Make better decisions: where to go, when to fight, and when to wait.
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Core The foundation. Worth learning for everyone.
Bonus Extra credit once the core feels solid.
Impact: Huge, 5 of 5.Impact How much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty: BasicDifficulty: EasyDifficulty: MediumDifficulty: HardDifficulty: Very hardDifficulty How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Game sense18skills
Game sense
18 skills
Make better decisions: where to go, when to fight, and when to wait.
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Medium3/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Learn each map in rotation: its named locations, how they connect, and where the high ground, open fields and launch points are.
You can’t plan a drop or a rotation on a map you don’t know. Learn the named locations first, then the routes between them: ridges and buildings to hold, open ground to avoid, and launchers or ziplines that save time. Battle royale rotates between three maps, and Respawn reworks locations between seasons, so check which maps are live and what changed.
How to practice
In a match, name the location you’re in and the two nearest ones before checking the map labels. Repeat on each map in rotation.
Before the dropship opens, plan your landing and your first move out of it from memory. Then open the map and note anything you got wrong.
3/5 · SolidHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Easy2/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Land with a plan, loot what you need for the first fight, and leave before the ring or nearby teams decide for you.
The first minutes decide what you carry into every later fight. Choose a landing that fits your squad’s plan, loot until you’re ready for a fight, and leave on your own terms. Knowing one or two landing spots well makes all of this faster.
How to practice
Pick one landing spot and land there for a week, until you know its loot and its exits.
In your recordings, note the ring timer when you leave your landing spot, and whether you had armor, a loaded weapon and heals by then.
3/5 · SolidHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Easy2/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Pick a landing that suits your squad, and read how many teams are dropping with you before you commit.
Spots near the dropship’s path and spots with strong loot usually draw more teams. Look around as you skydive, and if more teams are heading for your spot than your squad wants to fight, switch to a fallback nearby. Ranked has switched between the dropship and assigned drop zones over the seasons, so check how your mode starts this season.
How to practice
On each drop, count the teams landing at or next to your spot and call the number to your squad before you touch down.
Pick a fallback spot before you jump. In recordings, check how often you switched when your spot was crowded, and how those starts went.
3/5 · SolidHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Easy2/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Know what you need for the first fight (armor, a weapon you can use, its ammo and heals), then stop looting and move.
Take what keeps you alive first: armor, a weapon you can use with ammo for it, and some heals. After that, fill gaps instead of opening every bin. Loot sources change with each season, so read the patch notes when one starts. Which weapons to carry is covered in Gunfights.
How to practice
Time how long it takes from landing until you have armor, a loaded weapon and heals. Try to beat that time at the same landing spot.
After your first fight, check the recording: what did you run out of, and what were you carrying that you never used?
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Medium3/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Plan your next move before the ring makes it for you, and set off while you still have a choice of routes.
A rotation is your move toward the next safe area. Plan it from the ring timer and the map, leave while you can still pick your route, and arrive before the spots you want are taken. Moving late usually leaves fewer routes and more teams in the way.
How to practice
Each round, note the ring timer when your squad starts moving. Compare the rounds where you moved early with the ones where you moved late.
In recordings, mark each time ring damage or a team forced your route. What would have let you leave earlier?
By MooreOverThe Art of the Rotate - Apex LegendsRotations, from the big picture to the small moves (September 2024).Watch on YouTube (opens in new tab)
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Easy2/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Read the ring timer and the next circle on your map, and remember that ring damage grows every round.
Your map shows the safe area and, once it is announced, where the ring will close next, while the timer shows how long you have. The ring hurts more every round, so a walk through it that is cheap early can be deadly late. Controller-class legends can see a round further ahead at Ring Consoles; that is covered in Legends + team.
How to practice
Each round, say how long until the ring closes and whether you’re inside the next circle, then check the map.
In recordings, note each time you took ring damage. Was it a planned shortcut early on, or did the ring catch you late?
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Medium3/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Use footsteps, gunfire and ability sounds to work out where enemies are and what they’re doing before you see them.
Footsteps, gunfire, doors, reloads and abilities tell you where enemies are, roughly how many there are and what they are doing. Respawn gives enemy sounds priority in its audio mix, and its Focused Mix option also removes your squadmates’ footsteps so enemies are easier to hear. Choosing your audio device is in Setup, and sharing what you hear is in Legends + team; this skill is turning sound into a decision.
How to practice
When you hear footsteps or gunfire, ping where you think it came from before you look. In the recording, check how close your ping was.
In a recording, pause at three moments you heard an enemy before seeing them. Say their direction and distance, then check what happened next.
3/5 · SolidHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Medium3/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Leave your landing with a plan: which way the first ring pulls you, which upgrades are on the way, and which teams landed nearby.
Once you’re ready to fight, decide where to go before you have to. The first ring, upgrade spots on the way such as EVO Harvesters, and the teams you saw land all point to a route. Some loot unlocks a little after the match starts, and these features change by season, so check the latest notes.
How to practice
Before you finish looting, tell your squad where you’re heading next and why: the ring, an upgrade or a team you saw. Check the recording to see if you followed it.
In recordings, note how long after landing you met your first team, and whether you or they chose where that fight happened.
5/5 · HugeHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Hard4/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Stand where fights favor you: high ground, cover close by, a view of where enemies will come from, and a way out.
Where you stand decides many fights before the first shot. A good spot gives you height, cover a step or two away, a view of the routes enemies will use, and a way out if another team arrives. Check your spot again each time the ring moves or a team appears. How to peek and use cover once shooting starts is in Gunfights.
How to practice
Each time your squad stops, name your cover, the direction enemies will come from and your way out. In the recording, check that all three existed.
Review three deaths: was the problem the fight itself, or where you were standing when it started? Note the spot you should have held.
Watch
By SlyeMoonApex Positioning Tutorial Pt.1How to read a situation before the fight starts, including baiting (April 2026).Watch on YouTube (opens in new tab)
Game sense / Rotations and the ring
Choosing a route
Core
Intermediate
Impact
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Medium3/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Pick a path to the next ring with cover along the way, and avoid open ground and narrow passes where teams wait.
Two routes to the same spot can be very different: one hops between cover, the other crosses an open field or a narrow pass that another team can watch. Plan a stop with cover where you can heal or fight if needed. Launchers, balloons and ziplines can skip dangerous ground; how to use them is in Movement.
How to practice
Before you move, point out your route and one covered stop on the way. In the recording, check whether you crossed open ground you hadn’t planned for.
Review fights you took while rotating: how many started in the open or in a narrow pass? Mark a route that would have avoided them.
3/5 · SolidHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Easy2/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Track the kill feed, the squads left and visible signs of other teams, so you know who’s fighting, who’s weak and who’s still out there.
The kill feed shows knocks and eliminations as they happen, and the count of squads left tells you how crowded the rest of the match will be. In the world, gunfire, care package beams and the scan wave from another team’s Survey Beacon show where others are. Put these together to judge which teams are weak, which are busy and which direction is quiet.
How to practice
Every few minutes, say how many squads are left and where the last fights were. Check the HUD and the map to see if you were right.
When the kill feed shows a team losing players nearby, note what you did: push, avoid or ignore. Review how it turned out in the recording.
5/5 · HugeHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Hard4/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Before you commit, weigh your health, your squad, the ring and the teams nearby. Not every fight is worth taking.
Before you commit, check what you have and what you would walk into: your squad’s health and supplies, your position, the ring timer and how many teams could hear the fight. A fight you can finish quickly from good cover is worth more than an even fight in the open. Waiting or walking away is often the stronger call. What you do once shots are fired is in Gunfights.
How to practice
Before each fight, say one reason to take it and one reason not to. After the match, check which calls led to wins and which led to third parties.
In recordings, list the fights you started. For each, note your squad’s health, the ring timer and nearby teams when you committed.
2/5 · SituationalHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Medium3/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Decide whether a care package or Stronghold is worth contesting, knowing every team nearby can see it too.
Care packages are announced to everyone and carry strong loot, so they draw teams. Since Season 31 (November 2026), a Stronghold also drops while the second ring closes. It lands locked, crushes anything underneath it, and puts up cover around it. Capture progress builds only while a single team is in the zone around it and never resets, so whichever team is inside when it fills wins the loot and a level up for each living member, even if another team did most of the work. Treat both as fights you choose: go when your squad is ready and the area is defensible, or wait nearby and catch the teams that go in.
How to practice
When a care package lands nearby, decide out loud: take it, watch it or skip it. In the recording, check what happened to the teams that went for it.
When you contest a Stronghold, note how many teams arrived during the capture, whether you were still in the zone when it finished, and whether you had a way out.
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Medium3/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
In ranked, weigh each fight against what a good placement is worth, so one bad fight doesn’t throw away the match.
Ranked charges an entry cost each match and gives points back for your placement and your eliminations. The cost is lower when your squad’s tier is well below the lobby’s and higher when it is well above. Take fights you can win cleanly or that protect your placement, and avoid ones likely to end your game early. How placement and kills are scored changes by season, so check the Ranked tab in your inventory before planning around numbers. The attitude side of ranked is in Mindset + review.
How to practice
For ten ranked games, note your placement, eliminations and points gained or lost. Which games gained the most: high placements or many kills?
In recordings of early ranked deaths, note whether you chose that fight. Would leaving it have kept you in the game longer?
Before a ranked session, open the Ranked tab in your inventory and note how this season scores placement and kills.
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Hard4/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Hold spots that show you the routes enemies use while showing them little of you, so you see them before they see you.
The team that spots the other first decides whether and how the fight starts. Choose spots with a long view of the paths, doors and ridges enemies are likely to use, and avoid skylines and open windows where you stand out. Check which angles can see you, not only the ones you can see.
How to practice
In recordings of your fights, note who saw whom first. Count the fights that started with you being shot before you saw anyone.
When your squad stops, pick the spot with the best view of the way into the next ring. Check whether arriving teams were seen before they reached you.
Game sense / Rotations and the ring
Edge or center
Core
Advanced
Impact
3/5 · SolidHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Hard4/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Know when to take a spot inside the next ring early and when to move along its edge, where fewer sides are open to attack.
Getting into the next circle early lets you claim a strong spot, but teams arriving later can end up around you. Moving along the ring’s edge keeps the ring at your back, but leaves you less room and ties you to the ring’s timing. Neither is always right; it depends on your loadout, your health, the teams left and where the next circle sits.
How to practice
For one session, note each round whether your squad played the edge or the center and how the next fight went. Look for what worked and why.
In recordings of edge rotations, check whether ring damage or a team inside the circle forced you to move, and what you would change.
Game sense / Picking your fights
Third-partying other fights
Core
Advanced
Impact
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Hard4/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
Join other teams’ fights when they are weak and distracted, without getting caught by the next team doing the same.
Gunfire tells you a fight is on and roughly where. Arrive while both teams are hurt and busy and you can win an easy fight; arrive too early and you are in an even fight, too late and they have healed. Before you go in, check your route, your cover and who else could be coming. Surviving a third party on your own fight is in Gunfights.
How to practice
When you hear a nearby fight, note when you set off and when you arrived. In the recording, check whether the teams were still fighting, healing or gone.
Review third parties you joined: did another team arrive behind you? Note where you could have waited to see them coming.
Game sense
Endgame
Core
Advanced
Impact
4/5 · HighHow much it changes your results. More bars and greener means a bigger payoff.
Difficulty
Hard4/5How hard it is to learn and pull off in a real fight.
In the last rings, hold a spot early, save healing and utility, and only take fights that don’t leave you open.
The last rings are small and crowded, so every team is close and every fight is heard. Take a defensible spot before the final rings if you can, keep enough healing and grenades for the last closes, and count the teams left before you commit. Late on, letting other teams fight each other first is often better than fighting them yourself.
How to practice
In recordings of top-five finishes, note where you were when the second-to-last ring started and how you got there. Was the spot taken early or in a rush?
Before the last two rings, check your healing and grenades. After the match, note whether you ran out or finished with items unused.
