Apex Packs are basically random loot crates. You get them for free each time you level up, but you can also just buy them. So, how much do they cost? And what kind of rewards can you expect?
As a free-to-play game, Apex Legends is reliant on cosmetics and microtransactions. That's the tradeoff in the modern era. We can play almost anything we want for free, but we should expect to be charged if we want to look pretty doing it. Fair enough. But unfortunately, you can't just buy exactly what you want from Apex Legend's huge catalog of items, because the store only has about 10 items at once and doesn't rotate daily. No, for the vast majority of items, you need to buy Apex Packs instead.
Here's a complete guide to Apex Packs. What are they? How do you get them? And are they even worth it?
What Are Apex Packs?
Apex Packs are the random loot crates you can earn or buy in Apex Legends. When you open a Pack in the main menu, an animation begins, and you see the color of the Pack you're opening, before it breaks open to reveal three cosmetics you've just "won". The color of the Apex Pack tells you what rarity it is, even before you see the items within. Here are the different types of Packs:
- Blue Apex Pack: Rare
- Purple Apex Pack: Epic
- Gold Apex Pack: Legendary
Obviously, Rare Packs give you less than Epic Packs, and Epic Packs give you less than Legendary Packs. So if you start the animation to "Open Apex Pack" and you see beams of gold light, you can already start celebrating.
These are probably the worst part of the store, as it's effectively gambling, and the vast majority of the time you walk away empty-handed. But you can occasionally win very big, as with the Legendary Packs.
How Do You Get Apex Packs?
You can buy Apex Packs directly, or as part of a store bundle, but you also earn packs for free by levelling up. In bundles, you normally get one or two Packs thrown in with premium items, and when you buy them directly, they cost 100 Apex Coin ($1) per pack. When it comes to earning packs, you earn the following amount depending on your level:
Player Level | Levels required to earn an Apex Pack |
| 1-20 | With every level you earn an Apex Pack. |
| 21-300 | With every 2 levels you earn an Apex Pack |
| 301-500 | With every 5 Levels you ear an Apex Pack |
| 500+ | You can longer earn free Apex Packs for levelling |
It's unbelievable that you can just stop earning Packs, but the game is free-to-play, so we can only be so upset.
What Kind Of Rewards Can You Expect From Apex Packs?
You can theoretically get any reward, even Heirlooms, the most valuable items in the game. But... you're more likely to walk away with a Mirage pose, 15 Crafting Materials, and a tracker for "most reloads" or something lame. Luckily, there's an inbuilt system to make sure that people can only get so unlucky. For every 30 packs you open, you're guaranteed at least one Legendary item. But outside that one guaranteed Legendary item, these are the normal loot probabilities you're playing against:
Note: You will never be given duplicates.
What Are The Chances Of Getting Heirloom Shards?
You have a 1 in 500 chance of getting Heirloom Shards from an Apex Pack. Now, a 0.02% chance obviously sounds hopeless, but you really have to look at Heirlooms and Prestige Skins as the very end-game of cosmetics, so they can't go giving Heirloom Shards too easily. It is unfortunate you can't just buy them, but this way they keep people hooked on Pack opening. It's EA, what did you expect?
If you are lucky enough to get those Heirloom Shards, though, we've recently heard about some new Heirlooms coming soon...