So, you’ve decided to play Apex Legends as everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Pathfinder. Excellent, undervalued choice; Pathfinder can make or break your team in close calls with the ring and when getting pinched between two teams.
Plus - he’s an adorable, sweet robo-Legend whose tactical ability allows you to feel like Spiderman. And who doesn’t want to be Spiderman? Weirdos, that’s who.
Want to know how to play Pathfinder like a pro? Here’s the guide for you:
The Basics
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1. Pre-Grapple Jump
Pathfinder’s tactical ability, his grappling hook, is good for more than just swinging around Fragment East.
If you find yourself in a fight against another Legend that it seems you won’t win, you can use Pathfinder’s tactical ability to zip away from the fight so that you can potentially heal before getting back into the fray.
A good way to ensure you’re optimizing your grapple use is to jump before you grapple and to aim past the object you’re grappling so that you have more of a rubber-band like tension with the grapple, which will fling your Pathfinder much further, much faster.
2. Post Grapple Slide
Crouch upon hitting the ground after using your grapple so that you’ll slide instead of plopping onto the ground, which leaves you with slowed mobility for a moment. You can heal while you slide to multitask getting your health/shields back up as you’re landing from a grapple.
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3. Zipline to Safety
Sometimes your team can find themselves with the Ring closing right on their tails.
To avoid dying an embarrassing death via health damage from the Ring, use your Ultimate Ability, the zipline gun, to get your team towards safety and away from the closing Ring.
Additionally, your team might start a fight with one team then be third-partied by another. You can use your Ultimate Ability to reposition your team so that the other two teams have to fight each other first, taking your team from being third-partied to being the third party.
When using your Ult, be sure to be on a relatively even surface and aim at another relatively even surface, as the Zipline might not be available in time for you to make your escape before the other team comes to finish you off.
4. Grappling Ziplines
If you find yourself too far from your already placed Ult or any other zipline to mount them quickly, you can use your tactical ability to get directly onto the zipline by grappling it.
This can take a while to master, as the rope of the zipline is very thin, making it a difficult target. You’ll want to practice this tip in the Firing Range for maximum effectiveness.
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5. Practice, Practice, Practice
Pathfinder can be a difficult Legend to master, as Pathfinder’s tactical ability requires very precise aim and on-the-spot strategy.
Go to the firing range and practice quick-aiming your grappling hook so that you may go directly to safety or to drop down on another team, as opposed to flinging yourself directly into danger.
Pro Pathfinder Plays
Now that you know the basics of what it takes to be a good Pathfinder, let’s get into the expert tips that can take your skills from good to great!
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6. Grapple Punch
When you find yourself having just put a full clip into an enemy Legend, yet they’re still barely alive and are attempting to make their escape, you can aim your tactical ability at them and, if it’s a direct hit, you’ll pull yourself or the other player directly to yourself.
Once you’re in melee, hit them with a finishing punch to get the kill. This is my personal favorite part about playing Pathfinder, as the grapple-punch looks hilarious in action.
7. New Skirmisher Class Ability Tip
Although many Pathfinder mains aren’t too happy with Pathfinder being relocated from Recon to Skirmisher (‘Already missing those survey beacons, aren’t you? Yeah, me too.), his passive Insider Knowledge has followed him into this newest season of Apex with a minor change.
Looking at a falling or fallen care package and scanning them reveals the highest-tier loot in said care package. This is how you activate Pathfinder’s passive, which gives you your Ultimate and a 10% cooldown rate on your Ult going forward in the match.
Try to remember to use your Ultimate Ability to reposition your team or to simply get where you want to go faster before scanning a care package to immediately get another charge of your Ult for another use going forward. This tip allows you to get two Ults back to back!
8. Faster Grapple
Get to your destination faster by, instead of grappling directly towards your objective, looking away from the place you’ve grappled to build more momentum and send Pathfinder flying in a curved movement towards his goal.
This makes Pathfinder less easily hit by the other team and gets you to your destination faster than a direct grapple.
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9. Bunny Hop
When Pathfinder lands directly on the ground after a grapple, he’s usually slowed for a couple of seconds before he can run/move at normal speeds, leaving you vulnerable to attacks during that brief moment.
You can avoid this by bunny hopping (crouching and jumping in rapid succession) as soon as you land post-grapple or zipline, allowing you to retain your normal speed and even get a bit further towards your objective.
10. Grapple Smarter, Not Farther
Playing aggressively and being the first legend on the scene is a big part of Pathfinder’s M.O. Playing shy isn’t exactly a part of his kit, but getting as far as you can on your grapples isn’t going to win you games.
When you’re getting into fights, try to use your grapple for swift repositioning without traveling too great a distance. Remember, your tactical ability has a varied cooldown based on distance traveled, ranging from something sweet, like 10 seconds, to something more grueling, like 30 seconds.
When you’re the first one in combat on your squad, a shorter tactical cooldown is absolutely key for your escape, should you come face to face with a three-man squad or, heaven forbid, another third party.
Try to keep your in-combat grapples short and sweet so you can grapple another day and save those 30 second cooldown grapples for big escapes and covering ground to get out of the ring.
Grapple, grapple, grapple!
That’s a wrap! Now you know how to become the best Pathfinder in Apex Legends. Test out these tips and let us know what you think!
