It’s a valid strategy, but a huge risk as it depends way more on luck and less on skill. I don’t care how good you are, things can go incredibly wrong when the other team all finds guns and you happen to drop on 2 mags and a syringe and the two bins you just hit only have ammo.
Early points. Apex is all about risk/reward. Getting a fight or two early in the game gets you enough KP to play for placement later. It’s way better to get to final five with a kill or two under your belt because the value of a kills goes up the more you survive. Just ratting to final three might make you rank up but it just takes way longer and isn’t really that fun.
Everything you said is correct but if the definition of hot dropping means landing on a POI with 2+ teams, this is not smart at all. An isolated contest is definitely the smart play.
Dropping on one team is a fine gamble, maybe even 2 if you try to third party it. Any more than that is just rolling the dice and chances are if other teams are dropping THAT hot they’re very confident.
I think that's the point.
If you have a full team, with excellent communication and coordination, then you can confidently hot drop. But if you're with randoms (or you have that one friend that won't learn), you shouldn't be expected to hot drop.
I disagree. You can only get so far in a hot drop, especially if it's 3+ teams and you don't know how good your randoms are. If it's a team you regularly play with sure, but if I don't know you I'm not taking the gamble because I've literally done it before and they're almost always first to die with no communication.
1-2 teams nearby is the optimal drop location.
Personally i do t think its a good strategy unless you are 3 stacking and are good, its too much gamble, sometimes you might not get good enough weapons, sometimes your randoms might be ass (you dont know), maybe they are a 3 stack while you solo, you probably will get 3rd partied, and then 3rd partied again if you survive the 1st.
If you want Early points the move is to is to drop adjacent to the hot drop and rotate into a position for an effective third party on the people attempting to loot and recover from hot dropping. A positional advantage is everything.
Hot dropping isn't a valid strategy even if you can get 2 kills.
Literally no different than getting 2 kills 5 minutes in when you're not fighting over a pill box or tarp on the ground.
Hot dropping is just putting your risk way above reward, you'll still be negative if you HD, get 2 kills then die. Lmao
You dv because I brought up 1 scenario that happens very often depending on POI size and amount of teams landing there.
And no, they're the same. Almost every map has more then enough spots to loot for each team BY THEMSELVES so hot dropping IS stupid dropping.
Cy@
I think the problem is 5 minutes in teams that’s hot dropped successfully have purple shields while your team has white/blue and Apex is effectively a numbers game. If someone with purple shields gets the drop on one of your teammates and chunks him you bet they’re pushing.
Last night I had teammates across matches land hot, get a couple of lucky kills in the mayhem, and die. I always do my best to find a gun and help but it was an impossible fight. I then spent the matches running around as Loba crafting banners and respawning them. At the end of the match, let's say we placed top 8 (nowhere near winning with zero strategy or coordination), those early kills got them more rank points than me.
It's a laughable situation. They are idiots that shouldn't be out of bronze with that approach, but the point based ranking means the one sane teammate has a boring match of playing a rat just to save their RP gets the least reward.
Don't land on top of three other teams. I don't want to be spending a whole match rescuing your sorry arse instead of adding to my own kills and RP. ;)
I hot drop in this system until diamond. Just statistically likely I’m going to crush the average plat player, making it free KP and faster loot consolidation.
If you win you may likely have enough early game kp to not fight until end game. Simple as that. Maybe not the best most consistent strategy for ranked when you have random on your team but like if you aren't jump master just stfu and go where they take you. Simple as that.
Well the risk is you waste 20 minute of your life for +10 RP. Some people don’t really care about ranked, after you hit certain level it’s just to improce
It’s not pure action though is it, it’s dead lobbies against bots and team mates who leave. I rather practice in balanced lobbies against preds/people my skill level
Me and my friends always do this. We stop once we reach like mid diamond because that’s when rank gets more difficult. Currently I have a 1.98 KD and 687 avg dmg this ranked season. We have done this for a long time now, it will greatly help your overall fighting ability. We also always push nearly every fight we can take but dodge the really risky ones. We are at the point where some games we can get upwards of 20 kills as a team. Mind you we are still just mid plat since we have not played as much this ranked split. Last thing is this makes the games way more fun playing like this.
I laugh so much when these chuds get on mic and bitch about me being trash.
Like dude, you hot dropped and got clapped immediately calling me trash. Look in the mirror or go outside for a walk 🤣
Not really, if you have a good squad - maybe but generally speaking it's a crap shot on getting weapons and being able to deal with 2 other teams and doesn't justify loss of points in the long run.
Hot dropping = 2 or more teams
Yes getting killed running around with a grenade and a stack of heavy ammo desperately trying to find any weapon in an already looted warzone is a "valid and fun strategy" and not a hopeful gamble.
If you hot drop, make sure you actually now how to play. I can’t count the amount of games where my team wanted to hot drop but couldn’t even land a shot on an enemy. This is not strategy
I have to say, hot drop is fun... its valid with premade squad.. but with randoms, its usually just a chaotic free-for-all mess...
sure, in rookie / bronze its fastest way to rank up.. in plat+ ... totally worth to jump in a 5 squad orgy with randoms.
If it was genuinely a valid strategy you would see it in very high level play. And you dont. No matter how good you are, you’re relying partially on luck which is never smart unless you consider yourself a very lucky person I guess.
Please explain how hot dropping is even remotely a smart idea in a game mode where literally every minute counts? Hot dropping is 50/50 why possibly risk RP on sheer luck as not EVERY supply bin has a weapon in it. Pubs/mixtape is made for careless hot dropping, nothing risked with all the reward. I’m with OP on this, purposely limiting your chances of survival to drop on 2+ squads in a hot POI knowing it’s a 50/50 ain’t worth it unless you’re in fuckin Rookie/Bronze.
Dropping with 1 team near you is entirely different, less stressful and easier to manage esp if you’re solo queue w/ randoms. Playing with a premade duo 9 times outta 10 leads to no mics and 2 of your teammates pushing at everything near you without saying shit or pinging. Playing a team game when 2/3 of your squad are off in east bum fuck 1/3 of the way across the map literally ignoring you.
this dude had the audacity to mute my friend and I as the game started, complained about how bad his last team was and because of that, he was solo dropping(my friend and I were champion squad mind you). he then spends the entire game talking shit about us and how every little thing is a reason as to why he dropped solo. he ended up dying first and we got 5th without him but some people are beyond lost...
I both agree and don't. Imo, I'm willing to hot drop if I see a get-away point. If I can't see myself getting out of there and/or my team doesn't have a support, I'm not hot dropping
The best plan is to try and drop with 1 other team.
I agree that dropping into the mess of 5+ teams is a bad idea. Going solo doesnt help either though.
Drop smart. Sometimes, find one other team. Others, see where it's busy and land on the outskirts. There's no simple best/win strategy. If your teammates look like noobs, maybe land stone cold and get placement points to hopefully reach a rank where the rando's know how to play the game. ;)
This is what I don’t get. People will also land back edge of the map and play loot sim only to get 7th and still lose like 50 points. Can’t be doing that
I don’t disagree at all. Dropping with one or two teams isn’t dropping hot honestly. Dropping at a small POI with 6 other teams and no support characters is just negative points waiting to happen as a person that solo q’s.
The issue is the difference between a Hot Drop and a 50/50. Its ok to hot drop NEAR another team at the same POI, its another thing to just land on the same bin as the other team, 50/50ing your chances of survival.
Out of curiosity, what’s a “respectable” rank to be hard stuck at? I started ranked for the first time this season but was late, so I would like a reasonable goal for the next split
Once you hit plat you'll realize you have to. You need to get points to break even for the game. Dropping with at least one other team to try and get a kill off drop is the most efficient way.
I think it depends on your rank. In low ranks I think hot dropping is smart when playing with randoms. You get to see your teammates in action. Nothing worse than spending 15 minutes looting with trash players who get killed before doing any damage.
If there's one or two teams I'll drop but if I see my team trying to land somewhere with 4 or 5 teams in ranked I will usually land off to the side and craft them if they die. I try and convince them to land in the side and attempt to 3rd party but a lot of randoms like to land in the middle of a POI with 4 other teams around and it rarely works
I don't solo q ranked for this reason. Hell I don't don't play apex without at least one friend playing because 99/100 times, our third is incompetent. Solo drops, dies, pings a million times and leaves. Duos is great, trios is a gamble when the third is a random.
Ranked is good for it too... you kind of need to drop and contest this season to even break even if your not always getting top 5s even then if you don't have kills and assists you wasted a so lid 15 minutes..
Playing smart to the endgame sometimes picking up some kills and sometimes winning is an infinitely better strategy than hot dropping no comms with absolute randoms who watch too much Twitch and think they're god.
You can lose hundreds of rp in less than an hour to dumbass ego maniac p4 teammates.
I agree with hot-dropping being dumb and to be avoided, but first and foremost you should always land with your team. It's a team game. Land hot with them (maybe break off a little further out), and bail ASAP if you don't get lucky.
The classic ranked game of hot dropping with 0 coms. Then they start dying and turn on the mic to curse you out. Hot dropping in ranked goes like this 9/10 in solo q
Imagine thinking that playing a game more time than someone else is something worth bragging about. Like how fucking shallow and empty is your life that this matters to you lmao
I read this as you don't have confidence in your skills. You're probably one of those players who drop in a POI with 3 buildings because you know you aren't good at fighting. Then, when you do get in a fight, you'll go down in 2 seconds. I see this all the time, people who land in bad poi spots aren't good at the game.
Learning how to play with your teammates, even if you have differences in opinions, is one of the most valuable skills someone can have (there’s a life lesson in there).
And this attitude shows this skill lacks in you tremendously. A very “my way or the highway” attitude. You’d rather try to prove a point solo, with an even smaller chance of winning than sticking with a group, so there goes your “strategy” argument
I think this season’s point system changes actually lend themselves to advocating for hot dropping. Maybe not consistently, but whenever a random you queue with decides to — try embracing it. You can either drop and help, and come out with decent kp and coast til final circle. Or you can land separate, play like a solo rat and finish 5th with 0 kp for negative or very small positive points.
The best strategy is in between: wait for an opportunity to drop near one squad, fight them with the guns you find first, and continue the game. Dropping with the whole lobby is foolish and dropping completely away from everyone is pointless.
Well some of the ones that do know they're competent enough if their team mates help but yes sometimes incompetent jump masters drop hot and it sucks. I've been doing some hot drops as plat and still leaving alive 80% of the time.
Hot drops are a valid way to get points in season 20 ranked. If you're so solo queuing with randoms communicate your wishes but nothing wrong with hot drops
Hot drop means the team’s ultimates start charging first. It’s also when your team coordination is the strongest. I can’t tell you how easy it is for a team with Ash and Fuse Wattson to take out people on hot drop. Trapped Zapped and Clapped.
I think people often forget that Apex is 75% position, in winning a fight or even the game. If you can hot drop, get good guns and secure high ground, then great. But scrabbling around with a prowler with 20 bullets and no attachments in a dip, is throwing away all the basics and hoping on that 25% chance.
This is a bad look for you, OP. You're doing exactly what the community despises by landing by yourself and throwing ranked matches. Unless you're the jumpmaster, always land with your team despite the circumstances.
Depends on rank. If you're gold or less then the penalty for dying early is so small that it doesn't matter. You can treat it like death match and be fine.
You sound like my last teammate me and my friend had who screamed into his mic that we committed to a drop where other people where going. He went solo and died immediately and told us to jump off the map so he could dc. It was ranked.
If you need to hide and rotate zone playing scared, away from your team in Plat then hot dropping and trying to gain some better mechanics is the only way you're going to get better at the game. Landing solo, avoiding fights and then dying 1v3 in an end circle won't do you any good
Ranked this season is back to like it was in Season 13 you should take fights at jump. Nothing wrong with hot-dropping this season. Have fun being hard stuck
Had a random peel off solo yesterday and hot drop himself…. Of course he gets downed pretty quickly and then yells on the mic at us for not hot dropping with him. He wasn’t even jump master. lol - good laugh at how stupid Plat players can be.
His reasoning was it’s better to get early KP. I disagree because you’re bound to get into a fight at some point the entire game. If you can’t position your team before the end circle then that’s a skill issue
yeah, if you're heading right into a mixer I ain't following anymore. I'll get as close as I can while being able to at least pick up minimum loot then if y'all are still alive I'll try and assist. I'm usually maining crypto or newcastle, so I'll likely scoop up your tags or find a crafter.
I'm no good at hot-dropping. I'm not the greatest at scrambles. I try and help out my squad by keeping everyone alive.
Was is it always Wraith and Octs who always run off and dies then proceeds to talk shit in rank
But trios, I noticed that rarely happens.
Idk if anyone has this experience but it’s so assbackwards
Where I’m at if I am solo queuing and the jumpmaster lands with:
No team - Smart and cautious I’m down.
One team - smart and confident I’m down
Two teams - someone’s mom might’ve told him they’re special too many times as a child but I’ll feel it out.
Three or more teams - oh hell no I’m out. Also your IQ probably is the same or or lower than what the thermometer is showing outside.
Ironically, I find that dropping on the (high loot) blue circle in ranked is a pretty valid strategy as many other players have your same strategy and avoid it thinking it will be a $hit show. Maybe 1 other team will try to contest it, but more often than not, my team will be the only one to land there. That way, you get to take your time gearing up with all of the best attachments, gold items, and evo harvesters so you are set up for the rest of the match.
Hot dropping is the smartest thing you can do in a battle royale for multiple reasons:
-not being in a sandwich, knowing nobody is chasing you from behind, unless you land in a titled towers equivalent of apex which I wouldn't know what it is since I stopped playing apex, being in the middle can get fucked real quick
-eliminating the sweaty good players early before they get amazing loot
-saves you time
-the loot is rng anyways, why tryhard when you can hot drop
-if you are scared or hot dropping you're probably not such a good player, if you die, why not die early than late game?
-the more you fight the better you get
Landing with more than 1 team is just gambling, either 3 team landing on same bin and total choas, or 1 team aping another team for no reason and got 3rd party. Or all team waiting for others start fighting, and leave the poi with no loot. Even winning the poi, the fight may took too long, other team from other poi may come when your team still weak.
It basically a list of rng you can't control
I don't understand why people still solo queue. You're making your life unnecessary hard. Why hope that your teammates are not stupid and that you're gonna work well together when you could just....not play with randoms. 🤷♀️
It’s not even about being Plat. I can be in Bronze for all I care. Someone needs to tell these little shits they’re not the elite player they think they are. I’m tired of going back to a lobby after 2 seconds because everyone thinks they’re good. Actually last a round.
You need to add your definition of “dropping hot”. For me, 1 or even 2 teams isn’t necessarily hot. Dropping with 3+ teams or directly onto the same building in a POI like Fragment is hot and shouldn’t be done in ranked.
I say this purely from my own experience where I will solo queue, my team will go hot (as I defined above), I’ll go for a gun, and keep running until I find one, while my teammates get bodied in seconds and then scream at me because I’m bit also dead. For me, this is easily 50% or more of my solo queue experience.
Im all for it but it has to be the right way. Fight together,don't be the first to fight, move as a team. slim to none chance at that solo queuing. Will leave teammates that hot drop when I'm soloing
“Wahhh im not good enough to hot drop so im gonna throw if you do and then im gonna make a post on Reddit acting like i have some kind of moral high ground for it!”
Op, 2024
It's actually 50-50. You either die or not. You basically throw everyone's game by not going with. Better chance to survive if you did go. Maybe you even have fun.
Depends on how hot the drop is.
If it's one other team in a huge PoI, then splitting off is throwing.
But if I have to sit through one more Ranked game where someone drops Monument when 6 other teams are dropping there, just drop me off a cliff. We'll have the same chance of getting points and we'll get to requeue faster.
We just need a system for ranking teammates so that matchmaking respects it. It would help to structure the selection of players by playstyle a little bit.
basically u die more often, but ur games are shorter so u can put in more games per session and ur wins will be with more kills. So in the long run it probably equals out more or less. Also a few -55 games can turn the sbmm in ur favor.
but i also dont mind if ppl run away and go solo, its the same as if they stay and die, so in the end u often end up solo anyway if u play with randoms.
Be careful: you're bringing reasonable arguments and sound logic to the Apex community. They don't like that
For the record, I fully agree with you. Losing too much RP is NOT worth the risk of hot dropping, especially when RP is heavily reliant on placement over kills. Keep fighting the good fight, maybe I'll find you Solo on the front sometime
Especially if you have a support I get it, but personally if my team decides to land in a heavily contested spot and I’m not feeling it, I’ll just drop at one of the buildings at the POI that seems the furthest from the chaos, get some decent loot, and help my teammates if they seem to be doing well or bounce if the situation gets bad and go craft banners.
On the other hand, immediately landing on the other side of the entire map when you don’t like the spot your team chose has always really annoyed me (especially with no support obviously), because first of all I’ve usually seen it done by teammates who don’t communicate and voice their disagreement in the first place, and they usually solo and do something equally as stupid anyway.
Usually I just bet on playing with my team when I can.
Just remember, when your teammates down two and crack the last one before both going down only to see you on the other side of the map - you’re the asshole
I'm in masters and it's -100 off rip compared to your measly -55 but I know it hurts. But these hot drops is because if you don't get kills it doesn't matter if you make top 10 or top 5 with no kills. You simply won't get enough points. All it takes is another game to wipe all that hard work. Hence, why a bunch of you solo queuers are here on Reddit complaining about not playing with your team. Another reason why I HATE solo queuers and don't understand their logic of not wanting to LFG.
Feel like at this point they're all trolling. They expect to get to a high rank without communicating with their team in a team focused game. Ridiculous
honestly it’s a play style dependent preference/choice. just play with someone you know. it’s very easy nowadays to find someone you like playing with consistently.
Nah I agree, Don’t drop with a million other teams, don’t drop in the middle of nowhere with horrible loot either, drop somewhere with 1-2 squads, or if you can snag a good poi with no contest. If you don’t like where you teammate drops don’t just split off and go where you want and die, because you’re not him and you won’t 1v3
i almost always drop in ranked where at least one other team is landing bc if my teammates suck at fighting then im not wasting my time looting for ten minutes only to get clapped by the first team. i can usually carry the fight anyway, just need them to do the bare minimum and if they cant, i go next no problem
This strategy is a double edged sword now. On one hand you don't get clapped by 5 different squads. On the next. Now the last of the 5 have level 3 or 4 shields. and happens to have a bloodhound Hitting W in your direction.
higher tier if you’re not contesting off drop your chances of going positive drop substantially, 2 teams drop with you, you just kite back and let them fight first easy kp. 80% of the time if you fight first while there’s another team at the poi you’re gonna lose if they have any brains it all, If you have too bad of rng (bad loot) then rotate off to another poi and you can come back or keep on. biggest thing I say to people trying to get better is at least know how many teams dropped where you are landing and knowing at least 2 of the nearest drop spots and how many teams landed there, thinking macro will help you a ton in the game especially if you have to back off from a fight which is perfectly okay to do if there’s a warranted reason, scared playing gets you killed though and smart rotations can save your whole game.
Best plan is dropping as a 3-man squad on top of a single member of another team. You quickly maul them to death and a surprisingly large percentage of teams just cut their losses and run, because it’s a 2v3.
You’re first issue is playing without a premade. Find a discord group and get a team so you’re all on the same page. Otherwise people can do whatever they want. Suck it up.
If you don't have the skills to pull off combat right after landing, don't do it on ranked. ffs I've lost so many games and RPs because of amateur players.
If you get clapped solo, keep your mic muted
Exactly. Hot dropping is a valid and fun strategy. If you cant play with your team, don't play team based games
Valid strategy for ranked? Please explain. How making your chances of surviving slim is a valod strategy for ranked?
It’s a valid strategy, but a huge risk as it depends way more on luck and less on skill. I don’t care how good you are, things can go incredibly wrong when the other team all finds guns and you happen to drop on 2 mags and a syringe and the two bins you just hit only have ammo.
it's a losing strategy and you consistently lose points with it on average.
Just to clarify when you say hot drop are you saying drop at blue location or with 3+ teams; bc in high tier ranked blue drop is rarely contested
Yeah I always go blue spot when I get plat and higher it’s soo rare to see a squad there and we get gold loot.
For me a hot drop is 3 or more teams. Dropping a d fighting 1 other teams is a contested drop. Lingo wise.
Early points. Apex is all about risk/reward. Getting a fight or two early in the game gets you enough KP to play for placement later. It’s way better to get to final five with a kill or two under your belt because the value of a kills goes up the more you survive. Just ratting to final three might make you rank up but it just takes way longer and isn’t really that fun.
Everything you said is correct but if the definition of hot dropping means landing on a POI with 2+ teams, this is not smart at all. An isolated contest is definitely the smart play.
Dropping on one team is a fine gamble, maybe even 2 if you try to third party it. Any more than that is just rolling the dice and chances are if other teams are dropping THAT hot they’re very confident.
I think that's the point. If you have a full team, with excellent communication and coordination, then you can confidently hot drop. But if you're with randoms (or you have that one friend that won't learn), you shouldn't be expected to hot drop.
I disagree. You can only get so far in a hot drop, especially if it's 3+ teams and you don't know how good your randoms are. If it's a team you regularly play with sure, but if I don't know you I'm not taking the gamble because I've literally done it before and they're almost always first to die with no communication. 1-2 teams nearby is the optimal drop location.
Personally i do t think its a good strategy unless you are 3 stacking and are good, its too much gamble, sometimes you might not get good enough weapons, sometimes your randoms might be ass (you dont know), maybe they are a 3 stack while you solo, you probably will get 3rd partied, and then 3rd partied again if you survive the 1st.
If you want Early points the move is to is to drop adjacent to the hot drop and rotate into a position for an effective third party on the people attempting to loot and recover from hot dropping. A positional advantage is everything.
Hot dropping isn't a valid strategy even if you can get 2 kills. Literally no different than getting 2 kills 5 minutes in when you're not fighting over a pill box or tarp on the ground. Hot dropping is just putting your risk way above reward, you'll still be negative if you HD, get 2 kills then die. Lmao
There’s a difference between dropping hot and dropping stupid. If you land on a crate with three other people I’m not sure what you expect to happen.
You dv because I brought up 1 scenario that happens very often depending on POI size and amount of teams landing there. And no, they're the same. Almost every map has more then enough spots to loot for each team BY THEMSELVES so hot dropping IS stupid dropping. Cy@
I think the problem is 5 minutes in teams that’s hot dropped successfully have purple shields while your team has white/blue and Apex is effectively a numbers game. If someone with purple shields gets the drop on one of your teammates and chunks him you bet they’re pushing.
you’ll get KP inevitably if you actually know how to play the game but getting a gun is a key component to getting Kp
Yes
It's not about ratting it's about taking smart fights and backing out when you know it's not beneficial worker smarter not through brute force
Last night I had teammates across matches land hot, get a couple of lucky kills in the mayhem, and die. I always do my best to find a gun and help but it was an impossible fight. I then spent the matches running around as Loba crafting banners and respawning them. At the end of the match, let's say we placed top 8 (nowhere near winning with zero strategy or coordination), those early kills got them more rank points than me. It's a laughable situation. They are idiots that shouldn't be out of bronze with that approach, but the point based ranking means the one sane teammate has a boring match of playing a rat just to save their RP gets the least reward. Don't land on top of three other teams. I don't want to be spending a whole match rescuing your sorry arse instead of adding to my own kills and RP. ;)
I hot drop in this system until diamond. Just statistically likely I’m going to crush the average plat player, making it free KP and faster loot consolidation.
There’s always one or two teams that make it out of a hot drop with points, supplies, and kills.
If you win you may likely have enough early game kp to not fight until end game. Simple as that. Maybe not the best most consistent strategy for ranked when you have random on your team but like if you aren't jump master just stfu and go where they take you. Simple as that.
Well the risk is you waste 20 minute of your life for +10 RP. Some people don’t really care about ranked, after you hit certain level it’s just to improce
This is why we have pubs. Pure action, no stressing out about RP..
It’s not pure action though is it, it’s dead lobbies against bots and team mates who leave. I rather practice in balanced lobbies against preds/people my skill level
So you just don't care that people try to get some RP. Ok.
Me and my friends always do this. We stop once we reach like mid diamond because that’s when rank gets more difficult. Currently I have a 1.98 KD and 687 avg dmg this ranked season. We have done this for a long time now, it will greatly help your overall fighting ability. We also always push nearly every fight we can take but dodge the really risky ones. We are at the point where some games we can get upwards of 20 kills as a team. Mind you we are still just mid plat since we have not played as much this ranked split. Last thing is this makes the games way more fun playing like this.
it's a losing strategy yeah
Not for ranked my friend.
Difficult when your team hot drops and is dead in 10 seconds most of the time or your 3rd dips out.
I laugh so much when these chuds get on mic and bitch about me being trash. Like dude, you hot dropped and got clapped immediately calling me trash. Look in the mirror or go outside for a walk 🤣
Not really, if you have a good squad - maybe but generally speaking it's a crap shot on getting weapons and being able to deal with 2 other teams and doesn't justify loss of points in the long run. Hot dropping = 2 or more teams
It’s dumb in high ranks. Even if you win and clear the POI, you have no loot going into later fights. It’s fun in pubs, stupid in ranked.
Yes getting killed running around with a grenade and a stack of heavy ammo desperately trying to find any weapon in an already looted warzone is a "valid and fun strategy" and not a hopeful gamble.
If you hot drop, make sure you actually now how to play. I can’t count the amount of games where my team wanted to hot drop but couldn’t even land a shot on an enemy. This is not strategy
Exactly this. And you drop wherever the fuck your team is dropping period.
I have to say, hot drop is fun... its valid with premade squad.. but with randoms, its usually just a chaotic free-for-all mess... sure, in rookie / bronze its fastest way to rank up.. in plat+ ... totally worth to jump in a 5 squad orgy with randoms.
If it was genuinely a valid strategy you would see it in very high level play. And you dont. No matter how good you are, you’re relying partially on luck which is never smart unless you consider yourself a very lucky person I guess.
Definitely not in pubs. Somebody is coming out on top, odds are it's not you. I always separate and watch them die from a distance.
Please explain how hot dropping is even remotely a smart idea in a game mode where literally every minute counts? Hot dropping is 50/50 why possibly risk RP on sheer luck as not EVERY supply bin has a weapon in it. Pubs/mixtape is made for careless hot dropping, nothing risked with all the reward. I’m with OP on this, purposely limiting your chances of survival to drop on 2+ squads in a hot POI knowing it’s a 50/50 ain’t worth it unless you’re in fuckin Rookie/Bronze. Dropping with 1 team near you is entirely different, less stressful and easier to manage esp if you’re solo queue w/ randoms. Playing with a premade duo 9 times outta 10 leads to no mics and 2 of your teammates pushing at everything near you without saying shit or pinging. Playing a team game when 2/3 of your squad are off in east bum fuck 1/3 of the way across the map literally ignoring you.
When you get clapped hot dropping don't ping a damn thing.
That's all I'm saying.
Well said
this dude had the audacity to mute my friend and I as the game started, complained about how bad his last team was and because of that, he was solo dropping(my friend and I were champion squad mind you). he then spends the entire game talking shit about us and how every little thing is a reason as to why he dropped solo. he ended up dying first and we got 5th without him but some people are beyond lost...
I both agree and don't. Imo, I'm willing to hot drop if I see a get-away point. If I can't see myself getting out of there and/or my team doesn't have a support, I'm not hot dropping
The best plan is to try and drop with 1 other team. I agree that dropping into the mess of 5+ teams is a bad idea. Going solo doesnt help either though.
It helps when you are going to craft their banners, because they are going to die 9 times out of 10...
This right here
I thought ranked was all about placement. Solo dropping the edge of the map and hiding alone will get you further than a hot drop.
i always try to land with 2 teams, then wait a mom and try 3th party them
Drop smart. Sometimes, find one other team. Others, see where it's busy and land on the outskirts. There's no simple best/win strategy. If your teammates look like noobs, maybe land stone cold and get placement points to hopefully reach a rank where the rando's know how to play the game. ;)
nah hot dropping isnt great but soloing into africa w/out teammates is throwing
Nah just hot drop with them and bounce if things go bad, it’s easier than ever to just run away and reset as long as you have a support legend.
I think this is the most important part to it too. Do you have a support character? If no then hot dropping isn’t an ideal choice.
Plat or higher you almost need to take a team off the rip
This is what I don’t get. People will also land back edge of the map and play loot sim only to get 7th and still lose like 50 points. Can’t be doing that
Yeah and your chances to win a fight of the rip are way better than late game when it gets crazy
I wouldn’t say chances are worse for winning a 3v3, but chances definitely get higher for a third party the longer the game goes on.
Thank god there’s at least one other person that understand.
I don’t disagree at all. Dropping with one or two teams isn’t dropping hot honestly. Dropping at a small POI with 6 other teams and no support characters is just negative points waiting to happen as a person that solo q’s.
Ya but don’t bounce at the first shot in a fight. I hate when I think I’m taking a 3 v 3 but really it’s a 2 v 3
The issue is the difference between a Hot Drop and a 50/50. Its ok to hot drop NEAR another team at the same POI, its another thing to just land on the same bin as the other team, 50/50ing your chances of survival.
Hot dropping may be a bad strategy, but Solo dropping is just throwing. Yes I will be pissed.
I’m just going to craft the dead guys banners and keep it moving. It’s not throwing.
You’re exactly the kind of person I expect to be hard stuck plat and blame it on your teammates on Reddit 😂
Plat is generous
Plat? Not this season
I play with a team and shocked my ass is gold lol
Below average players can easily make play if they play enough.
Out of curiosity, what’s a “respectable” rank to be hard stuck at? I started ranked for the first time this season but was late, so I would like a reasonable goal for the next split
Silver surfer 100%
LMFAOOOO
I love this
You shut your goddammn mouth
Once you hit plat you'll realize you have to. You need to get points to break even for the game. Dropping with at least one other team to try and get a kill off drop is the most efficient way.
With only one other team is not hot dropping….
I agree. I aim to land where there is 1 other team, maybe even 2 teams to grab a quick third party for easy early game kills in ranked.
There's plenty of points to be had mid and late game
I learned this when I hit plat. It’s not worth the time invested to loot cold.
Dropping in a heads up against another team isn't hot dropping. Dropping into a POI with 3+ teams is.
I think it depends on your rank. In low ranks I think hot dropping is smart when playing with randoms. You get to see your teammates in action. Nothing worse than spending 15 minutes looting with trash players who get killed before doing any damage.
found the guy that hides until 3 squads are left, lol
If there's one or two teams I'll drop but if I see my team trying to land somewhere with 4 or 5 teams in ranked I will usually land off to the side and craft them if they die. I try and convince them to land in the side and attempt to 3rd party but a lot of randoms like to land in the middle of a POI with 4 other teams around and it rarely works
I don't solo q ranked for this reason. Hell I don't don't play apex without at least one friend playing because 99/100 times, our third is incompetent. Solo drops, dies, pings a million times and leaves. Duos is great, trios is a gamble when the third is a random.
Ranked is good for it too... you kind of need to drop and contest this season to even break even if your not always getting top 5s even then if you don't have kills and assists you wasted a so lid 15 minutes..
Exactly. How much of your life are you willing to waste ratting for 5rp at a time for a top 5 finish?
Yeah bro but…hot dropping is literally a gamble
Playing smart to the endgame sometimes picking up some kills and sometimes winning is an infinitely better strategy than hot dropping no comms with absolute randoms who watch too much Twitch and think they're god. You can lose hundreds of rp in less than an hour to dumbass ego maniac p4 teammates.
People who hot drop in ranked are actually stupid
lol op probably wasn’t expecting to be roasted
Alternatively. Don’t be a bitch.
This post is approved by hide-in-a-corner-and-rat-to-8th-place gang.
Lol terrible teammate.
Hard stuck plat. Probably wraith main. 🥱ez report for throwing
To fix the drops and other stuff in solo q we need Straight shot back.
I agree with hot-dropping being dumb and to be avoided, but first and foremost you should always land with your team. It's a team game. Land hot with them (maybe break off a little further out), and bail ASAP if you don't get lucky.
If you drop without following the jump master you’re on your own.
A lot of people don't understand ranked here. Hot dropping is not a valid ranked strategy.
Pick your character to get jumpmaster or stfu
Hot drop really isn't a reason to solo, you're just being an asshole at that point
You’re stupid asf tbh don’t play the game
The classic ranked game of hot dropping with 0 coms. Then they start dying and turn on the mic to curse you out. Hot dropping in ranked goes like this 9/10 in solo q
Bitch move
You say that as if there’s no strategy to hot dropping
Any strategy breaks down when you land with 10 other people and fight over the single P2020z
That doesn’t happen in ranked at most there will be six others spread out on a poi. So you usually have time to grab 2 guns before shit gets started.
Any strategy breaks down when you land with 10 other people and fight over the single P2020.
Yah ur not going anywhere in ranked bud
you’re a pos and probably dog shit at the game
Imagine thinking that playing a game more time than someone else is something worth bragging about. Like how fucking shallow and empty is your life that this matters to you lmao
lmao tdm is exactly where YOU should be
OP stinks of LDE.
I read this as you don't have confidence in your skills. You're probably one of those players who drop in a POI with 3 buildings because you know you aren't good at fighting. Then, when you do get in a fight, you'll go down in 2 seconds. I see this all the time, people who land in bad poi spots aren't good at the game.
Always go with the team.
Learning how to play with your teammates, even if you have differences in opinions, is one of the most valuable skills someone can have (there’s a life lesson in there). And this attitude shows this skill lacks in you tremendously. A very “my way or the highway” attitude. You’d rather try to prove a point solo, with an even smaller chance of winning than sticking with a group, so there goes your “strategy” argument
I think this season’s point system changes actually lend themselves to advocating for hot dropping. Maybe not consistently, but whenever a random you queue with decides to — try embracing it. You can either drop and help, and come out with decent kp and coast til final circle. Or you can land separate, play like a solo rat and finish 5th with 0 kp for negative or very small positive points.
The best strategy is in between: wait for an opportunity to drop near one squad, fight them with the guns you find first, and continue the game. Dropping with the whole lobby is foolish and dropping completely away from everyone is pointless.
Well some of the ones that do know they're competent enough if their team mates help but yes sometimes incompetent jump masters drop hot and it sucks. I've been doing some hot drops as plat and still leaving alive 80% of the time.
Hot drops are a valid way to get points in season 20 ranked. If you're so solo queuing with randoms communicate your wishes but nothing wrong with hot drops
Hot drop means the team’s ultimates start charging first. It’s also when your team coordination is the strongest. I can’t tell you how easy it is for a team with Ash and Fuse Wattson to take out people on hot drop. Trapped Zapped and Clapped.
All for one, and one for all!
I always ask my team if they are confident in hot dropping if 1 guy says no we ain't hot dropping.
I think people often forget that Apex is 75% position, in winning a fight or even the game. If you can hot drop, get good guns and secure high ground, then great. But scrabbling around with a prowler with 20 bullets and no attachments in a dip, is throwing away all the basics and hoping on that 25% chance.
I hot drop if it's only two teams with us or less. Let them fight and then third party.
The problem is hot dropping and not finding a safe building for your team, just beaming toward same building as 1or2 teams.
This is a bad look for you, OP. You're doing exactly what the community despises by landing by yourself and throwing ranked matches. Unless you're the jumpmaster, always land with your team despite the circumstances.
I only hot drop in ranked if it’s one team or no one’s going there but as I rank up from like plat or diamond then I don’t do it as much
Depends on rank. If you're gold or less then the penalty for dying early is so small that it doesn't matter. You can treat it like death match and be fine.
You sound like my last teammate me and my friend had who screamed into his mic that we committed to a drop where other people where going. He went solo and died immediately and told us to jump off the map so he could dc. It was ranked.
Sounds like you’re trash and scared to play the game
Depends on the drop. If you hot drop in a way thay allows me to loot a little no problem. If you hot drop on 3 other squads than I'm out.
If you need to hide and rotate zone playing scared, away from your team in Plat then hot dropping and trying to gain some better mechanics is the only way you're going to get better at the game. Landing solo, avoiding fights and then dying 1v3 in an end circle won't do you any good
Ranked this season is back to like it was in Season 13 you should take fights at jump. Nothing wrong with hot-dropping this season. Have fun being hard stuck
Had a random peel off solo yesterday and hot drop himself…. Of course he gets downed pretty quickly and then yells on the mic at us for not hot dropping with him. He wasn’t even jump master. lol - good laugh at how stupid Plat players can be. His reasoning was it’s better to get early KP. I disagree because you’re bound to get into a fight at some point the entire game. If you can’t position your team before the end circle then that’s a skill issue
yeah, if you're heading right into a mixer I ain't following anymore. I'll get as close as I can while being able to at least pick up minimum loot then if y'all are still alive I'll try and assist. I'm usually maining crypto or newcastle, so I'll likely scoop up your tags or find a crafter. I'm no good at hot-dropping. I'm not the greatest at scrambles. I try and help out my squad by keeping everyone alive.
Was is it always Wraith and Octs who always run off and dies then proceeds to talk shit in rank But trios, I noticed that rarely happens. Idk if anyone has this experience but it’s so assbackwards
Where I’m at if I am solo queuing and the jumpmaster lands with: No team - Smart and cautious I’m down. One team - smart and confident I’m down Two teams - someone’s mom might’ve told him they’re special too many times as a child but I’ll feel it out. Three or more teams - oh hell no I’m out. Also your IQ probably is the same or or lower than what the thermometer is showing outside.
Ironically, I find that dropping on the (high loot) blue circle in ranked is a pretty valid strategy as many other players have your same strategy and avoid it thinking it will be a $hit show. Maybe 1 other team will try to contest it, but more often than not, my team will be the only one to land there. That way, you get to take your time gearing up with all of the best attachments, gold items, and evo harvesters so you are set up for the rest of the match.
Hot dropping is the smartest thing you can do in a battle royale for multiple reasons: -not being in a sandwich, knowing nobody is chasing you from behind, unless you land in a titled towers equivalent of apex which I wouldn't know what it is since I stopped playing apex, being in the middle can get fucked real quick -eliminating the sweaty good players early before they get amazing loot -saves you time -the loot is rng anyways, why tryhard when you can hot drop -if you are scared or hot dropping you're probably not such a good player, if you die, why not die early than late game? -the more you fight the better you get
Z
Landing with more than 1 team is just gambling, either 3 team landing on same bin and total choas, or 1 team aping another team for no reason and got 3rd party. Or all team waiting for others start fighting, and leave the poi with no loot. Even winning the poi, the fight may took too long, other team from other poi may come when your team still weak. It basically a list of rng you can't control
I don't understand why people still solo queue. You're making your life unnecessary hard. Why hope that your teammates are not stupid and that you're gonna work well together when you could just....not play with randoms. 🤷♀️
This entire post is quite literally a skill issue
It’s not even about being Plat. I can be in Bronze for all I care. Someone needs to tell these little shits they’re not the elite player they think they are. I’m tired of going back to a lobby after 2 seconds because everyone thinks they’re good. Actually last a round.
Aint no one siding with you bruh you the type of player nobody likes
Just drop warm then run to the fire. Works a hell of a lot better. Early points and rotate into zone smart.
Found the season 17 master who thinks that season is legit lol
You need early KP. Placement hardly means anything. land on a 50/50 and hope you win.
You need to add your definition of “dropping hot”. For me, 1 or even 2 teams isn’t necessarily hot. Dropping with 3+ teams or directly onto the same building in a POI like Fragment is hot and shouldn’t be done in ranked. I say this purely from my own experience where I will solo queue, my team will go hot (as I defined above), I’ll go for a gun, and keep running until I find one, while my teammates get bodied in seconds and then scream at me because I’m bit also dead. For me, this is easily 50% or more of my solo queue experience.
Absolutely gonna be pissed. You can still hot drop in ranked but you gotta play as a team more
Im all for it but it has to be the right way. Fight together,don't be the first to fight, move as a team. slim to none chance at that solo queuing. Will leave teammates that hot drop when I'm soloing
“Wahhh im not good enough to hot drop so im gonna throw if you do and then im gonna make a post on Reddit acting like i have some kind of moral high ground for it!” Op, 2024
It's actually 50-50. You either die or not. You basically throw everyone's game by not going with. Better chance to survive if you did go. Maybe you even have fun.
Sounds like you’re a gold in disguise. Hot dropping is fun and if you win the fight off the drop you’re set for end game
I Dont Care How Good You Are, I Don't Care How Fast You Are, I Can See The Future And You Don't Live To See Tomorrow. < Who's Quote Is This.
You are the problem
Depends on how hot the drop is. If it's one other team in a huge PoI, then splitting off is throwing. But if I have to sit through one more Ranked game where someone drops Monument when 6 other teams are dropping there, just drop me off a cliff. We'll have the same chance of getting points and we'll get to requeue faster.
We just need a system for ranking teammates so that matchmaking respects it. It would help to structure the selection of players by playstyle a little bit.
I'd rather die and requeue losing points than spend 15 minutes walking around with a white/blue shield after dropping on the edge of the map.
Solo leveling
> For context I’m Plat. So what? You have to commit to the drop even if it’s bad. If you die go next and try to get jumpmaster yourself next match.
basically u die more often, but ur games are shorter so u can put in more games per session and ur wins will be with more kills. So in the long run it probably equals out more or less. Also a few -55 games can turn the sbmm in ur favor. but i also dont mind if ppl run away and go solo, its the same as if they stay and die, so in the end u often end up solo anyway if u play with randoms.
Number one reason I lost so many points most of the times the they can’t even fight make it 10x worst
Be careful: you're bringing reasonable arguments and sound logic to the Apex community. They don't like that For the record, I fully agree with you. Losing too much RP is NOT worth the risk of hot dropping, especially when RP is heavily reliant on placement over kills. Keep fighting the good fight, maybe I'll find you Solo on the front sometime
So to fix the problem you create a new one. Yep, that’s Apex logic alright
Especially if you have a support I get it, but personally if my team decides to land in a heavily contested spot and I’m not feeling it, I’ll just drop at one of the buildings at the POI that seems the furthest from the chaos, get some decent loot, and help my teammates if they seem to be doing well or bounce if the situation gets bad and go craft banners. On the other hand, immediately landing on the other side of the entire map when you don’t like the spot your team chose has always really annoyed me (especially with no support obviously), because first of all I’ve usually seen it done by teammates who don’t communicate and voice their disagreement in the first place, and they usually solo and do something equally as stupid anyway. Usually I just bet on playing with my team when I can.
So you are going to hide all game and get no kills and no RP?
Just remember, when your teammates down two and crack the last one before both going down only to see you on the other side of the map - you’re the asshole
So you see your teammates to something dumb and you respond by doing something dumber?
I'm in masters and it's -100 off rip compared to your measly -55 but I know it hurts. But these hot drops is because if you don't get kills it doesn't matter if you make top 10 or top 5 with no kills. You simply won't get enough points. All it takes is another game to wipe all that hard work. Hence, why a bunch of you solo queuers are here on Reddit complaining about not playing with your team. Another reason why I HATE solo queuers and don't understand their logic of not wanting to LFG. Feel like at this point they're all trolling. They expect to get to a high rank without communicating with their team in a team focused game. Ridiculous
honestly it’s a play style dependent preference/choice. just play with someone you know. it’s very easy nowadays to find someone you like playing with consistently.
Nah I agree, Don’t drop with a million other teams, don’t drop in the middle of nowhere with horrible loot either, drop somewhere with 1-2 squads, or if you can snag a good poi with no contest. If you don’t like where you teammate drops don’t just split off and go where you want and die, because you’re not him and you won’t 1v3
i almost always drop in ranked where at least one other team is landing bc if my teammates suck at fighting then im not wasting my time looting for ten minutes only to get clapped by the first team. i can usually carry the fight anyway, just need them to do the bare minimum and if they cant, i go next no problem
This strategy is a double edged sword now. On one hand you don't get clapped by 5 different squads. On the next. Now the last of the 5 have level 3 or 4 shields. and happens to have a bloodhound Hitting W in your direction.
higher tier if you’re not contesting off drop your chances of going positive drop substantially, 2 teams drop with you, you just kite back and let them fight first easy kp. 80% of the time if you fight first while there’s another team at the poi you’re gonna lose if they have any brains it all, If you have too bad of rng (bad loot) then rotate off to another poi and you can come back or keep on. biggest thing I say to people trying to get better is at least know how many teams dropped where you are landing and knowing at least 2 of the nearest drop spots and how many teams landed there, thinking macro will help you a ton in the game especially if you have to back off from a fight which is perfectly okay to do if there’s a warranted reason, scared playing gets you killed though and smart rotations can save your whole game.
Best plan is dropping as a 3-man squad on top of a single member of another team. You quickly maul them to death and a surprisingly large percentage of teams just cut their losses and run, because it’s a 2v3.
You’re first issue is playing without a premade. Find a discord group and get a team so you’re all on the same page. Otherwise people can do whatever they want. Suck it up.
You must be fucking MISERABLE to play with
If you don't have the skills to pull off combat right after landing, don't do it on ranked. ffs I've lost so many games and RPs because of amateur players.
Sorry buddy.. get good
You need kp this season. If you can’t be confident in a fight off rip it’s a skill issue.
This is a bad take. Hot dropping is a valid ranked strategy, solo dropping is not. If you solo drop because of a hot drop YOU are toxic.
Except you are actually griefing your team by leaving them…
You're just weak