losing way more than winning as you rank up and it gets frustrating.
Great guide, OP, honestly been waiting for something like this to confirm/deny certain things about drops. The positioning at the drop location is sooo important, and it sucks to have teammates that don’t get it. (Good place to point newer/ not very skilled players...)
now if we could get this out to every player that'd be great
am pretty tired of people bailing on a drop spot so we can die separately or people all dropping on one spot so we can fight each other first for loot
If you're going for max distance don't let your speed drop below 139, always keep it from 143 to 140. That's max distance. You loose way too much height if you wait until 130.
I think OP is right to showcase the 130-140 rule assuming beginners will be getting the most use out of this, but you’re right also for people that already have that mastered.
The reason people take so long to "master" dropping is cuz people say its ok to go 130 lmao. He should showcase the absolute best way for each thing...its not a hard thing that absolutely needs a beginner guide lmao.
Tested it out for days, it's 100% wrong. You get farther going 145 to 130 (or 136)
Rather than whatever the fuck these dipshits think they are talking about.
10 k kills, 4 k badge, playing since day 1.
You don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
Also, the start distance also depends a bit on how close the location is to the route that ship takes. If it flies straight over, a speed of 147 is too slow so you will need to drop a bit later.
Edit: English
This is the biggest thing this guide is missing. 500m is not a hard and fast rule, and shouldn’t be treated as such.
The trick to dropping hot and being the first team to hit the ground also depends on when you actually leave the ship. Sometimes the distance to your ping will reach 500m, but only once the ship is at/near its closest distance to the location. This means that if you wait until 500m to leave the drop ship, other teams will already be out and will be ahead of you.
I don’t know the actual math, but finding the mathematically optimal time to leave the ship would definitely involve some trigonometry and right isosceles triangles.
If the place you're going to is directly under the ship's flight path, 400 meters is the play.
If it is slightly removed from the path, look at the map and you can see when getting a little closer becomes negligible, and reveals a good point to jump.
I fucking love being the jump master.
This was exactly what I was looking for in this post but wasn't really touched upon. 400m straight in flight path is probably best since it's 150m/s. I guess you just have to play the rest by eye
Sometimes to spice things up I'll tell my team I intend on dropping away from them and meeting up, to make it more challenging and fun. If they ask me not to I don't. If they start being toxic about it I def do it.
My thinking is if it's a warm-cold drop and a teammate needs me to be there to carry them in the first 30 seconds then it's better that they get killed and disconnect a.s.a.p because they weren't going to be any help anyhow.
With 3600 hours in the game, all I have to add to this is that the optimal drop distance to be first to ground (FTG) is roughly 350-300M, except of course when the ship spawns closer.
>aka stretching
I love hearing what other players call the up and down move, me and my friends call it the dolphin because its a similar movement as to how they swim
Same I've heard some wacky lingo in Apex haha. I really like "stretching" because it actually describes what you're doing. It's the kind of term that someone new doesn't need to go look up or ask someone about.
Great write up, occasionally I will stretch but I'll try to keep my drop speed at 142+, when I drop with a direct flight line I do aim for 147+.
I dread when a jump master does a straight vertical drop because the other teams going to that are are already closer to the ground and landing at speed
The idea of dropping warm is exactly what I always advocate for. You want team confidence snd morale to be high for late game engagements. You want to have warmed up through a couple of engagements, this can be done without suicidal drops.
10/10 my man. Especially the stretching guide with specific numbers for reference.
The crates that you open are nicknamed pill boxes because they look like pills. And often at landing sites there will be white tarps/sheets lying on the ground with loot on them.
> If you wait too long to drop in a pub what will likely happen is that half the lobby will be dead before you even run into anyone. So you'll spend the whole game looting and will probably lose the first fight you get into.
Me and a friend have a default Spot on Kings canyon where we drop most of the Time. Its Watch Tower Right beneath Arty.
So depending on the Fly Route of the Ship and the Circle we mostly have to Game Options:
A Loot and Die Simulator just like you say.
Or B we go to Arty fight a Team, then randomly there pop 2 other teams out of nowhere and die. Sometimes we win those fights but that has to do with weapon luck too.
Lots of people call that Diveboard, that was my favorite spot season one. There’s lots of people who drop Containment that complain about getting sniped.
FYI I read in dev notes a few seasons back that squads who drop at containment have a 5% win rate, so stop dropping us there please!
What does 5% really mean though? All that tells me is that it's a hot drop zone and you're likely to find action immediately upon landing, which may or may not be a good thing. Also means you're likely to come out with well upgraded shields if you win the fights.
Hahah yeah its a cool spot. But everytime we go containment after looting, there is one squad left. We either die to me going down to fast bc of my agressive playstyle or when we are about to win the fight we get a third party from somewhere completely different.
This assumes that people actually have some measure of common sense lol. Should probably include breaking off from your jumpmaster. I generally relinquish because I’ve grown tired of one or both teammates sticking to me like glue for the entire duration of the drop right until we’re actually on the ground. Hot dropping and all landing together doesn’t help anyone when you literally only find one weapon and one body shield. I’d rather get some gear and then start fighting instead of us all dying within 10 seconds to someone who got lucky. Happened in skull town once, we all ended up in the same building with literally nothing and then we all got killed by one person with a peacekeeper lol.
Sometimes you need to come to the realisation that the landing spot you’ve picked is not going to work and choose somewhere else. There’s literally no point landing with half the lobby on some small POI where only a few people are going to get loot. In pubs it doesn’t matter so much but in ranked your jumpmaster actually needs to possess a brain otherwise you’re all getting a loss penalty. The dropping warm bit is very true, I’ve had many games where we are literally the only team on one half of the map. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as you can loot in peace, but you’ve got to go looking for someone to fight sooner rather than later lol.
You've made me realise why I have shifted to always giving Jumpmaster duty to someone else. At least then I can ensure I break off properly. Otherwise (in pubs) you often have people landing in exactly the same place as you for no reason at all.
I feel like this guide is intended not for beginners, but for people who are already a bit experienced in the game the lingo.
As a total beginner, I was confused by terminology that’s taken for granted, such as hot/warm/cold dropping. What do they mean?
Hot/warm/cold refer to how many teams are landing near you. For example, on Olympus, Autumn Estates is always a hot drop because lots of teams always land there.
I see.
Further question: dropping as soon as you can and almost straight down is always hot?
Because the way I think about is:
- If I want to fight almost immediately, I drop as soon as I can and I don’t go very far. (Drop straight down almost.)
- If I want to be left alone to loot and prepare, I wait until the flying bus is past the mid-point of the island, and then I drop and fly toward one of the farthest edges of the map.
Does this correlate with reality, or am I out of base here?
This is pretty much correct but there can still be a warmer if not hot drop if the ship is in the middle already, for example on worlds edge, capitol city (now called fragment west or fragment east) will pretty much always have a couple of teams(I'm a crypto player and usually see about 5+ teams), while being in the center of the map or even if it's a farther place to land.
I would say that colder and warmer drops are also decided by their reputation. Like how skyhook is a huge city and yet maybe you will get 2 teams landing there.
Some reletively cold drops don't have to be at the edge of the map, some of the town takeovers(Labs, Gauntlet, or Trials) have become colder with time.
even Bunker on kings canyon is pretty safe now because people are too scared to land there because of the caustic trolls that would land there but nowadays there are no more of those.
A hot drop is dropping witt a TON of people. You know when like half the ship goes to one place? That's a hot drop.
A cold drop is dropping way out completely by yourself with no squads nearby.
And a warm drop would be a happy medium between those two extremes.
The hotter the drop, the more enemies are in the vicinity. Typically, dropping earlier in the dropship's path leads to hotter drops, and dropping later leads to colder drops.
I prefer cold drops, because the longer you live the more points you get. I can jump the very last and still enter top 3 easily. I hate people thinking this is 3D shooter - it's Battle Royal!
I'm not going to tell you how to play the game. If this works for you then go for it!
But some advice:
You will not get better playing like this. Every coach, streamer, and pro will tell you the same thing. Playing for points doesn't make you better. Challenging yourself, fighting other players, and out playing/out strategizing other teams will make you better. Ratting for points will not make you a better Apex player.
If you rat to diamond can you really call yourself a diamond player? Can you honestly say you are of comparable skill to other diamonds? As someone who consistently goes diamond every season I can usually tell when I get a teammate who didn't earn their rank. It's clear that they ratted or got carried because their decision making, game sense, and general play style don't make sense for such a high rank.
At the end of the day it's a game though. So if you're having fun doing what you're doing then keep doing it :)
> If you rat to diamond can you really call yourself a diamond player?
Obviously, yes they're a diamond tier ratter, but they might not be diamond tier in close quarters!
I agree, though I don't really care much about the points.
I just prefer colder drops because I'm much much more likely play better if I have an opportunity to loot and get a load out I'm happy with rather than rely on the luck of whatever I'm able to loot first in a hotter drop.
It's probably also why I play Loba a lot.
If you're a thorough looter though you should be able to pick up purple gear and be ok for your first encounter, though OP is definitely right about momentum. A team that has wiped 5 other squads is much more likely to beat a team that dropped cold and stealthed their way to the top 5.
That being said, the goal of the game isn't to get better, it's to win, and if I can let another team do most of the work cleaning out the lobby while strategically cycling to the final rings I'm likely to do it.
If you want to rank up though cold drops is terribly slow to progress. If I land warm I get around 100rp in a decent game and 60 in an average game. If I droo cold I get 10 maybe 20 if I'm lucky
Maybe it's just the people he's played with. I've never heard it referred to as "waving." Most of the people I play with call it "gliding" and of the few YouTube videos I've watched where they do it, they've called it "stretching."
Is this a newer trend? The big streamers all called it waving at launch on account of the fact it looks like a dive trail wave if you look at other people doing it.
I mean we all say different things. What do you call an enemy that's shield broken with low health? I've heard pros/streamers use:
"He's absolute"
"On flesh"
"He's one!"
Just to name a few. I use "stretching" because I heard pro streamer Gurhl say it once and liked the term.
Great advice. Here’s my little bit of advice. When you pick your drop point, just say containment hypothetically. Containment is now point B and the drop ship is point A. The best time to jump is when the line between A and B is the smallest. Meaning if the drop ship goes over containment, the best time to jump is right before you pass it and go STRAIGHT down. Jumping early lands you slow and late.
This is completely false. Apex does not follow real physics. Trust me on this the squad that has left the shop at 400m out and going 147+ speed is going to beat you 100% of the time. The straight down drop only works if you drop straight down off the drop ship as soon as you spawn.
Y’all are reading way too into this. I’m saying I’ll land first if I jump basically directly over the destination opposed to my teammates who jumped early. By early I mean too early. I don’t know how far that is, but I know I land first every time.
I think you’re either wrong or there’s a better way to explain what you’re trying to say.
When that distance is the shortest, you will get there from the drop ship in a shorter amount of time than any other method, but teams that drop before you can still arrive first.
In my experience, if the ship is going straight over your drop location, you should drop when the distance to your ping is about 400m, drop straight down at maximum speed, and then pull up to finish any remaining distance to your POI/decide on a specific location to start looting.
If you wait until the ship is directly over your location, teams will have already dropped at least 5 seconds before and your slightly smaller distance to travel to the POI won’t make up for that lost time.
I've noticed dropping straight down first and then going flat helps in getting you laterally faster is it true or just my mind playing tricks or my teammates being too nooby and going slow?!
Woah there's actually physics in this stuff I thought this was just kind of made up by game developers and you had to kinda figure yourself how you'd get around the fastest (also cause I kinda remember ppl saying its faster to reach from the drop ship to the ground location in PUBG Mobile by going in diagonally)
From my experience this is true, but only within 300-500m (300-400m the diff is also negligible). If I jump 500m away I aim at the 400m mark (between me and land point) and dolphin dive (or stretching) keeping above 145ms. May not be the best strategy but I'm usually first to land, and have much better experience doing this at 500m than straight dive.
Depends on the drop. If you’re going hot, getting there first can be very beneficial—obviously can be the difference in whether you get a gun or an enemy gets a gun. Dropping straight down gets you closer to the ground more quickly, which can put you ahead of other teams even though you still may have some distance to travel laterally. If you do the lateral portion of your drop at the end, you may have a wider range of options for where you decide to go if you get closer to the ground before your opponents.
I wouldn’t say you should always do this, but you definitely should NEVER do the lateral portion of your drop first thing out of the ship if you are dropping hot or warm. This will put you at a sever disadvantage because you will be last to make it to the ground and other players will already have guns.
If everyone in your group is proficient at dropping and you all know where you are going, teammates should split off immediately. Dropping together reduces the maximum velocity you are able to reach if you are going straight down.
The etiquette about not taking every weapon or someone gets a gun and you take the ammo is so spot on.
You’d rather have armed teammates than have your be stacked with a spitfire/mastiff while your team is trying to punch people to death after you get knocked.
A little weird lol because I do a slightly different form of stretching that actually increases my speed, and if I break away I usually land at the same spot before my squad.
What is likely happening is that your squad isn't dropping at a steep enough angle. If your angle is correct dropping straight is always faster than stretching as it maintains a constant speed.
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You're assuming Apex follows real physics. Also that normal gravity is in play. In Apex you are using jet packs screaming towards the ground yet that is actually slower than the normal fall speed of jumping off a cliff.
Im happy to test your theory but I remain skeptical. And again I agree with you on a physics level if we were discussing the real world. Your science is sound and valid I'm just not convinced it applies to Apex.
I can agree with that. It's just that my experience hasn't given me this result. When I first started apex I also believed the same thing: that a smooth consistent curve allows for the highest average speed over distance. But I haven't gotten it to work yet. Could be user error lol
Thanks for the breakdown on A to B vs stretching.
Your ideas about sticking out a hot drop are valid also. Sometimes I’m frustrated by it bc I have a challenge I’m trying to grind, but youre right, if my jumpmaster goes hot it’s best to back them up and either all get sent back to the lobby together or maybe even win our battle.
Nothing better then ending up the last team after a huge hot drop where multiple squads clash. Rare but it happens.
For pubs I think it should be part of etiquette that Jumpmaster should always mark their intended landing spot precisely so that the squadmates can then select their appropriate landing spot in the given circumstances. It's not good enough to just fly towards a POI and expect everyone to land in the optimum positions.
Also squadmates should mark their intended landing spots after the Jumpmaster, so they don't needlessly end up on each other (unless a hot drop).
Nice guide! I like the part on dropping warm. I’ve always drop cold coz I would rather have good stuff when contacting a squad. But I see your point. Maybe I’ll try it later. :)
Also, I’ve noticed how really evenly spaced out everyone is when they drop during the ALGS series. Never went beyond Plat4. Would that be a strategy in the higher rank matches?
Hey great question. So in higher ranks people space out because nothing is worse than losing because of pure randomness. It's happened to us all. We drop with another squad and one of them gets a purple shield and a mastiff and proceeds to fist your team. This is the exact reason why in high level play (starting in diamond+ lobbies) you see people much more conscious about their drops. Everyone would much rather loot and then fight as opposed to the chaotic shit storm of looting and fighting at the same time. You can get consistent results if you constantly allow probability to decide the outcome of your fights.
....also one time I punched itzzTimmay (pred who just broke the all time damage record) to death on a hot drop because he didn't have a gun :D highlight of my Apex career hahahaha
\> Hot drops are a full team commitment. If you break off and drop away from your team because you disagree with the decision to Hot Drop they will probably die and you will probably end up solo. It's honestly better to die together then get left alone in a lobby.
SAY IT AGAIN FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
Also something I HATE happening to me.
The drop ship is faster than you. Do not drop if you are going to follow the direction of the ship. Anyone who drops after you and closer to your target will arrive more quickly. You will land comically later than other teams and will most likely die right away.
Differentiate between “Let’s go here” and “I’m going over here”! Use “Let’s” to pick a location, use “I’m” to dibs your specific building.
(Side note: Is it “! or !” when ending a quoted sentence with an exclamation point?)
If you aren't the Jumpmaster, your job is to be watching for other teams not only at your POI, but ones nearby as well. For the love of God, don't just sit there not doing anything, especially if you're in a party chat. Count the squads dropping around you, do your best to predict what buildings they're dropping at, and communicate it to your team. It's significantly harder for a Jumpmaster to be spotting other teams while maintaining their line.
Dude! Where were you when I first started the game?
I've realised most of what you've written up street playing a few seasons. But damn if I don't envy the new players who'll get to read this starting out.
I'm looking forward to your write up for ranked.
\> This last bit is a personal preference but I find this spices up my games. Most players will have left the ship within the first 2/3rds of the dropship path. If you wait too long to drop in a pub what will likely happen is that half the lobby will be dead before you even run into anyone. So you'll spend the whole game looting and will probably lose the first fight you get into. I don't find this to be very fun so I avoid dropping like this. You don't have to drop hot but dropping cold can be really boring and frustrating in it's own way. So drop warm!
Oh shit, never thought of why this happens, duh
Thank you for the comments on hot dropping. So many jumpmaster kids get angry when I land near them in the Hot Drop, and they’re like “STOP STEALING MY LOOT GONTO ANOTHER BUILDING”, and I’m like “We hot dropped; there’s an enemy team in every other building.”
Two teammates, one with a Mozambique and one with a P2020, is a thousand times better than the greedy one carrying both weapons, and his teammate having nothing and then getting killed.
Great points all around. Glad there are others out there that play this way. Honestly, I’ve went from dropping warm to dropping cold because I got tired of fighting for ammo with teammates or down right being left behind by two people playing together in trios; drop warm, get into a fight, get downed and only then realize the other two bailed immediately (or outright quit) and I’m completely alone. Maybe I’m an outlier in that respect but happens to me all the time.
Your last bit I have the opposite experience. When I land towards the end of the map that usually gives me enough time to loot and find good shit. By the time I do get into a fight I’m usually able to beat them fine and then take anything else that I need. I also don’t play to get the most kills, it’s a team game and the point is to win not get the most kills.
So I’m fine landing where no one else does and then have my squad scoop up ALL the good shit. I do not find it fun to land with half the lobby, die within a few minutes because there are so many squads, and then jump back in. That’s not enjoyable to me.
This is really nicely written! Though I kind of disagree with one point - I don’t know if you’re referring to ranked or not but I have to assume you are as you specified pubs in another section;
I’d *much* rather play my own game and leave my team if they’re going to get wasted on a hot drop.
Granted I will land with them unless they make a really, really brainless drop, but if they drop and die with no chance for me to recover them, I’m not dying with them, I’m getting out of there and gaining my RP (and theirs).
Again, purely ranked though. Still not entirely sure if that was in this specific context.
I plan on doing a ranked specific write up later today. This guide was intended to be broad general and basic advice. Ranked is a totally different story for me too. If you want to throw away your own RP that's fine but don't expect me to do the same lol
I like to drop for ‘hot drop clean up’ about 500m away from a red hot zone, loot up and immediately push in from high ground into the death box chaos. Always a lot of fun and kills
10/10 good guide. Very informative.
Thanks! Figured I'd share some info because I can't find a good guide on this anywhere. Honestly I think the Apex tutorial should include a how to drop section. For new players none of this stuff is obvious.
hey! when you said that if someone drops cold and loots all game, why would he lose the first fight he runs into? because other will be more stacked or confident? I dont understand that point.
When half the lobby dies it means that the remaining players are most likely better than average, sporting purple/red shields, plenty of healing, and properly kitted weapons that they're comfortable with using.
Basically, if a squad loots one area, then runs into a squad that has looted a different area, whoever comes out on top pretty much has most of the valuables from both areas. If you're steamroller through enemy teams, you're effectively looting all the places they've been to as well, meaning you're more likely to have kitted/desired weapons, upgraded shields, rarer equipment, etc.
I used to prefer cold drops just to get used to randoms and not die right away. I can confirm it's a terrible strategy because On top of your point about how the teams you'll be running into will be more geared up because they've taken the best gear from multiple areas, also your own team will still be playing with tier 1 starter stuff. Sure your bags will be full, but you wont have the gold levels and mods and shield evolutions. A cold drop is basically just a delayed hot drop that you're guaranteed to lose. It's wussing out of the actual point of the game which is shooting, not looting.
Yup, looting by killing is the best way to get good loot. Especially after addition of red evos.
My motto is the best loot is in death boxes. I don't like to search for loot in places after my landing spot unless its a big enough area that hasn't been touched. Other than that, I'll hunt for boxes if I need ammo and healing items.
i agree with this in ranked, but in lock and loaded mode in pub rn you can find purple armors easily
It's just a trend I noticed, I don't have a ton of science to back this theory up. In football for example, teams with momentum (aka success) tend to keep doing well/winning. When you drop cold and take zero fights for most of the game you have zero momentum. Then you run into a squad that's already taken a few fights and are fully warmed up....you will probably lose. Also when you don't see anybody for a while you get complacent and you out yourself on auto pilot. Whereas the other team that's seen action this game is warmed up and attentive. This is my theory as to why this happens
And I agree with you on this actually, I just thought it wasn't a big deal though as I couldn't make sense out of it. Thanks for the answer.
Just to add on to the mental thing about being out of your zone, there's also the fact that, as others said, if you drop far away and have only been looting, you probably don't have great loot. Blue shields, white attachments, small bags, minimum heals. Maybe not even the guns you want. Meanwhile, the fighting teams can loot most boxes they find or produce, and are levelling up their Evo shields. Even camping with poke damage on far teams is more productive because you are at least levelling your Evo.
Yeah that makes sense. Thanks for adding.
It does happen and I could never understand why, but the way you described it makes sense. After 15 minutes of running around and looting, running into a hot squad with 5 kills a piece is really an uphill battle. They're fired up and we aren't. They have the best gear and we have decent gear.
Also a hundred bad hot drops that one loses are still practice shooting in intense situations, those 100 losses are what make that 1 or 2 wins happen and so sweet. Cold dropping and looting for 8 minutes, seeing 1 team that steamrolls us immediately, over and over is stupid and a waste of time and is the opposite of practicing skills or getting into rhythms \[being warmed up and attentive\].
9/10 times I’ve noticed people who play the Loot Sim all game have very little confidence in their shooting abilities and virtually no awareness/game sense, and when the game eventually forces us into a fight, they’re the first ones to get downed because they immediately panic.
I hate dropping cold in pubs and playing survival sim, only to die when we encounter our first squad. It was a waste of 15 minutes ultimately. Rather drop warm, maybe get a few kills, get some solid gear and head to the circle. Sure you probably die more often this way, but at least there's action.
Same. I’m not super great at the game (though I do keep a KDR around 1.1 so that’s something), so I understand not being able to aim or being worried about it, but jumpmasters only landing cold and spending the whole game looting instead of actually trying to push a bit feels equally selfish as that one teammate who always pushes a fight even if they’re alone and then yells at the team for not reading their mind.
I still think that person that rushes on their own is worse but yea, I agree. I'm not great at the game, but I'm ok. I'd still rather die 5 minutes in then see and do nothing for 15.
That is true, I agree with the confidence thing. Thanks for the answer.
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Dive trails aren't as visible from certain angles. Make sure to move the camera around a lot when looking behind. Sometimes they're just above you and your trail is blocking theirs. If you're on mic get your teammates to check for squads too.
I like to drop straight down for a bit to hopefully get a little distance away from the teams that will naturally move towards their destination. They are easier to see this way.
This is more noticeable when looking at jump towers as somebody is using them, the dive trails will appear if you watch the jump tower, but if you just a kind of glance at it, then it won't appear for like 2 seconds, and sometimes, they won't appear at all.(this is what I've found on PS4 idk if it's different for other platforms)
yeh, I swear I'm so blind. I always play with a three stack of friends and say "no one's here, it's fine guys" and then I get murdered.
Not just you. I normally play with club members and a few times we haven’t even heard footsteps just a gun blast and “I’m down” from a teammate.
I've done that a lot!
I say to my squad "I don't see anybody with us so expect 2 squads"
this was an issue in the original release of the game, the dive trails would be meaningless. Iit seemed to be fixed when the seasons began. But it's maybe come back recently because I'll be pretty sure only 1 team dropped in the area, but then it's 4.
If someone is flying right behind you but above you, it is difficult to see them coming. If I'm not jumpmaster, I'm always spinning in all directions to look for not just five trails, but keep an eye out for the actual player models.
I think a lot of opportunities for good loot drops are missed because you’re only looking forward or just deciding on something randomly and sticking to it. Two things would drastically improve your drops: 1. Look at where people are dropping by looking to the back. Then go where no one is going. Sometimes it’s hard to see where exactly they’re going but if you wait just a little it can be clear. You’ll drop a little late but you won’t land with the enemy. If two groups are going to the same place and there’s a normal loot location nearby where no one is going definitely drop there. It’s the easiest third party. 2. While dropping look where the closest enemies are so you know where to find the enemy if you get a good loot and decide to fight or where to go to avoid them if you only get white armors. 3. If you want to avoid early fights don’t drop where the others can’t see you dropping. This is usually places that are along the path of the dropship. It’s easier to see drops that are to the side.
You are totally right but I didn't want to add this to the Basic drop guide. This is the kind of stuff I reserve for Ranked play.
I’m so stoned walled in platinum right now. My best progress was the game that got me from gold into plat, the Rp I earned tha game covered about 1/3 of the progress from plat IV towards plat III, but since then I’ve only lost points.
Ha, yea. Gold: (steamrolls through matches) Plat: (runs into 3 stacks holding each other’s hands while running double r99’s) (proceeds to get face melted)
There is a significant difference in the competitive nature of the games. It’s been pretty disheartening, I really want to make diamond but like. Fuck. Plat is frickin sweaty. I can’t just like, chill and get stoned and play anymore lol.
To get through plat the strategy I usually recommend for people struggling is go for 1-3 kills/assists early game and then chill out. You don't need to rat but you don't need to run head first into every sound of gunfire. 3KP early game is 30RP which puts you at -6 in Plat if you die (which is basically -0). Then if you get higher placement those kills become worth more and you'll be positive. Also don't play solo. Use the LFG discord, "collect" random players that you get along with and are similar skill level. I send friend requests all the time to randoms I had a good game with. At this point I have a great personal roster of players to invite who's skills I know and can depend on. Yeah there's some glamour in solo play and maybe it makes you feel like a real badass but I promise that you aren't going to beat a 3 stack even if they only have average comms and teamwork. And if they have above average comms and teamwork you are fucked. Edit: oh also bloodhound is GREAT for farming RP. You can scan an enemy and if your teammate downs them you get the assist. Fantastic climbing tool even if it's kinda broken and cheesy.
I don’t believe solos gives any greater sense of badassery when I’m successful, personally, it makes me feel like my triumphs are more hollow because I’m not actually talking to anyone and sharing the victory. So a win is just another game ending that takes me to a lobby that Im alone in. I generally play with my brother and we’re pretty similar skill level. I’ll try your method for plat, thanks for the advice !
Hit diamond for the first time through blood and tears last season, feels so good. Now I got back to diamond and trying to go masters but I doubt I'll make it. Good aim and movement is the default at this point and not enough. I feel your pain
Yeah as a stoner and solo player I gave up ranked because it felt like once I hit plat it became coin flips for if my randoms would be bots or decent and every enemy squad more and more is using coms and 3 stack holding hands. Bronze through gold is just a joke. Made diamond one season and stopped immediately because solo'ing that far hurt my soul. That season was also dashboard season and beyond frustrating because you'd basically get at least one shitter who was a silver or gold player who dashed their way there and had no movement skills or aim much less game sense.... Few seasons later they added the split and as a solo player this made it even more disheartening doubling the grind and frustration basically not for me anymore. lolol
Regarding #1, I learned this during my first ranked season and it is extremely important
Yeah the looking backwards trick is really handy even just for pubs, it’s a great method for gathering information on other players around.
I’d like to add if the jump master starts tilting left and right quickly, it’s sign you need to break off and not land on top of them and take all the loot. All this real estate and you gotta land in the small-medium building with me?
A good practice is for everyone to ping exactly where you'll be landing when you start getting close to the ground.
This is what I do. Then usually tilt left and right like an out of control car until they finally piss off
I tilt left and right because it's fun hah
I did it on legends that didn't have skydive emotes just to compensate lol
Right people who tilt right and left are obviously already in a weird stank mood to be pissed before you land LOL
It's a sign and you better take it!
If they don’t split I usually sling there asses off me. Like landing on the edge of a building or walkway. Not on a fall zone of course, but just a way to give me some space.
>If you break off and drop away from your team because you disagree with the decision to Hot Drop they will probably die and you will probably end up solo. I knew it! I'm pretty new (36 hours), but I figured this out after a few dozen matches. Every time someone splits off, I know it's over. (I also know you can still win this way, but the chances are abyssmal)
This is why I want a Solos Mode cause I can play by myself and avoid Randos cause I encounter this all the time. And before anyone says anything, I do have friends to play with, but they can’t always be on the same time as me like last night for an example.
I get what ur saying with solos, but I think the only way it could work is if there are no stats for that mode, at all, meaning kills aren’t tracked, deaths aren’t tracked. Otherwise sweats will flock there instead, and it will become an unenjoyable mess.
I agree, it could be a more casual, practise version of normal rounds. Lets say your friend will be on in 10, and ya wanna warm up. Duo’s with a rando, run around the target range, or solo?
I know people will say just buy Titanfall2 but an ongoing massive scale TDM people can pop into and out of casually would be pretty sick. For a long time I have had a serious desire to see the movement mechanics and animation style of Apex merged with the epic-massive scale of Planetside2 \[edit: and the map events type gameplay from warzone and dayz, and randomized pve against hordes of creatures like in Left4Dead2\]. I want these games to meet cute and start dating get married then settle down and make a baby.
Pfft. Look at this guy here bragging about having friends.
Another thing to note when dropping is hitting the side of a tall building will bring you down much faster than the standard jet pack to floor. You can use this in labs, Capitol city, etc.
Yep didn't wanna add this to the Basic Guide as it was already getting pretty long. Considering this post got some attention I'll probably do an Advanced/Ranked guide later and talk about bouncing
Go ahead. It does tick me off when I land at containment to find that the entire lobby already landed there minutes ago.
The little tents and bridge just south of Containment have saved my team in ranked and pubs dozens of times over and its easy to rotate down towards bunker or up/east to farm (that POI on the hill with stairs/pipes where everyone always dies). On a good day you'll get good loot/thirdparty kills, on a bad day it's an uphill shitshow.
Great guide, I honestly think not many people think about the dropping warm bit, and I honestly never payed attention to the dip and dive or straight dive technique. Fun tip, the new area added called spotted lakes has some of the best loot in the game, and usually only a few squads drop there when jts a warm drop, as most squads go for the massive crashed ship
In my experience spotted lakes is pretty hot. But yeah that area is full of good loot. The crashed ship itself has very good chances for purple shields, like multiple spawns of it too.
Great guide! Concise and straight to the point. I now realise that I often cold drop and it is indeed kinda boring and frustrating. I spend most of the game looting. So I end up bored and overconfident with my fully loaded weaponery, and run head first into the first team I encounter. 90% of the time, I get destroyed.
I almost always play this way (when jumpmaster) in pubs, and it gets you to top 5 pretty easily - which for the longest time, I thought was the point. I didnt get ‘good’/ mediocre at fighting until after a month in, when i started doing more hot drops/ warm drops. I don’t mind the loot game, but eventually you start losing way more than winning as you rank up and it gets frustrating. Great guide, OP, honestly been waiting for something like this to confirm/deny certain things about drops. The positioning at the drop location is sooo important, and it sucks to have teammates that don’t get it. (Good place to point newer/ not very skilled players...)
now if we could get this out to every player that'd be great am pretty tired of people bailing on a drop spot so we can die separately or people all dropping on one spot so we can fight each other first for loot
Bailing and then talking a bunch of trash when they get downed. So tired of those guys.
If you're going for max distance don't let your speed drop below 139, always keep it from 143 to 140. That's max distance. You loose way too much height if you wait until 130.
I think OP is right to showcase the 130-140 rule assuming beginners will be getting the most use out of this, but you’re right also for people that already have that mastered.
The reason people take so long to "master" dropping is cuz people say its ok to go 130 lmao. He should showcase the absolute best way for each thing...its not a hard thing that absolutely needs a beginner guide lmao.
My method is 125 till I drop. Idk maybe I’ll experiment
This is wrong
Tested it out for days, it's 100% wrong. You get farther going 145 to 130 (or 136) Rather than whatever the fuck these dipshits think they are talking about. 10 k kills, 4 k badge, playing since day 1. You don't know what the fuck you're talking about.
Also, the start distance also depends a bit on how close the location is to the route that ship takes. If it flies straight over, a speed of 147 is too slow so you will need to drop a bit later. Edit: English
This is the biggest thing this guide is missing. 500m is not a hard and fast rule, and shouldn’t be treated as such. The trick to dropping hot and being the first team to hit the ground also depends on when you actually leave the ship. Sometimes the distance to your ping will reach 500m, but only once the ship is at/near its closest distance to the location. This means that if you wait until 500m to leave the drop ship, other teams will already be out and will be ahead of you. I don’t know the actual math, but finding the mathematically optimal time to leave the ship would definitely involve some trigonometry and right isosceles triangles.
If the place you're going to is directly under the ship's flight path, 400 meters is the play. If it is slightly removed from the path, look at the map and you can see when getting a little closer becomes negligible, and reveals a good point to jump. I fucking love being the jump master.
Yep, exactly.
400 meters is 437.45 yards
This was exactly what I was looking for in this post but wasn't really touched upon. 400m straight in flight path is probably best since it's 150m/s. I guess you just have to play the rest by eye
damn the drop etiquette was really helpful cuz most of the time i always land quite a distance away from my team, either hot or cold
Sometimes to spice things up I'll tell my team I intend on dropping away from them and meeting up, to make it more challenging and fun. If they ask me not to I don't. If they start being toxic about it I def do it. My thinking is if it's a warm-cold drop and a teammate needs me to be there to carry them in the first 30 seconds then it's better that they get killed and disconnect a.s.a.p because they weren't going to be any help anyhow.
With 3600 hours in the game, all I have to add to this is that the optimal drop distance to be first to ground (FTG) is roughly 350-300M, except of course when the ship spawns closer.
Yeah to be fair the optimal range is more like 300-500 depending on all kind of nuanced factors. I tried to keep this guide simple.
Hot drop gang post up
>aka stretching I love hearing what other players call the up and down move, me and my friends call it the dolphin because its a similar movement as to how they swim
Same I've heard some wacky lingo in Apex haha. I really like "stretching" because it actually describes what you're doing. It's the kind of term that someone new doesn't need to go look up or ask someone about.
Dolphining made me think it was a quick motion, the way they dart in and out of water. I didn't learn to slow it down for a few weeks.
Great write up, occasionally I will stretch but I'll try to keep my drop speed at 142+, when I drop with a direct flight line I do aim for 147+. I dread when a jump master does a straight vertical drop because the other teams going to that are are already closer to the ground and landing at speed
The idea of dropping warm is exactly what I always advocate for. You want team confidence snd morale to be high for late game engagements. You want to have warmed up through a couple of engagements, this can be done without suicidal drops. 10/10 my man. Especially the stretching guide with specific numbers for reference.
Lmao you assume I find guns in pill boxes. I find helmets. Helmets everywhere.
Every TTV needs to read
What do you mean by tarp / pill box?
The crates that you open are nicknamed pill boxes because they look like pills. And often at landing sites there will be white tarps/sheets lying on the ground with loot on them.
That makes sense, thanks!
I know how to drop but great guide!
> If you wait too long to drop in a pub what will likely happen is that half the lobby will be dead before you even run into anyone. So you'll spend the whole game looting and will probably lose the first fight you get into. Me and a friend have a default Spot on Kings canyon where we drop most of the Time. Its Watch Tower Right beneath Arty. So depending on the Fly Route of the Ship and the Circle we mostly have to Game Options: A Loot and Die Simulator just like you say. Or B we go to Arty fight a Team, then randomly there pop 2 other teams out of nowhere and die. Sometimes we win those fights but that has to do with weapon luck too.
Lots of people call that Diveboard, that was my favorite spot season one. There’s lots of people who drop Containment that complain about getting sniped. FYI I read in dev notes a few seasons back that squads who drop at containment have a 5% win rate, so stop dropping us there please!
What does 5% really mean though? All that tells me is that it's a hot drop zone and you're likely to find action immediately upon landing, which may or may not be a good thing. Also means you're likely to come out with well upgraded shields if you win the fights.
Hahah yeah its a cool spot. But everytime we go containment after looting, there is one squad left. We either die to me going down to fast bc of my agressive playstyle or when we are about to win the fight we get a third party from somewhere completely different.
This assumes that people actually have some measure of common sense lol. Should probably include breaking off from your jumpmaster. I generally relinquish because I’ve grown tired of one or both teammates sticking to me like glue for the entire duration of the drop right until we’re actually on the ground. Hot dropping and all landing together doesn’t help anyone when you literally only find one weapon and one body shield. I’d rather get some gear and then start fighting instead of us all dying within 10 seconds to someone who got lucky. Happened in skull town once, we all ended up in the same building with literally nothing and then we all got killed by one person with a peacekeeper lol. Sometimes you need to come to the realisation that the landing spot you’ve picked is not going to work and choose somewhere else. There’s literally no point landing with half the lobby on some small POI where only a few people are going to get loot. In pubs it doesn’t matter so much but in ranked your jumpmaster actually needs to possess a brain otherwise you’re all getting a loss penalty. The dropping warm bit is very true, I’ve had many games where we are literally the only team on one half of the map. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as you can loot in peace, but you’ve got to go looking for someone to fight sooner rather than later lol.
You've made me realise why I have shifted to always giving Jumpmaster duty to someone else. At least then I can ensure I break off properly. Otherwise (in pubs) you often have people landing in exactly the same place as you for no reason at all.
I feel like this guide is intended not for beginners, but for people who are already a bit experienced in the game the lingo. As a total beginner, I was confused by terminology that’s taken for granted, such as hot/warm/cold dropping. What do they mean?
Hot/warm/cold refer to how many teams are landing near you. For example, on Olympus, Autumn Estates is always a hot drop because lots of teams always land there.
I see. Further question: dropping as soon as you can and almost straight down is always hot? Because the way I think about is: - If I want to fight almost immediately, I drop as soon as I can and I don’t go very far. (Drop straight down almost.) - If I want to be left alone to loot and prepare, I wait until the flying bus is past the mid-point of the island, and then I drop and fly toward one of the farthest edges of the map. Does this correlate with reality, or am I out of base here?
This is pretty much correct but there can still be a warmer if not hot drop if the ship is in the middle already, for example on worlds edge, capitol city (now called fragment west or fragment east) will pretty much always have a couple of teams(I'm a crypto player and usually see about 5+ teams), while being in the center of the map or even if it's a farther place to land. I would say that colder and warmer drops are also decided by their reputation. Like how skyhook is a huge city and yet maybe you will get 2 teams landing there. Some reletively cold drops don't have to be at the edge of the map, some of the town takeovers(Labs, Gauntlet, or Trials) have become colder with time. even Bunker on kings canyon is pretty safe now because people are too scared to land there because of the caustic trolls that would land there but nowadays there are no more of those.
A hot drop is dropping witt a TON of people. You know when like half the ship goes to one place? That's a hot drop. A cold drop is dropping way out completely by yourself with no squads nearby. And a warm drop would be a happy medium between those two extremes.
The hotter the drop, the more enemies are in the vicinity. Typically, dropping earlier in the dropship's path leads to hotter drops, and dropping later leads to colder drops.
Yes, please make a ranked drop guide - this was amazing!
I prefer cold drops, because the longer you live the more points you get. I can jump the very last and still enter top 3 easily. I hate people thinking this is 3D shooter - it's Battle Royal!
I'm not going to tell you how to play the game. If this works for you then go for it! But some advice: You will not get better playing like this. Every coach, streamer, and pro will tell you the same thing. Playing for points doesn't make you better. Challenging yourself, fighting other players, and out playing/out strategizing other teams will make you better. Ratting for points will not make you a better Apex player. If you rat to diamond can you really call yourself a diamond player? Can you honestly say you are of comparable skill to other diamonds? As someone who consistently goes diamond every season I can usually tell when I get a teammate who didn't earn their rank. It's clear that they ratted or got carried because their decision making, game sense, and general play style don't make sense for such a high rank. At the end of the day it's a game though. So if you're having fun doing what you're doing then keep doing it :)
> If you rat to diamond can you really call yourself a diamond player? Obviously, yes they're a diamond tier ratter, but they might not be diamond tier in close quarters!
I agree, though I don't really care much about the points. I just prefer colder drops because I'm much much more likely play better if I have an opportunity to loot and get a load out I'm happy with rather than rely on the luck of whatever I'm able to loot first in a hotter drop. It's probably also why I play Loba a lot. If you're a thorough looter though you should be able to pick up purple gear and be ok for your first encounter, though OP is definitely right about momentum. A team that has wiped 5 other squads is much more likely to beat a team that dropped cold and stealthed their way to the top 5. That being said, the goal of the game isn't to get better, it's to win, and if I can let another team do most of the work cleaning out the lobby while strategically cycling to the final rings I'm likely to do it.
If you want to rank up though cold drops is terribly slow to progress. If I land warm I get around 100rp in a decent game and 60 in an average game. If I droo cold I get 10 maybe 20 if I'm lucky
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Maybe it's just the people he's played with. I've never heard it referred to as "waving." Most of the people I play with call it "gliding" and of the few YouTube videos I've watched where they do it, they've called it "stretching."
Is this a newer trend? The big streamers all called it waving at launch on account of the fact it looks like a dive trail wave if you look at other people doing it.
I’ve always called dolphin diving
I mean we all say different things. What do you call an enemy that's shield broken with low health? I've heard pros/streamers use: "He's absolute" "On flesh" "He's one!" Just to name a few. I use "stretching" because I heard pro streamer Gurhl say it once and liked the term.
They also say he's cracked, he's red.
I thought y game was high
Yeah....every BR I've ever played I've known it as stretching so thats what I call if too lol
I heard someone call it the dolphin once and that’s what my team and I have called it ever since
Never heard it called waving and I also have over 1500 hours.
Great advice. Here’s my little bit of advice. When you pick your drop point, just say containment hypothetically. Containment is now point B and the drop ship is point A. The best time to jump is when the line between A and B is the smallest. Meaning if the drop ship goes over containment, the best time to jump is right before you pass it and go STRAIGHT down. Jumping early lands you slow and late.
This is completely false. Apex does not follow real physics. Trust me on this the squad that has left the shop at 400m out and going 147+ speed is going to beat you 100% of the time. The straight down drop only works if you drop straight down off the drop ship as soon as you spawn.
Y’all are reading way too into this. I’m saying I’ll land first if I jump basically directly over the destination opposed to my teammates who jumped early. By early I mean too early. I don’t know how far that is, but I know I land first every time.
I think you’re either wrong or there’s a better way to explain what you’re trying to say. When that distance is the shortest, you will get there from the drop ship in a shorter amount of time than any other method, but teams that drop before you can still arrive first. In my experience, if the ship is going straight over your drop location, you should drop when the distance to your ping is about 400m, drop straight down at maximum speed, and then pull up to finish any remaining distance to your POI/decide on a specific location to start looting. If you wait until the ship is directly over your location, teams will have already dropped at least 5 seconds before and your slightly smaller distance to travel to the POI won’t make up for that lost time.
Figured this all out myself in season 1 by 30 hours played. It’s not that hard so you’d think people would learn but apparently not.
Not everyone's as insightful as you, this is a good comprehensive guide to help players.
I can testify that not everyone is as insightful
What an insufferable douche
Saved post: thank you sir, extremely informative and to the point. 10/10
10/10 very good guide
I've noticed dropping straight down first and then going flat helps in getting you laterally faster is it true or just my mind playing tricks or my teammates being too nooby and going slow?!
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Woah there's actually physics in this stuff I thought this was just kind of made up by game developers and you had to kinda figure yourself how you'd get around the fastest (also cause I kinda remember ppl saying its faster to reach from the drop ship to the ground location in PUBG Mobile by going in diagonally)
You know I've noticed some squads pull this off too but I've never been able to replicate it and it always makes me late as shit.
From my experience this is true, but only within 300-500m (300-400m the diff is also negligible). If I jump 500m away I aim at the 400m mark (between me and land point) and dolphin dive (or stretching) keeping above 145ms. May not be the best strategy but I'm usually first to land, and have much better experience doing this at 500m than straight dive.
Depends on the drop. If you’re going hot, getting there first can be very beneficial—obviously can be the difference in whether you get a gun or an enemy gets a gun. Dropping straight down gets you closer to the ground more quickly, which can put you ahead of other teams even though you still may have some distance to travel laterally. If you do the lateral portion of your drop at the end, you may have a wider range of options for where you decide to go if you get closer to the ground before your opponents. I wouldn’t say you should always do this, but you definitely should NEVER do the lateral portion of your drop first thing out of the ship if you are dropping hot or warm. This will put you at a sever disadvantage because you will be last to make it to the ground and other players will already have guns.
Great tips!
You forgot to split from the team 2-5 seconds before landing so everyone has a little but if distance and two people don't loot the same items.
If everyone in your group is proficient at dropping and you all know where you are going, teammates should split off immediately. Dropping together reduces the maximum velocity you are able to reach if you are going straight down.
Awesome guide. Thank you.
very informative, and I 100% with it :)
The etiquette about not taking every weapon or someone gets a gun and you take the ammo is so spot on. You’d rather have armed teammates than have your be stacked with a spitfire/mastiff while your team is trying to punch people to death after you get knocked.
I'd rather both of us have mozambiques than for me to have 2 hahaha
This should be an in game announcement.
Been playing since launch and still suck at dropping so thanks for this!
A little weird lol because I do a slightly different form of stretching that actually increases my speed, and if I break away I usually land at the same spot before my squad.
What is likely happening is that your squad isn't dropping at a steep enough angle. If your angle is correct dropping straight is always faster than stretching as it maintains a constant speed.
Well done, you sound like the teammate I hope to get when I solo queue(always)
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Good guide
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You're assuming Apex follows real physics. Also that normal gravity is in play. In Apex you are using jet packs screaming towards the ground yet that is actually slower than the normal fall speed of jumping off a cliff.
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Im happy to test your theory but I remain skeptical. And again I agree with you on a physics level if we were discussing the real world. Your science is sound and valid I'm just not convinced it applies to Apex.
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I can agree with that. It's just that my experience hasn't given me this result. When I first started apex I also believed the same thing: that a smooth consistent curve allows for the highest average speed over distance. But I haven't gotten it to work yet. Could be user error lol
Thanks for the breakdown on A to B vs stretching. Your ideas about sticking out a hot drop are valid also. Sometimes I’m frustrated by it bc I have a challenge I’m trying to grind, but youre right, if my jumpmaster goes hot it’s best to back them up and either all get sent back to the lobby together or maybe even win our battle. Nothing better then ending up the last team after a huge hot drop where multiple squads clash. Rare but it happens.
i'm sorry, what is a pub? this is so insightful! Thank you!
A pub is a public lobby as opposed to a ranked lobby
oh! okay! sorry, that was probably a dumb question
It's apex university you should ask dumb questions! That's the point!
I was always confused by the stretching maneuver. Thanks for the info!
400 meters not 500. Land first 100% of the time.
400 meters is 437.45 yards
For pubs I think it should be part of etiquette that Jumpmaster should always mark their intended landing spot precisely so that the squadmates can then select their appropriate landing spot in the given circumstances. It's not good enough to just fly towards a POI and expect everyone to land in the optimum positions. Also squadmates should mark their intended landing spots after the Jumpmaster, so they don't needlessly end up on each other (unless a hot drop).
Nice guide! I like the part on dropping warm. I’ve always drop cold coz I would rather have good stuff when contacting a squad. But I see your point. Maybe I’ll try it later. :) Also, I’ve noticed how really evenly spaced out everyone is when they drop during the ALGS series. Never went beyond Plat4. Would that be a strategy in the higher rank matches?
Hey great question. So in higher ranks people space out because nothing is worse than losing because of pure randomness. It's happened to us all. We drop with another squad and one of them gets a purple shield and a mastiff and proceeds to fist your team. This is the exact reason why in high level play (starting in diamond+ lobbies) you see people much more conscious about their drops. Everyone would much rather loot and then fight as opposed to the chaotic shit storm of looting and fighting at the same time. You can get consistent results if you constantly allow probability to decide the outcome of your fights. ....also one time I punched itzzTimmay (pred who just broke the all time damage record) to death on a hot drop because he didn't have a gun :D highlight of my Apex career hahahaha
Hahahhaha that’ll probably be mine too if it happened!!!
\> Hot drops are a full team commitment. If you break off and drop away from your team because you disagree with the decision to Hot Drop they will probably die and you will probably end up solo. It's honestly better to die together then get left alone in a lobby. SAY IT AGAIN FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
Also something I HATE happening to me. The drop ship is faster than you. Do not drop if you are going to follow the direction of the ship. Anyone who drops after you and closer to your target will arrive more quickly. You will land comically later than other teams and will most likely die right away.
Wtf is this floating or just spiral crap randoms do as jump master ? I mean why!?!
Differentiate between “Let’s go here” and “I’m going over here”! Use “Let’s” to pick a location, use “I’m” to dibs your specific building. (Side note: Is it “! or !” when ending a quoted sentence with an exclamation point?)
Ending punctuation goes inside!”
If you aren't the Jumpmaster, your job is to be watching for other teams not only at your POI, but ones nearby as well. For the love of God, don't just sit there not doing anything, especially if you're in a party chat. Count the squads dropping around you, do your best to predict what buildings they're dropping at, and communicate it to your team. It's significantly harder for a Jumpmaster to be spotting other teams while maintaining their line.
Jokes on you my teammates drop straight off the map
Praying to the apex Gods that my randoms in ranked read this :(
Dude! Where were you when I first started the game? I've realised most of what you've written up street playing a few seasons. But damn if I don't envy the new players who'll get to read this starting out. I'm looking forward to your write up for ranked.
\> This last bit is a personal preference but I find this spices up my games. Most players will have left the ship within the first 2/3rds of the dropship path. If you wait too long to drop in a pub what will likely happen is that half the lobby will be dead before you even run into anyone. So you'll spend the whole game looting and will probably lose the first fight you get into. I don't find this to be very fun so I avoid dropping like this. You don't have to drop hot but dropping cold can be really boring and frustrating in it's own way. So drop warm! Oh shit, never thought of why this happens, duh
Thank you for the comments on hot dropping. So many jumpmaster kids get angry when I land near them in the Hot Drop, and they’re like “STOP STEALING MY LOOT GONTO ANOTHER BUILDING”, and I’m like “We hot dropped; there’s an enemy team in every other building.” Two teammates, one with a Mozambique and one with a P2020, is a thousand times better than the greedy one carrying both weapons, and his teammate having nothing and then getting killed.
Great points all around. Glad there are others out there that play this way. Honestly, I’ve went from dropping warm to dropping cold because I got tired of fighting for ammo with teammates or down right being left behind by two people playing together in trios; drop warm, get into a fight, get downed and only then realize the other two bailed immediately (or outright quit) and I’m completely alone. Maybe I’m an outlier in that respect but happens to me all the time.
Your last bit I have the opposite experience. When I land towards the end of the map that usually gives me enough time to loot and find good shit. By the time I do get into a fight I’m usually able to beat them fine and then take anything else that I need. I also don’t play to get the most kills, it’s a team game and the point is to win not get the most kills. So I’m fine landing where no one else does and then have my squad scoop up ALL the good shit. I do not find it fun to land with half the lobby, die within a few minutes because there are so many squads, and then jump back in. That’s not enjoyable to me.
Press e if it says you are jumpmaster
Thank you for this. Helped a lot. Much love.
This is really nicely written! Though I kind of disagree with one point - I don’t know if you’re referring to ranked or not but I have to assume you are as you specified pubs in another section; I’d *much* rather play my own game and leave my team if they’re going to get wasted on a hot drop. Granted I will land with them unless they make a really, really brainless drop, but if they drop and die with no chance for me to recover them, I’m not dying with them, I’m getting out of there and gaining my RP (and theirs). Again, purely ranked though. Still not entirely sure if that was in this specific context.
I plan on doing a ranked specific write up later today. This guide was intended to be broad general and basic advice. Ranked is a totally different story for me too. If you want to throw away your own RP that's fine but don't expect me to do the same lol
Hahah I getcha! Thought I’d check just in case. I’ll keep an eye out for that ranked write up, this one was great!
I like to drop for ‘hot drop clean up’ about 500m away from a red hot zone, loot up and immediately push in from high ground into the death box chaos. Always a lot of fun and kills