How to Get Heirloom Shards in Apex Legends

With the recent port on the highly-acclaimed Nintendo Switch, Apex Legend has received another popularity surge to bolster its player base. If you’re a new player, you might be wondering how to get the more elusive skins and other cosmetic items veterans are boasting about within the Apex arenas.

Heirloom items are some of the most exclusive cosmetic pieces in the game, and few players will get the chance to use more than one of these items.

In this article, we’ll guide you through the process of getting heirloom shards to craft some of the rarest cosmetic items in Apex Legends.

How to Get Heirloom Shards in Apex Legends?

The only way to get heirloom shards without a special ongoing promotion is to open them in an Apex Pack. Whenever a player opens a pack they’ve received in any way, there’s a very small (below 1%) chance to open 150 heirloom shards.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much it. Promotions to receive heirloom shards in other ways are few and far between. One such example was the 2nd-anniversary promotion running throughout February 2021, and we can only hope there are more events like those in the future.

Back to opening Apex Packs –  apart from hoping to get heirloom shards with each pack, there’s a hidden pity timer to ensure some sense of gradual progression and reward persistence. The pity timer ensures that every 500^th pack opened will guarantee heirloom shards in addition to the regular rewards. Whenever a player opens heirloom shards in a pack, the pity timer is reset regardless of its current status. This means that even the unluckiest player will get one heirloom item every 500 packs in the least.

Can You Buy Heirloom Shards in Apex Legends?

Again, other than special promotions, there’s no way to get heirlooms directly from the store.

Players can purchase Apex Packs from the game store for 100 Apex Coins each (roughly $1). Spending more money on Apex Coins will give you bonus coins to use, which favors bigger spenders. If you want to purchase an heirloom effectively, you’ll need 500 Apex Packs (minus however many packs you opened so far) to trigger the pity timer. In the worst-case scenario, you’ll need to spend $460 on Apex Coins to guarantee an heirloom (that is if you purchase packs right after opening an heirloom).

‘’The above price was calculated based on current Apex store offers. We used the most efficient payment options to get the player to the required 50,000 Apex Coins required for Apex Packs. Future discounts and other payment methods may change this calculation significantly, and prices may differ in different regions or currencies.’’

How to Get Heirloom Shards for Free?

Just because you don’t have a significant amount of money to spend on the game, it doesn’t mean you can’t get heirloom shards. Players may get heirlooms by opening packs even if they haven’t purchased anything from the store.

Each player can open 199 packs by leveling their Apex account from level 1 to 500. Furthermore, seasonal rewards can give players additional Apex Packs to increase their odds of finding an heirloom.

The seasonal battle pass gives out several Apex Packs for players that spend enough time and finish quests to fill it out. Treasure Packs (found throughout the map in-game) also carry quest rewards with them, which includes Apex Packs.

During season 8 (currently running until May 4^th), free-to-play players can get up to seven Apex Packs from the battle pass and another 15 from the Treasure Pack rewards.

How to Get Heirloom Shards Faster?

Players get levels and progress through the seasonal battle pass by completing quests and achieving certain milestones or doing certain actions while playing the game. The game has an intricate EXP system to guide players through these progressions and a star-based system to award them more levels on their battle pass.

Here are some tips on how to maximize your EXP gain and battle pass progression:

• You get more EXP by surviving for longer in a match. However, you also get EXP for kills (each kill is worth about 17 seconds of survival) and dealing damage (1 EXP per 4 damage dealt). Since you can always queue up for another game, consider trying to get more damage and kills in a shorter time. Spending a lot of time without engaging in gunfights might count against you.
• Squads that earn any of the top 5 spots in the match receive a significant (300) EXP boost. Match winners will receive even more points.
• Killing the champion squad (revealed at the start of each match) or starting the game as one will give a static 500 EXP boost. Winning matches or ranking high significantly increases your odds of being the champion in the next match.
• Being the kill leader at any point in the game will give a small amount of EXP.
• Reviving and respawning allies also grant EXP (for each revive and respawn), although we wouldn’t recommend trying to abuse this EXP gain to get more shards. Downed players don’t contribute as much to a team, and being outnumbered for too long will greatly reduce your odds of reaching the top spots.
• Playing with friends will give you a 5% EXP gain for game time, per friend. More friends equal more EXP.
• The battle pass uses a star system to level up, and getting EXP will grant you stars over time. However, the battle pass quests will significantly speed up progression.
• Keep an eye out for daily quests. A set of five daily quests will give eight stars, which is 80% of a battle pass level. Daily quests alone can push you through 54% of the battle pass if you do them every day.
• Weekly quests won’t expire until the season ends, so you can stockpile them and complete them on a different week.

If you have some money to spare on the game, we highly recommend purchasing the battle pass if you’re a regular player. Filling the paid portion of the battle pass awards you with additional Apex Packs. Additionally, the battle pass can reimburse you with enough Apex Coins to purchase the next season’s battle pass, effectively making it a one-time long-term investment.

Can You Get Free Heirlooms in Apex Legends?

While the ways to get heirloom shards are quite limited, getting heirloom items outright can be even more challenging. Currently, the only way to get an heirloom directly is to wait for a special promotion in a collection event.

Whenever a new heirloom is announced, it’s usually packaged with the item collection that comes out simultaneously. Purchasing or obtaining all the items in that collection awards the player with that heirloom item for free. Past heirlooms have only had one event where shards could be received this way, and we don’t see that trend changing any time in the future.

Additional FAQ

Where Can I Find the Heirloom Shard in Apex?

If you’ve pulled heirloom shards from an Apex Pack, you might be wondering how to cash them in for the actual item. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Open the “Store” tab on the top.

2. Select “Heirlooms” on the second level of tabs.

3. The game displays your currently available heirloom shards (you need 150 shards per item).

4. You can see the models of all melee heirloom weapons available for purchase with heirloom shards.

Heirlooms include the associated melee weapon you can see in the store, a banner pose, and an introduction voice line (quip) for the legend to play. The weapon is equipped automatically upon unlocking, but the other two need to be equipped through the “Loadout” menu.

Can You Get Heirloom Shards in Apex Packs?

Yes, you can. In fact, Apex Packs are almost the only way to obtain heirloom shards. Each pack can contain a variety of loot, and heirloom shards are pretty low on the list (with less than 1% chance).

The pity timer ensures that a player receives one set of heirloom shards for every 500 Apex Packs they open.

How Many Heirloom Shards Do You Get?

Every time you receive heirloom shards through an event (such as opening a lucky pack), you’ll get 150 shards. This is enough for exactly one heirloom.

The prices and reward amounts don’t change as new heirlooms are introduced into the game. We’re not quite sure why Respawn Entertainment chose this number.

Shine With an Heirloom in Apex Legends

While obtaining an heirloom won’t improve your skill in playing the actual game, they’re pretty to look at and one of the most elusive items in the game. Heirloom shards can be tricky to obtain, but we have shown you some of our top tips! Hopefully, you’ll get them from an Apex Pack you open soon.

What is your favorite Apex Legends heirloom? Let us know in the comment section below.