Apex Legend has quite a few characters with scanning abilities, but none have a cool drone like Crypto. This aerial sweeping expert can be a useful addition to teams when played correctly. In the following guide, we detail all of Crypto’s unique abilities and how to best use them to counter other characters or shore up holes in your own team’s defenses.
Scan them all with your abilities
Crypto’s role on the battlefield is similar to that of Bloodhound: tracking down and identifying enemies. However, unlike Bloodhound, who is an aggressive tracker who seeks out teams to kill, Crypto places less emphasis on being on the front lines, as he is better placed to find enemies while remaining hidden.
Crypto’s tactical ability is surveillance drone, which sends out a drone that has a variety of uses. When manually controlled, he can open and close doors, open loot bins, and retrieve respawn beacons from a fallen teammate. You can even point the drone camera at any of the Champion Squad banners throughout the arena and it will show you how many squads are in your immediate vicinity.
Although you can tag enemies with your drone, tag them with Crypto’s passive ability Neurolink is what best helps your team. This highlights the enemy for your entire team, allowing allies to see targets through walls or smoke.
Crypto’s ultimate ability is EMP Drone, which deals 50 shield damage – outright destroying the white body armor – and slows all enemies with an effect similar to Wattson’s perimeter security fencing. Unfortunately, Crypto is affected by his own ultimate ability, so make sure you’re not in the blast zone when activating the EMP Drone.
You’re rarely the leader of the group
Crypto rarely excels at leading his team’s offense. If you want to play as Crypto, you’ll usually fill a support role, helping your teammates increase their kill count. Unlike most other Legends, Crypto does not possess an ability that allows him to easily escape a fight. As such, you should ensure that firefights are already stacked in your team’s favor before committing. Once you emerge from hiding and join the fray, you need to engage.
Although his abilities suggest a long-range approach, Crypto is actually at his best in mid-range combat. Equipping a mid-range scope on the G7-Scout, R-301, or Rampage gives Crypto the ability to deal damage quickly from a slight distance. When a battle starts, the best thing is to find cover and send your drone skyward. Be careful, as Crypto cannot move while manually piloting the drone.
It’s all about the drone
Crypto is the only legend to have his passive and ultimate tied to his tactics. This limits what you can do with it – each ability depends on your drone. Thus, you will have to master the launch of your drone in well hidden places or maneuver it manually to dodge enemy fire. Once your drone is destroyed, you have to wait almost a full minute to use it again, and you won’t have access to any abilities until then. Keep your drone alive, only sacrifice it to distract enemies so your squad can retreat.
You can launch your drone against a wall to give you general cover of an area, or manually fly it behind the attacking squad so they’re sandwiched between it and you – that way, if they want to. destroy, they will have to turn their back on you. Then you can get out of the drone, leave your hiding place and start your attack. Even if the enemy is hiding behind cover, you and your squad will still be able to see them thanks to Neurolink. As you continue to fire at the opposition, your teammates must rush to overwhelm the enemy.
No, really… it’s all about the drone
If Drone EMP is ready to go, great. Follow the strategy above, but use the ability when you leave the drone’s view and begin your assault. The enemy team will then have to turn their back on you to shoot down the drone and stop the EMP, or they will have to respond to your attack and take shield damage and be too stunned to run away. Either way, the odds will turn in your favor.
However, you may want to save your EMP if the match is almost over. Given his ability to disable traps, Crypto can ruin an entire team’s defense in the final circle – disabling Caustic’s Nox Gas Traps and Wattson’s Perimeter Security and Interception Pylon. Additionally, the enemy team will take shield damage and be stunned.
Just keep in mind that your EMP will also deal shield damage to you, so you’ll want to dash after detonation and join your team in their attack.
Pick them up safely
When your allies are down, let your drone do the heavy lifting for you, especially if your teammate’s banner is outside the safe zone. The drone takes no damage outside of the area, allowing you to safely pick up your teammate’s respawn banner from a distance. Once you’ve snagged the banner, you can even fly your drone to a nearby spawn beacon to call back your partner. It’s easy !
Overcome your weaknesses and cons
Due to Crypto’s reliance on his drone, his main weakness is actually going up against someone who is a good shooter. The drone has fairly low HP, so any well-placed hit from a gun, grenade, or ability will quickly destroy it. You can’t really be sneaky with the drone either. Not only does it make a ton of noise, but enemies are alerted when Neurolink has tagged them. However, there are things you can do to hide your drone and make it harder to destroy.
Bangalore, Caustic, Lifeline, and Gibraltar can all hide the drone with their abilities. Bangalore’s Smoke Launcher and Caustic’s Nox Gas Traps create a smoke screen that hides the drone if you’re in an enclosed space, and positioning your drone behind a Lifeline’s Combat Medic shield gives you just enough time to mark the enemies before the force field collapses. Even after the drone is destroyed, Neurolink lasts for a few seconds, giving you time to get out of cover and shoot the enemy. Gibraltar’s Dome Shield offers a longer solution of the same strategy.
The legend that best counters Crypto is Bloodhound, as the tech tracker can sniff out the hacker’s hideout if he manually pilots the drone and ignores his surroundings. There is no way to directly counter this yourself. You just have to trust your team to watch your back. If you don’t, it’s suggested that you try to reduce how often you spend time in manual flight, unless you’re very sure you’ll drop them before they land on you.
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