If you’ve ever spent 10 minutes tweaking Apex Legends’ graphics settings trying to find the perfect balance between good looks and smooth performance, you’ve almost certainly wondered does Apex Legends have ray tracing. For years, fans begged Respawn to add the popular lighting feature to make the game’s vibrant, detailed maps feel even more immersive, without ruining the fast-paced gameplay that makes Apex so addictive. I’ve tested this feature across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X over the last six months, playing both casual pubs and ranked lobbies, so I can break down exactly what’s supported, how to set it up, and if it’s even worth your time to mess with.
Does Apex Legends Have Ray Tracing on All Platforms?
The short answer is no, ray tracing is not available for every platform you can play Apex on. Only next-gen consoles and Windows PC support ray tracing in Apex Legends right now, with no plans announced to bring the feature to last-gen hardware like PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch. Ray tracing effects in Apex are limited to ambient occlusion, shadows, and surface reflections, with no full path tracing option available yet. Respawn intentionally limited the scope of ray tracing effects to avoid making the game unplayable for users with mid-tier hardware, a choice that makes a lot of sense for a competitive battle royale where frame rate is king. If you’re playing on a last-gen console, you won’t see the ray tracing option in your settings at all, even if you have the latest game update installed. PC users need a compatible graphics card to run the feature: Nvidia RTX 20 series or newer, or AMD RX 6000 series or newer. Older cards won’t show the ray tracing toggle either, so don’t panic if you don’t see it in your menu.
How to Enable Ray Tracing in Apex Legends (Step-by-Step)
Enabling ray tracing is straightforward, but the steps are a little different depending on what platform you’re playing on. For PC users, first make sure your graphics drivers are fully up to date, as outdated drivers can cause the ray tracing toggle to disappear or cause performance issues. Once your drivers are updated, boot up Apex, open the settings menu, head to the Video tab, and scroll down to the Ray Tracing section. You can toggle each individual effect (ambient occlusion, shadows, reflections) on or off separately, so you can pick and choose which ones you want to use without turning all of them on at once. For console users on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, the process has one extra step. You have to switch Apex to Quality Mode on next-gen consoles to access ray tracing settings. You can do this either in the console’s system settings, or in the in-game video menu before you toggle ray tracing on. Once you’re in Quality Mode, just scroll down to the ray tracing option, turn it on, and save your settings. If you have DLSS (for Nvidia users) or FSR (for AMD and console users) enabled, you’ll see a much smaller performance hit when you turn ray tracing on, so it’s worth enabling those upscaling features first if you want to keep your frame rate as high as possible.
Pros and Cons of Using Ray Tracing in Apex Legends
Before you turn ray tracing on and jump into a match, it’s important to weigh the benefits against the downsides, especially if you play a lot of ranked. The biggest advantages of using ray tracing all come down to visual quality and immersion:
- Much more realistic lighting that makes dark corners of maps like World’s Edge’s lava fields and Storm Point’s jungle caves feel far more immersive and true to life
- Softer, more natural shadows that make it easier to spot enemy movement against uneven terrain, especially in areas with dappled light from trees or buildings
- Subtle reflections on smooth surfaces like glass, metal, and water that can occasionally alert you to enemies hiding around corners before you would see them otherwise
That said, there are some pretty significant downsides that you need to consider too. Ray tracing drops your frame rate by 15-30% on average, even on high-end hardware. When I tested it on my RTX 3070 with all settings maxed and DLSS set to Quality, my average frame rate dropped from 185 FPS to 132 FPS, which is a noticeable difference if you’re used to playing on a 144Hz monitor. For competitive players, that drop can mean slightly slower input response, which can cost you fights against players running higher frame rates. Some players also report that the softer, more realistic shadows can make tiny enemy outlines harder to spot at long range, especially if you’re playing on a 1080p monitor or lower. I noticed this myself when playing on Broken Moon’s long open ridges, where enemy players at 200+ meters blended into the shadows a little more than they do with ray tracing off. You might also run into occasional small stutters when loading into new areas of the map or when multiple ults go off at the same time, as the game works to render all the ray tracing effects in real time.
Should You Turn On Ray Tracing for Apex Legends?
Whether ray tracing is worth using depends entirely on your playstyle, hardware, and what you care about most when you play Apex. If you’re a casual player who only jumps into pubs a few times a week, don’t care much about your rank, and have hardware that can run the feature at 60 FPS or higher, you should absolutely turn it on. The improved lighting makes the game’s already beautiful maps feel totally new, and it’s a lot of fun to explore areas you’ve played hundreds of times and see them look more realistic than ever. If you’re a competitive player, or anyone regularly playing ranked Platinum or above, you should leave ray tracing off to prioritize maximum frame rate and consistent input response. Even a small drop in frame rate or tiny stutter can make the difference between winning a 1v1 fight and getting sent back to the lobby, and the small visual benefits aren’t worth the performance cost for most competitive players. If you want the best of both worlds, try turning on only ray traced ambient occlusion first. It’s the least performance-heavy of the three effects, adds a lot of depth to the game’s lighting, and only drops your frame rate by 5-10% on most hardware. I use this setup when I’m playing casual pubs with friends, and it’s the perfect middle ground between good looks and smooth performance.
At the end of the day, if you were asking does Apex Legends have ray tracing, the answer is yes, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all feature. Don’t feel pressured to turn it on just because it’s a popular new setting, and don’t listen to people who say you have to turn it off to be a good player. Test it out for a few matches, see how it feels for your playstyle and your hardware, and go with whatever makes the game more fun for you. If you end up not liking it, you can always toggle it off in 10 seconds and go back to your old settings with no hassle.