Apex Legends Recoil Patterns For All Weapons

Apex Legends is a Battle Royale game that can be played in teams of either three or two players. The game has a wide variety of playable characters and each one has a colorful backstory behind it. The characters or “Legends” also have unique abilities which make every character stand out. Every Legend has a different play style and depending on what style you prefer, you can choose a different Legend.

Like other Battle Royale games, Apex Legends also has a wide variety of weapons to choose from. From long-ranged Sniper Rifles and DMRs to short-ranged Shotguns, this game has them all.

All guns in this game follow a spray pattern which is unique to each weapon. The spray pattern defines how the bullets spread when coming out of a gun. It is the same every time. So if you want to improve your aim in Apex Legends and hit your shots more accurately, it would be a good idea to spend some time learning every weapon’s spray pattern.

The best source to find the spray patterns of all the weapons in the game is the new Apex Legends mobile game. This is because, on the mobile version, there is a detailed breakdown of each weapon’s stats and along with it, their spray patterns. Here are the weapon stats and patterns for each weapon category according to Apex Legends Mobile:

Assault Rifles

R-301 Carbine

Everyone’s favorite weapon, the R-301 Carbine which has an easy to control spray follows this pattern. The spray starts by going straight up, then it shifts towards the right side and after a few shots, it moves towards the left side. Then it jumps to the right again before going straight up. It is a good idea to spray in short bursts instead of emptying the whole magazine at once. This makes it easier to control the spray since it is less complicated in the beginning.

Flatline 

This is everyone’s second favorite Assault Rifle, after the R-301. It has a slower rate of fire but the higher damage on this gun makes the time to kill similar to R-301 Carbine. The spray pattern for the Flatline starts by going up to the left. Then it makes a short turn towards the right side before towards the left side again. Then it turns to the right and continues going up.

Havoc 

Havoc is really easy to control weapon and a highly underrated one because of its simple spray pattern. It can prove really useful in fights, given that you can find the Turbocharger Hop-up for it. The spray goes straight up and makes a small turn in between, before going straight up again towards the left.

Hemlok Burst AR

The Hemlok Burst AR also has a relatively simple spray pattern, but since it is a Burst Assault Rifle, the spray can be a little tricky. It follows a simple zig-zag pattern. It goes up and towards the left at the start. It briefly turns to the right side, before turning to the left again.

Sniper Rifles

Sentinel / Kraber / Longbow DMR 

All the Bolt Action sniper rifles only fire one bullet at a time and have no spray pattern. Hence they have no spray pattern to memorize. Although you should practice their bullet drop though since their bullets divert down over long ranges.

Charge Rifle

The Charge Rifle is a different type of Sniper Rifle. It doesn’t fire a single bullet like other snipers. Instead, it uses energy ammo to shoot out an energy beam which increases in intensity as it fires. The energy beam starts at the center and moves towards the right side as it shoots.

Marksman Rifles

Triple Take

The Triple Take is also a unique weapon that fires a spread of three shots. You can narrow down this spread if you ADS and wait for the charge to build up. The spread is the same for every shot, with three horizontal bolts fired at the same time.

G7 Scout 

The G7 Scout is one of the best guns in Apex Legends for spraying down opponents over longer ranges. The spray is a straight vertical line and every bullet hits the enemies like a truck. It uses light ammo which can be easily found around the map so you don’t have to hold back when spraying down!

30-30 Repeater

The 30-30 Repeater is similar to the G7 Scout with superior damage output. It came out in Season 8 when the Legend “Fuse” was released. It uses Heavy Ammo and its spray pattern goes straight up as well, just like the G7 Scout.

SMGs

R-99

Starting off with the favorite SMG of many experienced players. This is because it has a really fast rate of fire which means it can deliver a lot of damage in a short while. But a fast rate of fire means that it will be difficult to control its spray pattern.

The spray starts off going straight up but quickly turns towards the right side. And after firing a few bullets it comes back towards the left where it finishes off the rest of the bullets.

Volt SMG

The Volt is also one of the best SMGs in Apex Legends. It uses energy ammo and is extremely satisfying to use. It also has a great Iron sight, unlike other guns like the Flatline. The spray is also very easy to control. It starts going straight up and towards the right, and then gets a little difficult during the halfway point. So you should avoid spraying down the whole magazine at once.

Alternator

The Alternator is a unique SMG because it is made up of 2 Barrels instead of one. These two barrels take turns in firing bullets. That’s why you can see two distinct spray patterns under Trajectory Effect. They both follow the same pattern, however. Many players keep it as a secondary weapon when using an Assault Rifle like the R-301 or Flatline.

It starts off from the middle going up and then it tilts towards the right. After a few shots, the spray diverts towards the left and keeps going left.

Prowler Burst PDW

This is the only burst weapon in the SMG category. This is also why you shouldn’t have that much difficulty in controlling the spray of this gun. It mostly goes up but after some bullets, it starts tilting off to the left side, and then to the right. It’s best that you don’t spray off the entire magazine at once.

LMGs

Spitfire

The Spitfire is arguably the best LMG in the game. It has the easiest spray and its large magazine size allows you to easily spray down entire enemy squads. If you are newer to the game or playing in low-ranked lobbies, this is definitely a weapon you should keep in your inventory. 

The fire rate is slow meaning the spray will be easier to control as it slowly shifts between going left and right.

Devotion LMG

The Devotion is a really powerful weapon and you do not want to get caught in its line of fire. It isn’t much use without the Turbocharger Hop-up though, because the spray starts off really slowly. And it takes a long time for the spray to charge up.

With the Turbocharger Hop-up, however, it is a different story. You can easily kill enemies using this gun and when at max firing speed, you can kill an enemy within milliseconds. The spray goes straight up in the beginning, and then it takes a detour after reaching the halfway point.

L-Start EMG

The biggest selling point for the L-Star EMG is that it can be used infinitely without having to reload it. It uses energy ammo and fires energy beams. A drawback of this weapon, however, is that it can overheat really easily. And when it overheats, you need to give it a few seconds to cool down before it can shoot again.

Rampage

The Rampage LMG is another really great one. It has the slowest firing rate, which can be bumped up for a few seconds by feeding a thermite grenade to this gun. Rampage has high damage and a great set of Iron sights which are both helpful when spraying down opponents over a distance.

Shotguns

Peacekeeper

Shotguns in Apex, like other games, don’t have a spray pattern. Instead have to keep in mind the bullet spread. Since shotguns use shells that fire in a spread instead of a single bullet.

How far the pellets will spread can be determined by the crosshair size in the game when holding a shotgun. For the Peacekeeper, the shot spreads outwards from the middle like a web.

Mastiff

The Mastiff has the unique and most controllable spread of all the shotguns. Its pellets come out in a straight horizontal line. This spread can be tightened by Aiming Down Sight when using the Mastiff. The firing rate of Mastiff can also be increased by using a Shotgun Bolt.

Eva-8 Auto

The Eva-8 Auto is an Automatic firing shotgun that can mow down enemies at close range if you know how to use it properly. As the name suggests, the weapon fires pellets which come out as the outline of the number 8.

Pistols

P2020

The P2020 is arguably the weakest weapon in all of Apex Legends. It is only used in emergencies like when you land and don’t have any weapon to use except the P2020. Or if you like to use the R-99 or the R301 Carbine, you can also use this weapon to carry attachments, since all of these weapons mostly use the same attachments.

The spread of this weapon is sloppy and all over the place. So it is suggested that you should take your time with every single shot.

RE-45

The RE-45 is the other Pistol that uses Light Ammo. It is very different from the P2020 however. For starters, it is an Automatic firing pistol, the only one in the game. It also has a high rate of fire which is comparable to the R-99. In fact, it even has a higher damage output than the R-99, but at the cost of a lower magazine size.

You should definitely learn the recoil pattern of this gun since you will likely be encountering it a lot in your games. The recoil is pretty straightforward as it goes towards the upper right side, almost in a straight line.

Wingman

Ah, the Wingman. It is without any doubt the most powerful pistol in Apex Legends, if not the most powerful gun in the game. It is a revolver that fires Heavy Ammo. The Wingman greatly rewards players who can consistently hit their shots, especially headshots. This is why it is often used by popular streamers and pro players.

The recoil is almost a straight vertical line but since it is a revolver, it has a low firing rate. Practice it in the range before using it in a game of Apex Legends.

Mozambique 

Mozambique used to be the most meme gun of Apex Legends. It had low damage and only had a magazine size of three bullets. But since it was buffed, it has actually become a pretty decent gun. Often people can be seen using this gun as their secondary because if you can bring down an enemy to low health, Mozambique can definitely confirm the kill, especially if you have the Hammerpoint Rounds Hop-up equipped.

Since Mozambique is a shotgun, it also doesn’t have a spray pattern. It consistently fires three pellets that are spread out in the shape of a triangle. It also has a magazine size of 6 bullets.

That was the Recoil Pattern for all the weapons in Apex Legends. Some weapons like the Alternator have a simple and easy to control recoil. While others can have a really difficult and messy recoil pattern, an example of this is Devotion. Practice these recoil patterns in the Firing Range and you will definitely see an improvement in your accuracy when using the guns in Apex Legends.