Since its release, Apex Legends has developed a massive fanbase with new legends joining the fight each day. As someone who has devoted countless hours, I’m often asked which settings I've changed or which are best to improve my game. This article will cover 15 of the most helpful adjustments I’ve found throughout my years of playing and will bring you one step closer to becoming a champion of the arena.  

15: Sprint View Shake  

Throughout the years of video game development, developers and gaming companies have always looked for ways to make their games more real, more immersive. Along comes camera shake. Camera shake is one of those settings that was introduced so players could feel more immersed in the world, and while it is always nice to find yourself genuinely believing you are in the game, it is not always a competitive advantage. 

The main disadvantage of camera shake is as simple as the setting itself. When you move, so does the camera making it more difficult to see enemies, aim your gun, or even just move fluidly.  

Recommended: Off   

14: Vibration 

Vibration is another setting which gets overlooked by many as a way to improve their game. Vibration can be helpful as a warning when being shot or when there is an explosion nearby. Much like camera shake, this is another setting that makes you feel as if you are truly in the fight. 

The down side to this is that depending on the amount of vibration and the timing of it, it can throw off your game. Let’s just say you are in a gunfight, if you get shot or there is an explosion, your controller vibrates. It’s this slight vibration that makes it more difficult to aim and makes you more likely to miss. 

Recommended: Off 

13: Reticle Color 

Multiple reticle colors allow one to select which color works best for them in order to improve their chances during a fight.

This is one of those more personalized settings that adds a slight advantage to your gameplay. Reticle color is the color of your crosshairs on screen when you are aiming. Changing the color not only gives you a personal touch to your game, but it will also give you an easily distinguishable sight for precise aiming and firing. 

Apex offers some preset colors to select as well as a fully custom slider to pick the perfect color. Some of the most used colors by players are lime green, neon blue, hot pink, bright red, or even the classic white. In the end, it is really whichever color you find the most useful and which suits your personality the best. 

Recommended: Pink 

12: Prompt Style

Here is a perfect example on how a large prompt style can negatively change your vision by obstructing your sight.

This is a visual setting that will allow you to see the game more clearly. Prompt style is the way that names and descriptions of loot will look when interacting with them. While this is helpful at first, allowing new players to get an understanding of what certain loot is and what it does, more experienced players find this to be a hindrance. When in its default setting, the prompt boxes end up taking a lot of space on the screen. This loss of visibility will give other legends a leg up when it comes to fighting. 

Once you have developed a good grasp of the game and the loot, it is recommended that you set the Prompt Style to compact. A compact style tells you only what you need to know while taking up minimal space, giving you the edge on spotting any players in your area. 

Recommended: Compact 

11: Ping Opacity

Here we can see how much the default ping opacity stands out in the environment, often causing distraction while fighting.

Another setting to clear up clutter on your screen is Ping Opacity. Within the game of Apex, there are many key components that make up a winning squad. One of them is communication, and while Apex Legends offers different ways to communicate with your team, the Ping System is perhaps number one.  

Pinging is used to show where to go, if an enemy is near, or loot your team might need. Here’s the kicker, when in the middle of a fight, teammates will tend to ping the position of an enemy team. This can be extremely helpful, unless you have Ping Opacity set to default. The default setting makes it easily visible on screen, but it will also make it more difficult to see the enemy if the ping is obstructing your view. Apex does give you the choice to set it to a faded setting, making it transparent to not block the view so much. 

Recommended: Faded 

10: Minimap Rotation 

I know what some are asking, “Brandon how does the map change the way I play?” Well, the mini map is a valuable tool when it comes to playing any game, Apex in particular. A mini map gives you a visual representation of what you see around you, allowing you to make sound decisions on where to go and which way to rotate, but having it set to default can get confusing for some. 

The default setting for the mini map always has north at the top, regardless of which way you are facing. This may cause confusion when trying to move around since your surroundings in relation to you are different from those on the map. When rotation is turned on, you become, essentially, the center of the universe. By doing this, everything around you will correspond to everything on the map in the same way. 

Recommended: On

9: Damage Numbers 

Damage Numbers is an in-game tool that allows you to get real-time feedback on the damage you are doing to another player. This gives you and your team a better understanding of how hurt a certain player is and if pushing them is a smart decision.  

When it comes to Damage Numbers you are given a total of four options: Off, Stacking, Floating, or Both. Floating shows you how much damage each individual shot does, while stacking automatically adds each consecutive shot together, showing you the total amount of damage you did. Even though some may prefer floating, it adds screen clutter as well as making damage calculations more difficult. 

Recommended: Stacking 

8: Field-Of-view 

It is sometimes hard to truly understand just how much one can benefit from increasing your FOV, but looking above we see just how much of a difference it can make.

For those of you who may not be aware, Field-Of-View (FOV) is just as it sounds. What FOV does is increase what can be seen by essentially zooming out. Raising the Field-Of-View in Apex gives you a competitive advantage over your opponents by allowing you to spot rival legends before they see you.  

FOV is one of those settings that is personal and depends on your hardware. Most PC players will have it set higher as long as their system is capable of handling it, while console players tend to keep it lower. If playing on a console the ideal FOV would be in the range of 90-96.  

Recommended: 96   

7: Field-Of-View Scaling

FOV Ability Scaling is found underneath the Video tab and was designed to control the changes in Field-Of-View when using movement abilities.

I know what you’re thinking but no this isn’t doubled up. Field-Of-View and Field-Of-View Scaling are two different settings that offer two changes to your gameplay. As we discussed, FOV is the real estate you can see on screen, more FOV=more to see. FOV scaling expands upon that by further increasing your Field-Of-View when movement-based abilities are used.  

While this may seem contradictory to what we just said, this increase in FOV gives you a negative side effect. When FOV Scaling is enabled, the moment you use an Octane’s stim or Bloodhound’s ultimate, it will change the sensitivity of your controller making you more likely to miss a shot you normally would not.  

Recommended: Disabled  

6: Damage Closes Deathbox 

Apex is a game where quick decision-making can change the outcome of a fight. One of these decisions is that of shield swapping. For those who don’t know, shield swapping is when a player in the middle of a fight goes into someone's Deathbox and replaces their own broken or damaged shield with a fresh one. This tactic is used often by many casual and professional players to tilt the fight in their favor.  

In order to take full advantage of this strategy, you must turn off Taking Damage Closes Deathbox. See, the default setting in Apex is to have this turned on because it allows you to know when you’ve been shot and gives you time to run and reposition. But in the case of shield swapping, having this on will make it almost impossible to do since the moment you get hurt, it will close you out without the benefit of a fresh shield.

Recommended: Off 

5: Audio 

Audio can be broken down into five key segments each with a specific outcome on your overall audio.

An often-overlooked setting within many games is that of audio. Apex provides you with several sliders under the audio tab, all of which affect sound in their own way. By default, any game will set all these sliders to 100%, and most won’t even think of changing them. Well, here is why you should and why when all audio presets are at maximum output, often crucial sounds end up being missed. 

Optimizing your audio allows you to hear more clearly where and when an enemy is reviving, where they are running, and even what legend they are by the sounds of their footsteps. All these extra bits of information can be critical factors in winning or losing a fight. 

Recommended: Master-100%, Sound Effects-100%, Dialogue-65%, Music-35%, Lobby-35%  

4: Crosshair Damage Feedback 

Similar to Damage Numbers, Crosshair Damage Feedback is another way to receive more information during a fight. Crosshair Feedback can also be known as hit markers. When your bullets strike an enemy, a visible “X” appears on screen, allowing you to recognize and adjust your aim if needed. 

Apex takes it one step further by presenting you with the choice to select “X w/ Shield Icon”, and what this option does is give you more information while engaged in combat. The Shield Icon selection not only tells you when you registered a shot, but when that shot hits, what type of armor they have. A piece of information to help you determine if you and your team can handle the fight or not. 

Recommended: X w/ Shield Icon 

3: Response Curve 

Response curve is one of those technical settings that not many understand, to be honest I didn’t either when I first started. Within the settings menu, Apex offers a brief description of what it is by saying “how the stick’s analog input is used to turn your view.” Confusing right? The way I would describe it is the relation of your analog stick’s movement to the in-game movement. Thankfully, Apex has five settings for you to pick from.

Picking the right Response Curve comes down to a few factors, like aim sensitivity, the age and responsiveness of the controller, and personal playstyle. Are you someone who stays cool under pressure, or someone who likes to make sudden and quick turns? If so, High Velocity might be your choice. If you play a more controlled game focused on precision shots, try Fine Aim. Unsure of your playstyle? Head to the Firing Range and try them out to see what fits you best. 

Recommended: Steady 

2: Deadzones 

While this is just one point, there are three settings that fall under this category: Trigger, Look, and Movement. Even though all three are different, the concept behind deadzones is the same, how much space/movement until the game registers your input. Having these values set lower is what will give you your competitive edge. 

Let’s start with Trigger Deadzones, a Tigger Deadzone can be understood as the slack given when hitting the aim/fire buttons. This helps prevent accidental misfires, but by increasing the deadzone, it also means that when you do intend to aim/fire, it will have a slight hesitation and worsen your chances. 

The same can be said for both the Look and Movement Deadzones. There are some instances in which you would need an increased deadzone. This is the case if you have an older controller with sensitive analogs. The combination of overly sensitive or overused analogs and a small to no deadzone will lead to controller drift, which can negatively affect your chances of winning.  

Recommended: Trigger-None, Look-Small, Movement-Small 

1: Button Layout

Apex Legends understands that not all players are comfortable using a default controller layout, which leads them to giving you several selections and even a fully customizable one.

Probably one of the most personal and most helpful setting changes a new player can make is customizing the button layout of their controller. Customizing your layout can help you perform certain useful moves to improve movement and up your chances mid-fight. The developers over at Respawn did an excellent job of understanding this, so they loaded in several controller layouts. They also gave you the possibility of creating your own custom button layout. 

A custom button layout is the approach I took when it came to adjusting my Apex settings. One of the key differences I made was changing the location of the crouch button to my analog. Doing so helps my movement in fights, as I am now able to move and crouch at the same time, making myself a harder target to hit. If this was the only change, then the Button Puncher preset would’ve worked for me, but another key change I found helpful was flipping my Triggers and Bumpers. 

This may seem like an unnecessary and insane idea to some, but if we were to grab a controller right now, we would see the distance needed to fully press a trigger is much greater than that of the bumpers. So why did I do this? Apex offers a variety of single-fire and burst guns, so this reduction in time grants me the ability to fire my weapon faster than others could. More bullets = more damage; more damage = a greater chance of becoming an Apex Legend Champion. 

Recommended: Crouch moved to R3, Triggers and Bumpers flipped

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