An Apex Legends fan over on Reddit put together a slick set of heatmaps showing the drop locations across 120,000 matches. It’s even broken down by rank so you can see how drop locations differ between low/high ranks.
You can check out all the heatmaps from Redditor ZYy9oQ over here. I’ll be taking a look at the heat map created to show the difference between bronze, silver, gold, and platinum (represented in shades of blue) versus diamond and predator ranks (represented in shades of red).
If you haven’t played Apex Legends’ rank mode, you might be wondering why the outer edges of the map are more popular? That’s because you earn points based on your final standing. Hot drops into busy locations aren’t the best option when you’re trying to protect against losing points from an early exit. That’s why we see many higher ranked players choose spots further from the initial action.
Here’s a heat map showing the most popular spots across ranked Season 2 play regardless of rank.
The usual suspects glow including Skulltown, Water Treatment, Market, The Cage, The Pit, and Containment.
But the best spots to drop in Apex Legends for advancing higher in ranked play shift to the edges of the map. Swamps, Relay, and the outskirts of Hydro Dam and Repulsor. Skulltown also shows up along with Airbase, but spots where the action is often the lightest shift towards higher-ranked players. Most casual players are looking for a fight. Diamond and Predator ranks are looking for that initial set of gear first. There might be a team or two landing at these spots, but it’s not the half dozen that try to hit Skulltown or Market right off the bat.
Me? I like Water Treatment or Relay. There’s plenty of loot to get a whole squad started, but usually not too much action leading to quick deaths. And if there are other teams, you can run to one of the nearby clusters of buildings. After taking a look at these maps, I’ll be giving Swamps a try.
The big takeaway here? If you’re looking to rank up, change up your drop locations. Everyone loves getting into a fight at Market or Skulltown, but sometimes a quieter spot is the best.
The person behind the heatmaps is asking for other ideas. I want to see a heatmap for the two weeks worth of solo action coming later this month.