We could argue that Apex Legends, with its exclusively multiplayer, non-linear matches, is not very speedrun-friendly. The speedrunning community would disagree. Players have apparently been speedrunning it since launch — and still are.
Racing to the beginning
For those unfamiliar with the term, speedrunning is the refined and elegant art of finishing a game in the shortest possible amount of time. From mapping the shortest routes, to intentionally glitching, there are many ways to shorten the gap between intro cinematics and a final boss. Gamers have been competing with each other to be best at finishing since the early ’90s, and now they are doing it in Apex Legends.
There are currently three different flavors of speedrunning in Apex, the first being Training. The tutorial is the most linear “mission” currently in the game and can be completed as quickly as two minutes and 50 seconds.
Finding Nessy
A much more interesting and complex category is the Nessy speedrun. Apex Legends‘ Kings Canyon contains a set of 10 hidden Nessy plushies. When they are all discovered an unceremoniously shot, a much larger Nessy briefly emerges from the sea near Swamps. It’s a neat little Easter egg for players who enjoy that sort of thing.
And for those who enjoy it nice and fast, here is one of the fastest current speedruns of the Nessy challenge:
Fastest death speedrun
While things on the Apex Legends speedrunning scene have slowed down since launch when most world records were set, there is one category that is still active. It also happens to be the weirdest one: fastest death.
For something as straightforward as ending your match as soon as possible, there is a bit of nuance to it. Some players know to use terrain to speed up their drop in order to start looting faster. As you will see below, that same trick can be used to more efficiently end it all.
The fastest death speedrun category has two subcategories, Kings Canyon and Training. The Training speedrun world record was only set last month. A player by the name of Keshy made an attempt to overtake it a couple of weeks ago without success. With the possible addition of Beast Hunt and other game modes in season 2, the Apex speedrunning community may have new records to set.
Stay tuned to Daily Esports for more Apex Legends news and updates!
