Thanks!I'd say just go with an X pattern, but stopping short a few millimeters from the corners. Or apply a blob and spread it out using a credit card or similar until it covers the entire heat spreader. If you're using a Threadripper or one of Intel's HEDT processors, X pattern with dots in the middle of the quadrants.
At the end of the day, as long as the paste has spread to most parts of the heat spreader, it's fine. You can take off the cooler after mounting it to see how much its spread out and apply a smidge more if necessary.