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Apex Legends has a surprising amount of characters with abilities to scan their surroundings, but none do so by using a nifty drone like Crypto. This aerial scanning expert can be quite a useful addition to a squad when played efficiently, making him a great pick for players who enjoy being the eyes of their teammates. In this guidee, we’ll share details about all of Crypto’s unique abilities and how to best use them to counter other squads or shore up holes in your own team’s defenses.
Scan ’em all with your abilities
Crypto’s role on the battlefield is similar to Bloodhound: hunt down and identify enemies. However, unlike Bloodhound, who’s an aggressive tracker that seeks out squads to kill, Crypto places less emphasis on being on the frontline, as he’s better suited at finding 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, it can open and close doors, crack open loot bins, and retrieve fallen teammate’s respawn beacons. You can even point the drone’s camera at any of the Champion Squad banners throughout the arena and it will show you how many squads are in your immediate vicinity.
Though you can tag enemies with your drone, marking them with Crypto’s passive ability Neurolink is what best helps your squad. Doing so highlights the enemy for your entire team, allowing allies to see targets through walls or smoke.
Crypto’s ultimate ability is Drone EMP, which does 50 shield damage–outright destroying white body armor–and slows all enemies with an effect similar to Wattson’s Perimeter Security fences. Unfortunately, Crypto is affected by his own ultimate ability, so make sure you’re not in the blast zone when you activate the Drone EMP.
You’re rarely the frontman of the group
Rarely does Crypto excel at spearheading his squad’s offensive. If you want to play as Crypto, you’re typically going to fulfill a support role, aiding your teammates in increasing their kill counts. Unlike most of the other legends, Crypto does not possess an ability that allows him to easily escape a fight. As such, you need to ensure firefights are already stacked in your squad’s favor before you engage. Once you emerge from hiding and join the fray, you have to commit.
Though his abilities would 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, you best bet is to find cover and send your drone skyward. Be careful, as Crypto can’t move while manually piloting the drone.
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It’s all about the drone
Crypto is the only Legend to have his passive and ultimate ability tied to his tactical. This limits what you can do with him–every ability relies on your drone. Thus, you’ll have to master throwing your drone into well-hidden spots or manually maneuvering it to dodge enemy shots. 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 sacrificing it as a means to distract foes so your squad can retreat.
You can throw your drone against a wall to give you some general coverage of an area, or manually pilot it behind the attacking squad so they’re sandwiched between it and you–that way, if they want to destroy it, they’ll have to turn their back on you. Then you can exit the drone, leave your hiding spot, and begin your attack. Even if the enemy hides behind cover, you and your squad will still be able to see them thanks to Neurolink. As you continue to shoot the opposition, your squadmates should rush to overwhelm the enemy.
No, really… it’s ALL about the drone
If Drone EMP is ready to go, all the better. Follow the strategy above but use the ability as you’re exiting drone view and beginning your assault. The enemy team will then have to turn their backs on you to shoot down the drone and stop the EMP, or they’ll 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.
You may want to save your EMP if the match is almost over, though. Given its 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. Plus, the enemy team will take shield damage and be stunned.
Just remain aware that your EMP will deal shield damage to you as well, so you’ll want to rush in after the detonation and join your squad in their attack.
Pick ’em 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 from being outside the zone, allowing you to safely pick up your teammate’s respawn banner from afar. Once you’ve snagged the banner, you can even pilot your drone over to a nearby respawn beacon to call your partner back in. Easy!
Overcome your weaknesses and counters
Because of how dependent Crypto is on his drone, his main weakness is actually just going up against someone who’s a good shot. The drone has fairly low HP, so any well-placed shots 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 to when Neurolink has marked them. However, there are a few things you can do to hide your drone and make it more difficult 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 smokescreen 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 enemies before the forcefield goes down. Even after the drone has been destroyed, Neurolink lasts a few seconds, giving you time to emerge from cover and fire on the enemy. Gibraltar’s Dome Shield provides a longer solution of the same strategy.
The Legend that best counters Crypto is Bloodhound, as the technological tracker can sniff out the hacker’s hiding spot if he happens to be manually piloting the drone and unaware of his surroundings. There’s no way to directly counter this yourself. You’ll 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 confident that you’ll get the drop on them before they get the drop on you.
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