If you’ve ever missed an easy close-range fight because your crosshair blended into the wall behind your enemy, you’ve probably wondered if small setting tweaks can fix the issue. One of the most common questions new Apex players ask is can you change your crosshair in Apex Legends, and the short answer is a resounding yes. I’ve been playing Apex since its launch, climbed to Predator rank three separate times, and I still tweak my crosshair settings every few seasons to match my evolving playstyle. Small changes to your reticle can make a massive difference in your aim consistency, especially if you’re coming from another shooter where you had a custom setup you were used to. In this guide, I’ll walk you through exactly what you can customize, how to adjust your settings, and what mistakes to avoid so you can build a crosshair that works for you, not against you.
Can You Change Your Crosshair in Apex Legends? What You Can (and Can’t) Customize
First, let’s clear up a small terminology quirk: Apex refers to crosshairs as reticles in its settings menu, so don’t panic if you don’t see the word “crosshair” right away when you open settings. You have a lot of control over how your reticle looks, but there are some limits Respawn has put in place to keep competitive fairness across all players. Apex does not support imported crosshair images or custom shape designs as of the latest season, unlike shooters like Valorant that let you upload any design you want. That means you won’t be able to use silly meme crosshairs or super niche shapes that might give you an unfair advantage.
What you can adjust, though, covers almost everything you’d need to make a comfortable, high-visibility crosshair. You can change the base color, adjust the thickness of the crosshair lines, add or remove an outline around the reticle, toggle a center dot on or off, adjust the opacity of both the main crosshair and the outline, and even change the length of the crosshair lines. You also have three default presets to choose from if you don’t want to build a custom one from scratch, which is a great starting point for new players who don’t know what they like yet.
One recent update a lot of players miss is that you can now save up to four custom crosshair presets, so you can have separate setups for close-range SMG mains, mid-range assault rifle players, and long-range sniper mains without having to re-adjust settings every time you switch playstyles. That’s a huge quality of life improvement that a lot of casual players haven’t discovered yet.
Step-by-Step Guide to Adjusting Your Apex Legends Crosshair
Adjusting your crosshair takes less than five minutes, and you don’t need any special tools or mods to do it. All changes are made directly in the in-game settings menu, and you can test them immediately in the Firing Range to see if they feel right. Follow these simple steps to tweak your reticle:
When you’re in the custom reticle menu, you’ll see a small preview of your crosshair on the right side of the screen, but don’t rely on that preview alone. The preview is on a neutral gray background, which won’t match the bright greens of Storm Point or the rusty oranges of World’s Edge. Always test your crosshair in the Firing Range first, where you can see how it looks against different wall textures, moving targets, and even when you’re sliding or jumping around. I’ve had so many crosshairs that looked perfect in the settings menu, but completely blended into the background when I was actually in a fight.
If you want to save a custom preset, just click the save icon next to the custom reticle option, and name it whatever makes sense for you (I name mine “SMG”, “AR”, “Sniper” so I can swap them quickly before a match). You can also edit or delete presets at any time if you decide you don’t like a setup anymore.
Best Crosshair Settings for Different Playstyles
There’s no one “best” crosshair setting that works for everyone, because the right setup depends entirely on your playstyle, what hardware you’re using, and even if you have color blindness. But there are some general guidelines that work for most players, based on what kind of fights you prefer to take.
If you’re an aggressive close-range main who loves pushing fights with SMGs or shotguns, you want a crosshair that’s bright, thick, and easy to track while you’re moving fast. Go for a high-contrast color like cyan or magenta, because those colors pop against almost every map background in Apex. Avoid red or green crosshairs if you can, because red blends with enemy health bars and red damage markers, and green blends with grass, tree leaves, and a lot of building textures across every map. Aim for a line thickness of 2 to 3, no center dot (it can block your view of close-range targets), and a thin black outline to make it stand out even more.
If you prefer mid-range fights with assault rifles or marksman weapons, go for a slightly thinner crosshair with a small center dot. A line thickness of 1 to 2 works best here, because it’s still visible but doesn’t block your view of targets at 50 to 100 meter ranges. A low-opacity outline is a good middle ground, because it adds contrast without making the crosshair feel too bulky. You can also turn on the “adaptive reticle” option if you want the crosshair to change color slightly when it’s over an enemy, though a lot of players find that distracting more than helpful.
If you main snipers or long-range marksman weapons like the Kraber or G7 Scout, go for a very thin crosshair with a small, bright center dot. You don’t need thick lines for long-range fights, because you’re mostly lining up headshots with the center of the reticle. Many sniper mains even turn off the crosshair lines entirely and just use a center dot, but that takes some getting used to if you’re used to a standard crosshair setup.
Common Crosshair Mistakes to Avoid in Apex Legends
Even if you follow all the best practice tips, it’s easy to make small mistakes that make your crosshair work against you instead of helping you land shots. These are the most common mistakes I see new (and even some veteran) players make all the time.
The biggest mistake by far is copying pro player settings blindly. Just because a top Predator pro uses a tiny, almost invisible crosshair on their 240hz 1440p monitor doesn’t mean that setup will work for you on a 60hz 1080p laptop. Always tweak pro settings to match your own hardware and playstyle, don’t just copy them exactly because you think it will make you play better. I’ve had friends copy pro settings and then complain they can’t see their crosshair mid-fight, which defeats the entire purpose of a custom setup.
Another common mistake is changing your crosshair settings every time you have a bad game. Muscle memory takes time to build, and if you’re swapping your crosshair every other day, you’ll never get consistent aim. I recommend sticking to one crosshair setup for at least two weeks before you make any major changes. If you’re missing shots, it’s almost always your aim that needs practice, not your crosshair settings. Small tweaks are fine, but completely changing the size or color every few days will set back your progress.
Don’t make your crosshair too big, either. It’s tempting to make a giant, bright crosshair so you can always see it, but a crosshair that’s too big will block your view of small targets, especially at long range. I once used a crosshair so thick that it completely covered a Wraith player’s head when she was 100 meters away, and I missed an easy Kraber shot because I couldn’t see where I was aiming. If your crosshair covers more than 1% of your screen, it’s probably too big.
The last mistake to avoid is forgetting to adjust your crosshair if you use color blind filters. If you have protanopia or deuteranopia, the colors that look bright to other players might look washed out or almost invisible to you. Most players with red-green color blindness find that yellow or bright blue crosshairs work best, but test a few different colors in the Firing Range to see what pops for you.
At the end of the day, the answer to can you change your crosshair in Apex Legends is a definite yes, and it’s one of the easiest low-effort tweaks you can make to improve your gameplay. You don’t need to copy the most popular pro setup or spend hours overthinking every small adjustment. The best crosshair is the one that you don’t have to think about when you’re in a fight, the one that feels natural and lets you focus on landing shots instead of searching for your reticle on the screen. Spend 10 minutes testing a few different setups in the Firing Range this week, and you’ll probably notice a big difference in your aim consistency in your next few matches.