How To Get The 4K Damage Badge In Apex Legends

Badges are unlockable cosmetics in Apex Legends that competitors can show off on their player banners. These badges typically represent the completion of certain challenges or achievements in the game.

Of the hundreds of badges available to players, a few in particular are the most desired. At the top of that short list, is the 4K Damage Badge. The 4K Damage Badge is awarded to players that deal 4,000 damage in a single match. When displayed on a player banner, this badge is unmistakable. The 4K Damage Badge is represented by a pair of crossed hammers on a vibrant blue background.

Only a select few Apex Legends players have earned this elusive badge. It’s an extremely difficult task and one worthy of respect. But it’s not impossible. In fact, even average players could potentially earn this badge with some planning and the right strategy.

This guide will provide readers with tried and tested strategies for achieving the 4K Damage Badge in Apex Legends.

Drop Hot And Play Aggressive

Achieving a 4K Damage Badge requires a nice mixture of hunting kills and grinding damage. These two may sound interchangeable, but they’re not. It’s possible to get a 20 Kill Badge without achieving 4K damage and vice versa.

The fact of the matter is though, you’ll need to drop hot and play aggressively regardless. No matter what you do the rest of the game, it’ll be hard to rack up 4,000 damage if you don’t start the game off hot.

While in the Drop Ship, take note of where enemy players appear to be heading. Usually, this will be the first point-of-interest (POI) on the Drop Ship’s path or a hot drop like Capital City on World’s Edge.

Once your boots touch the ground, grab a weapon and begin fighting immediately. You should aim to secure at least 1,000 damage in this early stage of the game.

From here, loot up quickly and rotate toward the ring, or even better, toward the sound of gunshots. You’ll need to hunt down fights if you want to earn the evasive 4K Badge. 

Your mid-game and end-game will consist of constant fighting. Apply pressure on enemies whenever possible.

We’ll get into specific strategies shortly, but the general idea is to fight early and often.  

Use Long-Range Weapons To Deal Poke Damage

Long-Range Weapons are the perfect tool for dealing damage without putting yourself in harm’s way. Weapons such as the G7 Scout, Longbow, and Charge Rifle are ideal for what we like to call “poke damage”.

Poke damage is when a player constantly prods at enemies with their gun from a distance. Usually, the poker will have no real incentive to engage in this activity. The enemies are so far away that dealing damage to them is useless. By the time you close in, they will have already healed to full health.

Poke damage does achieve one thing though — it puts us on the path to earning that sweet 4K badge. Sitting back and third-partying a fight with a Charge Rifle can rack up damage quickly. This strategy lets us tally damage without the risk associated with fighting up close and personal. 

Poke damage also has the added benefit of opening up opportunities for inflating your damage numbers. Players hunting the 4K Badge can begin a fight by poking the enemies with long-range weapons. After dealing some minor damage, let the enemy team heal back up. Repeat these steps until you feel it’s time to finish them once and for all. This strategy can allow you to deal multiple team’s worth of damage in one encounter.

Carry Extra Ammo

Players will need to stack up on ammo to counterbalance all the shooting you’ll be doing. When you’re chasing a premium badge like the 4K Damage Badge, time is of the essence. You don’t want to slow down, every second spent looting or crafting is a second you aren’t dealing damage.

Players should consider reserving up to half of their Backpack slots purely for ammo. It’s better to be over-prepared than underprepared. You don’t want to be mid gun-fight and realize you’re out of bullets. This is especially true if you plan to deal a lot of poke damage from afar. If you aren’t securing kills, there will be no death boxes to loot ammo out of.

As an aside, it may be a good idea to grab a couple of grenades if possible. Grenades are powerful tools that can serve well in the quest for 4K damage.

Thirst Downed Players For Extra Damage

When Apex Legends first released, damage dealt to downed players did not count toward the damage tracker. However, this has since been changed. Now, damage dealt to down but not out (DBNO) players applies toward your damage numbers.

Thirsting downed players is a huge part of achieving a 4K Damage Badge. Every downed player you finish is an extra 100 damage. A few thirsts here and there could be the difference between achieving a 4K Badge and not.

While fighting squads, try to thirst the downed enemies before you finish the last player. If you eliminate all three players too quickly, you’ll miss out on the extra damage.

Let Enemies Heal Before Downing Them

We touched on this earlier, but in certain situations, 4K Damage Badge hunters may want to consider letting enemy players heal before downing them.

This sounds counterintuitive, but hear us out. Allowing enemy players to pop an extra Shield Cell or Shield Battery is a way to legitimately farm damage. 

This strategy is best used toward the end of the game, where your chances of getting third-partied are slim. The less skilled the opponents, the better. Depending on your confidence level, you could sit there and farm hundreds of extra damage off the same couple of players.

There is risk involved in this strategy, though. Letting your opponents heal up gives them a new lease on life. Don’t get too comfortable, or the win and your 4K Badge could slip away.

If there are more than a handful of squads left in the match, it’s probably best to just thirst your opponents and move on. Sitting around and letting a team heal back up could give other squads time to sneak in as a third party. 

Cooperate With Teammates

Partying up with players that are willing to assist in your 4K Badge aspirations will make the task far easier. The chances of you successfully coordinating the strategies above with randoms are slim to none.

Cooperative teammates can let you get extra damage in, finish downs, and so on. Random players won’t fully understand what you’re hoping to accomplish and will be constantly stealing your avenues for damage.

Find some teammates that will help you chase your 4K Damage Badge dreams. Together, the journey to 4,000 damage will be far less daunting.

The 4K Damage Badge is one of the hardest feats in not only Apex Legends, but battle royales in general. This badge requires players to secure an enormous amount of damage in one match. But if you can pull it off, you’ll join an exclusive club of players that own this special badge.