How to melee attack faster in Apex Legends

An Apex Legends technique increases your attack speed with the melee attack, improving your chances in a head-to-head fist fight.

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Anyone who’s spent any time playing Apex Legends – or any battle royale, for that matter – will have experienced the unfortunate scenario in which you drop directly beside another group, but are unable to find a weapon.

Perhaps the enemy got there first, or you select a building only to find attachments and ammo, or maybe you simply start fighting immediately and never have time to gear up. Whatever the reason, play Apex long enough and you’ll inevitably find yourself having to resort to melee attacks for survival.

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Whether you’re in a fair one-on-one boxing match or outgunned and outnumbered, being able to maximize your melee damage could be the difference between survival and elimination – or at least enabling your team-mates to clean up the fight.

If you do find yourself reduced to beating your enemies to death, however, there is still a way you can gain an advantage.

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The animation for a melee attack changes depending on what movement you’re making at the time. By default it’s a straightforward punch, but if you slide towards someone it’s more of an upper-cut, and if you’re in mid-air, either falling or jumping, it’s a kick instead.

The difference isn’t entirely cosmetic, however. The animation for the jump-kick takes less time, and therefore allows you to get more hits in quicker than the regular melee attack.

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Each melee attack does 30 damage, so if your enemy starts at full health with no shields, as will often be the case if you begin a game with a melee showdown, it takes four hits to knock them down.

As can be seen in the head-to-head comparison at the end of the video, using a jump kick rather than just punching will mean you get your fourth hit in first, enabling you to guarantee victory in a head-to-head fight if your opponent isn’t using this technique.