Despite championing innovative features like the ping system, Apex Legends, at its core, shares similar DNA to its contemporaries. Like Fortnite and even PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds before it, certain gameplay elements and player tendencies are part of the genre’s universal language, including the act of hot-dropping. The term, for those not familiar, refers to the practice of consciously landing in known areas where other players are known to converge during the opening stages of a new match.
For Respawn’s title, in particular, various locations scattered throughout Kings Canyon are known to provide a higher chance at rare gear, providing plenty of risk/reward incentive for players to visit them right off the bat. There are, of course, those who prefer to start any given match in such places as a means of engaging in combat at the earliest possible convenience, rather than wait out the timer on fringes of the map. According to one top Apex Legends player, however, neither explanation is a suitable justification for engaging in hot-dropping.
In a recent broadcast, Twitch streamer Shroud didn’t beat around the bush when sharing his thoughts on the topic. “The hot-drops are stupid as hell,” he begins, before adding that “Everyone is hot-dropping but they don’t realise how dumb it is to hot drop.” The former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professional player continues to elaborate on his stance by referencing how plentiful loot in Apex Legends is across the entire map, not just hot spots, and that, due to the shorter nature of any given match when compared with, say, PUBG, the act just simply isn’t necessary. Matches generally last for much longer amounts of time in the latter title so the man certainly makes a good point.
Either way, it’s ultimately down to each player’s preference and preferred playstyle that remains the deciding factor in these sorts of scenarios. Though, if you are looking for tips on how to improve your game, the above advice is surely worth a try. And those interested in hearing Shroud’s full statement can do so via the video below.