Apex Legends is completely free-to-play and comes with an optional cosmetic cash shop containing a whole bunch of skins for the Legends and weapons. There are a few different ways to get skins in Apex Legends and we’re going to tell you all of them.
We’ll start with the free options for getting skins, although the free route takes longer than opening up your wallet and spending some hard-earned cash.
If you’d like some helpful Apex Legends advice then make sure you take a look at the best Legends to pick and the best weapons to pick up.
How to get free skins in Apex Legends
Unlock Apex packs from levelling up your account
The most obvious way to get skins in Apex Legends is simply by playing the game.
As you level up you will be awarded Apex Packs which contain various skins and goodies for your account. Between levels 1 and 100 you can earn a total of 45 packs, but after you reach level 100 you won’t be able to get any more just from levelling and playing the game.
This is currently a fairly hot point of contention with the community which will only become more intense as more people start to reach level 100 and discover the issue. With the battle-pass coming out in a couple of weeks that may solve the problem in some way, but that remains to be seen.
Crafting skins from Crafting Metals
Crafting Metals allow you to obtain any skin you like as long as you have enough metals to ‘pay’ for it. The higher the rarity of the skin, the more crafting metals you will need to create it.
Getting these crafting metals is, unfortunately, rather tricky business. You’ll find them from Apex Packs that you can either purchase or get by levelling up your account, as we mentioned earlier. These materials are pretty rare in packs though, so if you do get a few make sure you spend them on the skin you really like.
Get free Apex Legends skins with Twitch Prime
If you’ve got access to Twitch Prime account then you can link your Twitch account to your EA profile to receive five free Apex packs and an exclusive Twitch Pathfinder skin.
If you like the sound of that, follow these steps to link your account:
- Log into your Twitch account and click the crown in the top right corner
- Select the option to claim rewards for Apex Legends
- You will then be prompted to log into your EA Account to claim your rewards
Once you have done this your packs and your Twitch Pathfinder skin will be waiting for you in-game.
Get exclusive Apex Legends items with PlayStation Plus
If you have an active PlayStation Plus subscription you can claim the ‘ Play Pack’. You can download this from the PlayStation store at no extra cost and you’ll have access to the contents until your PlayStation Plus membership ends.
The Apex Legends Play Pack will grant you:
- 2 exclusive PlayStation-themed weapon skins for the Flatline & RE45
- 1 exclusive character skin for Gibraltar and Bloodhound
- 1 banner for Gibraltar and Bloodhound
How to get the Apex Legends Twitch Prime rewards for free
It is currently possible to get the Twitch Prime Pathfinder skin and five free packs without actually having Twitch Prime. This is certainly not intended by EA and could potentially end with some repercussions. There is, of course, nothing involved that breaks the terms of service and it’s probably something the development team created originally to test the feature and forgot to turn off:
- Open up the Origin Launcher
- Head to the Game Library and right-click on Apex Legends
- Select Game Properties from the list of options
- Select the Advanced Launch Options tab
- And then enter “+twitch_prime_linked 1” into the field at the bottom and hit save.
Once again, this was almost certainly not intended by Respawn, the developers of Apex Legends. So while this is a good way to get a couple of free packs, complete this step at your own risk.
Purchase Apex Coins or a Starter/Founders Pack
The most reliable way to get skins in Apex Legends is to simply purchase Apex Coins from the Origin store and then spend them on Apex Packs. This is certainly not going to be the cheapest method, but it is a way to unlock several skins very quickly if you’re willing to part with your money.
The Apex Legends Starter Pack is a good way to get things rolling, costing £3.99/$4.99 and granting you:
- 600 Apex Coins
- Exclusive Animated Blue Fade RE45 Weapon Skin
- Exclusive Feeding Frenzy Badge
The Apex Legends Founders Pack gets you some more bang for your buck, if you wish to part with £24.99/$29.99 you will receive:
- 2000 Apex Coins
- Exclusive Legendary The Notorious One Hemlok Assault Rifle Skin
- 3 Exclusive Roughneck Character Skins for Wraith, Bloodhound and Gibraltar
- 3 Exclusive Banner Frames for Wraith, Bloodhound and Gibraltar
- 1 Exclusive Founders Badge