Valkyrie Guide – Apex Legends

Apex Legends isn’t short on mobile legends with abilities that allow for extremely aggressive playstyles, but few offer the level of mobility as the jetpack-wielding Valkyrie. Even more, she’s an excellent recon character in certain situations, too, so she’s kind of got it all.

Valkyrie has a powerful ultimate that can effectively redeploy your squad across the map, a jetpack to consistently navigate heights and throw off enemies, and even some missiles that can stun and flush out foes hiding behind cover. If that sounds like your kind of thing, check out the rest of this guide for more info and tips on making the most of this popular legend.

Abilities for taking flight

Valkyrie is a very mobility-based legend who uses her jetpacks to constantly reposition herself from various types of heights, while her ultimate ability offers both recon and immensely useful repositioning options for the entire squad. She’s easily among the most powerful characters in the game when used to her full potential, though she manages to avoid feeling too unbalanced in the process.

Valkyrie’s passive ability VTOL Jets allows her to constantly use her jetpack to move around the battlefield in the air. While fuel is limited, it doesn’t deplete as quickly as you might expect, and it refills very fast, making her a force to be reckoned with in vertical engagements. However, you can’t use weapons while flying, so you’ll want to be mindful of that when rushing down your opponents.

Her tactical ability is Missile Swarm, which shoots 12 missiles in a 4×3 array to deal damage to enemies and briefly stun them. This can be used to flush foes out of hiding spots or to deal some supplementary damage in fights.

Her ultimate ability Skyward Dive is one of the best in the game, allowing you to launch you and your squad 180 meters into the air and skydive to a new location. This can get your team out of bad situations or simply help you avoid the storm if you’re running a bit behind.

Valkyrie is a diverse legend

Due to her ease of mobility, Valkyrie is a great fit for any type of playstyle. When played correctly, she’s able to close gaps or cut off enemies effortlessly and be a killer close-range fighter with SMGs or shotguns. Meanwhile, her ability to take higher ground makes her an equally deadly mid- or long-range legend well-suited for using snipers or LMGs. Regardless of what type of guns you enjoy using, you’ll find that some minor adjustments to how you navigate the landscape will let you capitalize on your playstyle.

You can see where people are landing during a drop

Any time you’re in the sky and deploying to a location–be it during the initial drop or redeployment via your ultimate ability–you’ll automatically highlight any enemies that aren’t residing within structures. If you’re at the beginning of the game, this means you can easily tell where groups are landing so that you can either opt to rush them quickly or ensure you have a safe landing spot. Meanwhile, when redeploying later in the game, this lets you get the drop on exposed squads, giving you an option to cut them off at a nearby choke point or land on higher ground to make them easy targets.

Don’t forget to scan survey beacons

Though you’ll be able to scan for where folks are at while you’re in flight around the map–either by using your ult or using some other form of repositioning tool like a balloon–don’t overlook the usefulness of scanning the myriad of survey beacons scattered across the map. Doing so will let you and your squad know where the next ring will be, giving you a minor but worthwhile leg up on other teams that don’t have a recon legend in their ranks.

Valkyrie

There’s a delay that comes from landing after using your jetpack

Though it might be tempting to rush down escaping enemies using your jetpack capabilities, do be aware of the short delay that comes directly after landing. Once your feet hit the ground again, Valkyrie will do a quick hand gesture before you’re able to pull out your gun and begin shooting. This puts you at a disadvantage if you land directly in front of an enemy or squad, and more often than not, it’ll result in an unwelcomed death. Instead, try to land behind and/or above your foes when possible to give you that much-needed moment to get your gun back out.

Don’t get caught aimlessly hovering about

Because you’re unable to use your gun while using your jetpack, be very careful about navigating around with it. Using it to reach new heights is the whole point, of course, but if it will leave you massively exposed to enemies in the vicinity, perhaps it’s safer to just take a different route altogether. Remember that you don’t fly super quickly, so you’re basically just a big target if you’re not keeping yourself aware of your surroundings.

Use Missile Swarm away from obstacles

Due to the way in which Missile Swarm works, it can sometimes result in you damaging yourself instead of the enemies you’re looking to flush out. There’s a short delay between firing the missiles and them actually coming out, so you’ll need to be standing away from any obstacles that could cause them to explode on you and deal damage to you.

Some players will use Valkyrie’s jetpacks to fly straight up and give themselves some height for using Missile Swarm. This can work out or go terribly wrong, as you’re exposing yourself in a pretty clear and obvious manner for a relatively minor payoff that may or may not land and actually damage or stun your enemies. As explained in the last point, your goal is to avoid making yourself an easy target with your jetpacks, so unless you’re pretty comfortable with your positioning, it’s best to avoid any situation where you’re flying straight up in front of enemies.

Your ultimate can indirectly win you games

Your ultimate ability will send you and any connected teammates back into the sky for redeployment. This can win you games more than you’d think due to the fact that it can get you out of unwinnable scenarios or allow you to rapidly reposition closer to the circle if you’re caught on the edge of the storm after a long and tiring battle. Additionally, as mentioned above, it will give you insight into where enemy squads are located (provided they’re not inside a structure), which can be especially useful during the late-game.

Be aware, however, that if you’re shot during the wind-up animation for this ability, it will cancel it and put it on a brief cooldown. This means it’s best used when behind solid cover. Just be sure to ping yourself or tell your squads to rush to you right before using the ability to ensure that you’re not left hovering alone for too long.

Read MoreGameSpot – Game News