10 Tips & Tricks For Pathfinder: Apex Legends

Image: Respawn Entertainment, Electronic Arts via HGG

Human Made

Penned by Gibson Vasela

My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Pathfinder is one of the most beloved characters in all of Apex Legends. His kit is one of the most enjoyable to use, and his play style encourages mobility and team cooperation. Not only that, but his lore and personality are both very well-written. He’s one of the most likable Legends in the game!

Whether you main him or play him every now and then, everyone could use some tips on how to use him properly. So for today’s article, we’re doing a rundown of some basic tips and tricks on how to make the most of his kit.

Let’s get started!

Popular Destinations..

Apex Legends Waystone | Navigation Page

Best Apex Legends Settings (2024) for PC & Console

Apex Legends Pathfinder: Character Overview

Let’s start out this article by giving a brief overview of who Pathfinder is as a character. Pathfinder is a MRVN, which stands for Mobile Robotic Versatile eNtity. You may recognize this robot from Titanfall 2, as it was a common sight to behold throughout some of the campaign levels. They act as worker bots, able to operate various machinery, make repairs, and perform other services as requested.

These robots are manufactured by Hammond Robotics, a common faction you may have seen referenced a few times in Apex Legends. Pathfinder is a special robot, however. He’s a modified version separate from his counterparts who excels in surveying various different locations.

Pathfinder is a very friendly and optimistic robot, reminiscent of Yes Man from Fallout: New Vegas. He always speaks in an uppity, cheery voice. Despite his happy and optimistic interior, Pathfinder’s story isn’t sunshine and rainbows. When he first awoke many years ago, he was all alone, with his creator nowhere to be found.

After spending much time exploring the world, looking for the person who made him, he eventually found the Apex Games. He joined the blood arena in the hopes that doing so would attract his creator to him. To this day, Pathfinder continues to fight in the blood-filled arena, hopeful that one day he and his creator will be reunited at long last.

This information was sourced from the Apex Legends Wiki. To read more about this interesting and beloved character, you can click here.

Abilities & Playstyle

Pathfinder is a great Legend for all types of players. He can be used both aggressively and as a support Legend, allowing lots of versatility for how he is played. His abilities are all based around getting him and the squad around the map as quickly and easily as possible. Before we head into the tips for how to get the most out of his kit, let’s do a brief rundown of all his abilities, shall we?

Passive: Insider Knowledge

After scanning a survey beacon, Pathfinder’s ultimate ability is instantly charged to full. Additionally, the time it takes to charge his ultimate is reduced by 10s for the rest of the game. This brings down his base charge time of 120 seconds to a minimum of 80 seconds.

Tactical: Grappling Hook

Pathfinder sends out a hook that can grapple him onto nearby objects, allowing him to quickly reposition himself around the map. This ability can be used on almost any object in the game, including other players!

Ultimate: Zipline Gun

Once every two minutes, Pathfinder can lay down a zipline from one area of the map to the next. This allows him and his teammates to quickly reposition themselves. But be warned, his ziplines can be used by enemies as well, and they cannot be removed when placed down. The zipline can reach a total distance of 100 meters.

More

Lastly, Pathfinder is classed as a recon Legend, and thus has the ability to use survey beacons. Scanning them allows him and the team to see the next round’s ring. Pathfinder used to have a perk called Low Profile, which increased the damage that he took by 5%. Thankfully, this perk has been removed and is no longer a concern for Pathfinder players.

For more information on Pathfinder’s abilities, you can read his Apex Legends Wiki page by clicking the link posted here.

10 Tips & Tricks for Pathfinder

And now, let’s get right into this guide for ten tips and tricks for Pathfinder in Apex Legends!

1. Scan Every Survey Beacon You Find

Probably one of the most obvious tips is to scan survey beacons as often as you can. As a recon Legend, Pathfinder can scan survey beacons to gain a tactical advantage during a match. When you scan one, it allows you and your squad to see the next round’s ring. Very handy for planning ahead. You can easily find these little contraptions by their unique marker on the map.

Pathfinder’s passive also instantly charges your ultimate upon scanning a survey beacon, and reduces the charge time by ten seconds for the rest of the match. This means that ultimate accelerants are not needed when playing as Pathfinder. You can quickly get around the map fast if you make sure to head to the next survey beacon as soon as possible.

2. Don’t Go Too Far Ahead

Next up on our list of the top ten tips and tricks for Pathfinder in Apex Legends, we should get something out of the way. While Pathfinder is great for getting around the map fast, you should be careful with his abilities. It may be tempting to use your Grappling Hook non-stop. However, you don’t want to get too far ahead of your teammates. If you run into an enemy team and need help, they won’t be able to come save you in time.

His Zipline Gun allows your whole squad to quickly move forward, so this gives you some mobility without putting you in danger. Try to save your Grappling Hook for some light scouting, instead. You might be able to get away with going far ahead if there are other mobility Legends on your team, though, like Octane or Valkyre.

3. Carry the Right Weapons

Pathfinder’s playstyle encourages mobility, but not in the same way that other movement-based Legends do. Octane’s stim encourages him to stay on the ground and get up-close-and-personal with his enemies. Pathfinder’s Zipline Gun allows him to get into very high up areas. These kinds of locations are very good for camping and setting up a sniping position to take out other Legends from afar.

Because of this, I highly recommend carrying either a sniper rifle or a marksman rifle when playing as Pathfinder. This allows you to engage targets from farther away, letting you level up your evo-armor. I like to run an automatic assault rifle or an SMG in my secondary spot. I feel like Pathfinder is best played at medium-to-long distances, so this loadout works very well in most situations.

4. Get the High Ground

Whether you’re using your Grappling Hook or your Zipline Gun, getting the high ground is a must when playing as Pathfinder. On pretty much every map, there are plenty of opportunities to get the high ground on your enemies. Getting this position allows you a better sight of the enemies down below. And it makes it harder to be seen or shot at by players that are standing beneath you.

Getting the high ground is a great strategy late game when you want to lay low. It allows other squads to fight it out. You can use your Zipline Gun to move you and the team up to a hard-to-reach area. This lets you wait out the game for a bit in relative safety. You can even camp with the sniper rifle I encouraged you to use in the last tip!

Even if you don’t like camping, it’s always useful to get a height advantage when you can. You can still get the high ground temporarily to give you an advantage when you know that a fight is about to break out.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Leave a Fight You Can’t Win

Your Grappling Hook can be used as a sort of “get out of jail free card” when you’re losing a fight and need to fall back. If things aren’t going your way, you can quickly turn around and fire off your Grappling Hook to easily escape a fight you can’t win. Sometimes running away is the best strategy to win a game long-term.

The important thing is knowing when and how to use this. In my experience, you want to try to get out of sight of the enemy (if possible) before you swing away. When you fire your hook, it slows you down for a few seconds. This can be a death sentence in many fights. You also want to ensure you have your hook fully charged and ready to go before entering an enemy encounter!

6. You Can Pull Enemies Towards You

Perhaps one of the most unique abilities of Pathfinder is the fact that he can use his Grappling Hook to quickly pull other players towards him. It will pull the other person right to him, while slightly moving him forward. This ability works on both teammates and enemies alike, leading to a lot of versatility with how you use it.

If you just landed and don’t have any ranged weapons — or you simply ran out of ammo — melee is usually your only option. You can quickly cut the distance between you and someone by grappling them. This allows you to get in a few clean punches! This is also great if another player is trying to escape from you. Just keep in mind that the enemy player is notified when a Pathfinder grapples them.

7. Use Your Grappling Hook to Flank Opponents

Perhaps the main reason why so many people love to main Pathfinder is his ability to reposition himself. He can do it quickly and at a moment’s notice. This repositioning ability is great for outsmarting opponents and getting around them quickly. It’s most commonly used to escape enemy encounters when you’re at a disadvantage, but it also has some much more aggressive uses.

You can use the ability to quickly move around an enemy team that is attacking you. As long as you avoid being spotted, you can swing around a large area of space very quickly and get behind the enemy. Then just tell your teammates to push while you open fire. This will give you will gain a huge advantage over the enemy squad!

8. Jump Before You Use Your Grappling Hook

One very simple and effective way to get the most out of your Grappling Hook is to jump right before you grapple an object or wall. When you do this, it minimizes the amount of drag that you produce. And it takes less effort for the Grappling Hook to lift you up in the air. What this means in practical terms is that when you do this you can get around faster and farther when using the Grappling Hook!

9. Pair Pathfinder With Wattson or Caustic

Apex Legends is a very fun game to play with friends, especially when you can coordinate who is playing who on your team. Pathfinder’s mobility pairs great with characters like Octane and Wraith to gain even more ways to move around the map. While this is a fine combination, my favorite Legends to pair him with are Watton and/or Caustic.

Since enemies can use Pathfinder’s zipline, it’s possible to lay traps with it. You can zipline up to a high area, and then have Caustic place some traps down just out of sight. Any enemies unfortunate enough to take the zipline will breathe in the smell of gas! You can also use Wattson and her electric fences as an alternative, or you can use both at once for max damage.

This is also a great thing to do if enemies are chasing you and you and want to escape. I remember I was once being chased by an enemy Pathfinder and he shot a zipline at my location. Since I was playing as Caustic, I was able to put a gas trap at the base of his zipline and he immediately jumped off, allowing me to get away to safety.

10. Use Pathfinder’s Grappling Hook Effectively

Considering that the Grappling Hook is Pathfinder’s most used ability, it should only be right that you know how to use it properly. Whenever you’re looking at an object you can grapple onto, there should be a small blue circle in your crosshair. Pay attention to this so you know when to grapple. Additionally, the place on the wall or object you grapple onto will determine how effectively you can swing around.

For example, if you’re looking directly in front of you and you grapple onto a wall, you will move directly towards it and get hit right in the face. But if you grapple the edge or corner of a building and then look slightly away from where you were aiming, you will gain much more momentum much quicker. And since you won’t hit a wall, you’ll swing around your target and go much farther!

Join the High Ground

What did you think of our guide for the top 10 tips and tricks for playing Pathfinder in Apex Legends? Did you find any of them helpful? Let us know, and don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more awesome content! We provide regular guides and rankings on all the best games, including more shooters like Apex Legends.

Happy gaming!

Related Reading: Apex Legends’ Tips & Tricks

Caustic

Bloodhound

Lifeline

Octane