Search for the best Apex Legends keybinds and you will find pro layouts that look nothing alike. That is not a contradiction. Hand size, the number of buttons on your mouse and how much you lean on slides and crouch peeks all change what feels right.
What stays the same is the starting point. This guide begins with the default PC controls exactly as EA's official help page lists them, then narrows the changes down to the few binds that actually cost you fights when they sit in the wrong place.
After that come the steps to rebind without losing your old setup, a checklist for the Firing Range, and where to put recording hotkeys so they never collide with game keys. Everything here was checked on November 10, 2026, one week into Season 31, Cipher.
The Season 31 patch notes do not move any default PC key, but the Crypto rework changes how often one key gets pressed, which is covered below. If you play Apex Legends on a controller, the FAQ lists the preset button layouts.
Sensitivity is a separate topic with its own math, so it lives in Apex sensitivity settings explained; this page is only about which action sits on which key.
Apex Legends PC default keybinds and what to change (EA official list, checked November 10, 2026)
| Action | Default key (EA official) | Keep or change |
|---|---|---|
| Move, sprint, jump | W/A/S/D, hold Left Shift to sprint, Space to jump | Keep. Every other bind is planned around these three, and the muscle memory here is worth more than any tweak. |
| Crouch and slide | Toggle C or hold Left Ctrl | Pick one style first. Hold crouch suits slides and crouch peeks; if your pinky strains on Ctrl while holding W and Shift, move hold crouch to C or a side button. |
| Tactical and ultimate | Tactical Q, ultimate Z | Q sits right next to W, so leave it. If Z is a stretch and you have ever fired your ultimate late, move it. Since Season 31, Crypto triggers the drone EMP with the Ultimate button. |
| Heals | Use health item 4, hold 4 for the health wheel | The first bind worth moving. Reaching for 4 lifts a finger off movement mid fight; a side button or a free key near W/A/S/D lets you keep strafing while you heal. |
| Ping | Mouse wheel button, press twice for an enemy ping | Cycling weapons is also on the scroll wheel, so a wheel click that rolls can swap guns. If that keeps happening, put ping on a side button. |
| Interact, reload, grenade, melee | Interact/pick up E, reload R, equip grenade G, melee V | Keep. They all sit close to W/A/S/D. If you throw grenades a lot, check that the slightly farther G still feels quick. |
| Other actions | Extra character action H, holster 3, inspect weapon N, map M, inventory Tab | Some Legends use H for an extra action; if your main does, give it a closer key. Holster on 3 gets used a lot when running into the ring. |
| Recording hotkeys | Not an Apex bind. DOR records matches automatically; screen recording outside games is F7 | EA's default list has no function keys, so put recorder hotkeys on F keys or Ctrl and Alt combos. Avoid any key the game already uses. |
The rule: keep movement and aim, move only crouch, heals and ultimate
There is no single best layout, but there is a reliable way to find yours. Start from the defaults above and ask one question about each action: do I press it while my fingers are already busy moving? Movement, aim and shooting are always busy, so they stay.
Three actions tend to fail that test. Crouch is part of every slide and every crouch peek, so its key decides how comfortable your movement feels. Choose toggle or hold first, then put hold crouch wherever your finger lands naturally while W and Shift are down.
Heals come next. The default 4 sits above the movement keys, and pressing it mid fight usually means letting go of a strafe, so if you change only one bind, start by moving heals to a mouse side button. The ultimate on Z is the third.
It is pressed less often, but fumbling it in a deciding fight costs more than a slow heal.
Crypto players have a fresh reason to care: since the Season 31 rework, the EMP fires from the Ultimate button on PC while you pilot the drone, and the Shoot button now marks enemies instead, so the ultimate key gets pressed in the middle of drone play. The rest of the rework is in the Season 31 changes.
Side buttons are the usual destination for whatever you move. Most gaming mice have two, and binding one in the Mouse/Keyboard tab works the same way as binding a key: select the action, then click the button.
Give them actions you press while moving, and keep actions you press while standing still on the keyboard. Finally, change one or two binds at a time. Moving five keys at once means five old habits fighting each other in your next ranked match.
How to change Apex keybinds on PC without losing your old setup
- 1Record your current layout firstBefore touching anything, open the Mouse/Keyboard tab and screenshot every page of binds. If a change feels wrong after a few matches, you can put it back exactly. If you play on more than one PC, keep the screenshots on your phone so you can copy the same layout across in a minute.
- 2Open Settings and the Mouse/Keyboard tabFrom the main menu select Settings, or press ESC, then open the Mouse/Keyboard tab. Actions that are not in EA's default list, such as weapon slots or fire mode, are listed here too, so check what a key is already doing before you reuse one you think is free.
- 3Decide toggle or hold for crouchThe defaults give you both: C toggles crouch on and off, while Left Ctrl crouches only as long as you hold it. Try a few slides out of a sprint in the Firing Range, pick one style, then move only that one to a key you can press without letting go of W or Shift.
- 4Move heals, ultimate and extra actionsSelect Use Health Item and press a side button or a free key near W/A/S/D. Then hold the new key in the Firing Range to confirm the health wheel opens the way you expect. Move Ultimate Ability the same way if Z is a stretch, and Extra Character Action if your main Legend uses it.
- 5Apply and test in the Firing RangeAs EA's guide notes, your new keybinds are saved only after you select Apply. Then go to the Firing Range and chain sprint, slide, heal and abilities in the order you would use them in a real fight. If a key still feels slow after ten minutes, move it again now rather than in ranked.
- 6Keep recording hotkeys clear of game keysIf your recorder uses hotkeys, put them on keys Apex does not use, such as function keys or Ctrl and Alt combos, and never on a key you just freed up for heals. Changing a recorder's hotkeys is covered in how to remap recording hotkeys.
Check these after rebinding
- You selected Apply before leaving Settings, and the new keys are still there after restarting the game.
- No moved key is still assigned to another action in the Mouse/Keyboard tab.
- In the Firing Range you can slide, heal and use your ultimate out of a sprint without letting go of W.
- Holding the new heal key opens the health wheel the way you expect.
- Your mouse software is not turning a side button into a multi input macro. EA treats third party software that gives an unfair advantage as cheating, so keep each side button to a single input.
- Your recorder's hotkeys sit on keys the game never uses.
Record your first matches on the new layout
DOR is a free Windows game recorder. When you launch Apex Legends, it detects the game and records each match from start to finish, so there is no recording key to press in the middle of a fight and nothing to collide with your new binds.
That makes it a simple way to check a rebind: play a few matches, open the recordings in the app's My Clips and watch the moments where you slid, healed or used your ultimate. Trim the parts you want to keep in the app as 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 clips.
For screens outside games, such as the desktop or a browser, screen recording uses F7 by default, which also sits outside EA's default Apex keys.
To string several fights together or add text and background music, open DOR Studio at dor.gg/studio, merge the clips, then export an mp4 or share a dor.gg link. On supported NVIDIA graphics cards such as the RTX series, DOR records with NVENC hardware encoding.
The free plan records at 720p or 1080p and 30 or 60 fps (1080p at 30 fps by default), while 1440p, 4K, 120 fps and 144 fps are part of DOR Pro. Storage is tidied only when the full gameplay recordings exceed their share (5 GB by default), oldest first, and recent recordings and liked videos stay. For a fuller review routine, see how to VOD review yourself in Apex.
