While Apex Legends Mobile might share a name with its PC-and-console sibling, it’s not the same game. Respawn Entertainment and new developer Lightspeed Studios have made sure Apex‘s shiny, new mobile edition stands apart from the base game by adding mobile-first legends, a new perks system, and entirely new game modes for players worldwide. If you’re looking to get a little something different out of your Apex experience, you’ve come to the right place.
While you can still play the standard team-based battle royale in Apex Legends Mobile, you’re missing out if you aren’t checking out the game’s new modes. All modes feature familiar POIs and locations from the game’s well-known maps as they were in their original state, so if you’re hankering to play OG Skull Town, you’ll find it here.
Here are all the game modes in Apex Legends Mobile.
Battle royale
This is the standard battle royale as popularized by Apex Legends. Apex Legends Mobile’s battle royale features the same crafting system and craft-only rotations alongside the option to autofill your squad of three if you don’t want to play alone. King’s Canyon and World’s Edge are the two available maps for this mode.
To win a battle royale match, players must drop in a suitable location, loot resources, and stay alive while overpowering enemies and avoiding the deadly power of the ever-closing ring. Players can experience classic King’s Canyon locations, including the popular Skull Town POI, and check out World’s Edge updates like the Climatizer.
In addition to regular battle royale, there is a ranked mode that unlocks when players reach level eight. Ranked allows players to gain points based on the number of opposing squads they kill and the amount of time they survive, which are translated into eight ranks: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Predator.
Team Deathmatch
Team Deathmatch will be familiar to anyone who’s ever played other multiplayer FPS games. The rules are simple: two squads of six players battle it out. Each kill grants your team points. The first squad to reach the target score wins. At the start of each round, players can freely choose the legend and weapons they want to take into battle.
Players can’t be knocked down in Team Deathmatch. Instead, they are instantly eliminated and will respawn with their gear after a set period of time. Shields also restore automatically after not taking damage for a few seconds, like in Control, and care packages spawn randomly, each guaranteed to contain a supply drop weapon.
There are two slightly different flavors of Team Deathmatch. Team Deathmatch: Base Respawn always respawns players near a “base” or the team’s dedicated spawn point. Team Deathmatch: Random Respawn will respawn players near a squadmate. Both will feature prominent POIs from World’s Edge and Kings Canyon as maps at launch.
Arenas
Arenas has been removed from Apex Legends Mobile in season two, but the development team confirmed it will return in a future update.
In Arenas, two squads of three players duke it out on specified POIs from Kings Canyon and World’s Edge as well as some of the PC and console version’s Arenas-exclusive maps. The squad that wipes out their opponents first wins the round, and the first squad that wins four rounds wins the match. This is a little different from the PC and console Arenas format, where teams only need to win three rounds to win a match (assuming there’s no tiebreaker).
Before the start of each round, players will need to spend crafting materials to purchase abilities, weapons, grenades, and healing items. Supplies are not kept between rounds. Crafting materials can be found scattered throughout each map and are granted for winning a round and killing opponents. Some consumables and weapons can also be found in chests and care packages throughout each map.
The ring is still a force to be reckoned with in Arenas. Players will need to keep an eye on its progress while taking out enemies and conserving resources to emerge as the champions.
Armed and Dangerous
Armed and Dangerous is a variant of the usual battle royale. Instead of being able to find all weapons, the only available weapons are shotguns and sniper rifles. It’s similar to the shotty snipers modes in other FPS games, but on a battle royale-sized scale. Armed and Dangerous was previously featured in seasons two, three, and six of Apex Legends.
Quick Battle
Quick Battle is another battle royale mode that puts a smaller number of players into a comparatively smaller ring for a fast match. If you want to play battle royale but don’t have time for a full round or want to experience close-quarters combat without Arenas or Team Deathmatch, this is a good alternative.
Flashpoint
Flashpoint is another mode that gets its roots from Apex Legends. The mode adds several zones called Beacons to the standard battle royale maps. While standing within a Beacon, players will gradually recover health and armor. No healing items spawn anywhere on the map in Flashpoint, making fights outside of Beacons dangerous.
Gun Game
Gun Game will also be familiar to those who have played other FPS games before. Each player starts with the same gun and must achieve a kill to receive the next gun in line, and so on up the gun ladder. Whoever has the most points when time runs out or has achieved three melee kills wins the round.
Hack
Hack puts players into one of two teams: hackers or defenders. Hackers must work together to hack one of two available locations on the map to gain points. Once Hackers have gained three points, a satellite orbiting the map will destroy the opposing team. Defenders must defend these hackable locations at all costs to prevent themselves from being destroyed. The first team to win four rounds wins the match.
Tutorial modes
For players who are new to Apex Legends Mobile or just want to get used to using a different input system, the game offers a guided tutorial mode featuring Mirage that covers the basics of shooting, looting, movement, and respawning. The game also features a Free Practice mode that allows players to test out different guns and legends in an uncontested space. Free Practice is similar to the Firing Range in Apex Legends.
