Apex Legends: Here's How Microtransactions & Loot Boxes Work

After a surprise announcement and swift release, Apex Legends is available for anyone to play on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The game is completely F2P — but like any of these games, you can spend real money to unlock new stuff. It’s all optional though, because this is a pretty full-featured game. Right now, you can spend money on (essentially) two different ‘tiers’ of unlocks: customization, and Legends. Don’t worry, you can earn both in-game too.

Here’s how it works. There are three currencies in the game; Scrap Metal, Apex Coins, and Legend Points. You can purchase Apex Coins with real money, while the rest can be earned in-game. With enough Scrap Metal, you can unlock any customization item in the game — and with enough Legend Points, you can purchase new characters, called Legends. There’s a lot you’ll want to know about monetization, so I’m going to break it all down by section.

More Apex Legends guides on Gameranx:

Here’s How Microtransactions & Loot Boxes Work | F2P Guide

First, it’s important to note that all of this is completely optional. The only things you can earn that affect gameplay are the two locked Legends. You’ll start the game with six Legends unlocked.

Apex Coins are premium currency. They can be used to purchase Legends, Apex Packs (Loot Crates), or purchase Featured customization options.
- 1,000 AC = $9.99 USD
- 2,150 AC = $19.99 USD
- 4,350 AC = $39.99 USD
- 6,700 AC = $59.99 USD
- 11,500 AC = $99.99 USD

The store has a “Featured” section where you can be rare / legendary skins for weapons and Legends. The store swaps items every 7 days.

Customization isn’t ALL locked behind the store. You can earn Scrap Metal from Apex Packs (Loot Crates) — go to the [Armory] and select [Unlock] to spend Scrap Metal to purchase literally any customization item. Customization costs more depending on the rarity.
- Common = 30 Scrap
- Rare = 60 Scrap
- Epic = 400 Scrap
- Legendary = 12,000 Scrap

It should take about 15 / 30 hours to earn enough in-game points to unlock the two Legends with in-game currency, without spending any real-world cash. That’s a lot of time. If you don’t want to wait, you can buy them for about $7.50.

Unlockable Legends:
- Caustic (Defense Class) – 12,000 Legend Points / 750 Apex Coins
- Mirage (Attack Class) – 12,000 Legend Points / 750 Apex Coins

Apex Packs are the game’s version of Loot Crates. Loot Crates will never drop duplicate cosmetics — if you have a cosmetic unlocked, you will never get a duplicate. Loot Crates also are guaranteed to drop one Legendary item for every 30 packs you open. That means if you don’t get a Legendary Item after opening 29 Loot Crates, you’re guaranteed to get one when opening #30.

Loot Crates contain 3 items, and drop the following types of cosmetics:
- Legend Skins
- Weapon Skins
- Legend Finishers
- Intro Quips
- Kill Quips
- Banner Frames
- Banner Poses
- Banner Stat Trackers
- Crafting Metal

You’re guaranteed to always get at least 1 Rare item. There’s a 24.8% to drop an Epic, and a 7.4% chance to drop a Legendary. There is only one type of Loot Crate, and you can buy them in bulk, or earn them for leveling up in-game.

1 Apex Crate = 100 AC
10 Apex Crates = 1,000 AC

That’s basically everything you need to know about monetization. There’s a Season Pass incoming with model that’s very similar to Fortnite: Battle Royale, where you’ll be able to earn exclusive cosmetics — but no Legends.

Stick with us, because we’ve got to spend a whole lot of time on this very surprising new game.