Apex Legends is quite notable for its dynamic style of movement, and as a result, many tactics utilized by the game’s higher-level players tend to involve advanced movement strategies. One such strategy is Tap Strafing — a movement exploit that allows you to rapidly change direction in midair following a sliding jump while maintaining your momentum.
While this piece of tech has proven useful in competitive play, it can only be performed by those playing on PC who utilize mouse and keyboard setups, which has prompted developer Respawn Entertainment to announce that it will be removed in a future update. At the time of writing, Tap Strafing is still in the game. Here’s how you can utilize this advanced movement option.
The setup for Tap Strafing involves performing a simple crouch-slide and jumping out of it. While in midair, you’ll either hold down the “A” (left) or “D” (right) key, depending on which direction you would like to go while turning around; on its own, this is called “air strafing.”
While air strafing, you’ll want to rapidly press whatever key you have bound to “move forward,” which will cause you to change directions while in the air, and also shift the direction of your momentum from your sliding jump without losing any of it. Which direction your character turns will depend on whether you were strafing with the “A” or “D” key. Many high-level players bind the “move forward” command to the mouse’s scroll wheel for Tap Strafing, as simply scrolling the wheel will activate several “move forward” commands. To complete the Tap Strafe, you’ll move your mouse in whichever direction you are strafing while repeatedly inputting the “move forward” command. The result should be a midair turn that allows you to maintain the initial momentum of your sliding jump as you change direction.
There are a variety of uses for Tap Strafing. It’s an incredibly effective way to turn corners, as well as an efficient counter to any enemies that might try to catch your flank. As stated before, this is only possible while using a mouse and keyboard, which means console players won’t be able to Tap Strafe. Given Apex Legends’ crossplay support, it’s likely that Tap Strafing’s platform exclusivity is one reason why Respawn has resolved to remove the feature.
At the time of writing, it’s unknown when Tap Strafing will be removed from Apex Legends. Respawn previously announced that it would remove the tactic from patch 10.1 but later announced that Tap Strafing’s removal would be delayed to a future update.
