Apex Legends Heirlooms Explained: Heirloom Shards, Crafting Costs and How to Unlock One
Heirlooms are Apex Legends' rarest cosmetics, and the only items that can't be bought outright with real money. Here's exactly how Heirloom Shards work, what crafting one costs, and the fastest legitimate ways to unlock one.
Heirlooms are the rarest cosmetic items in Apex Legends — a melee weapon re-skin, finisher animation and banner pose built around a single Legend's lore. They sit above even Legendary-rarity skins, and Respawn Entertainment has deliberately kept them hard to get since launch. If you've ever wondered why your friend is swinging a glowing scythe while you're still stuck with starter knives, this guide breaks down exactly what an Heirloom is, how Heirloom Shards work, what crafting one actually costs, and the fastest legitimate routes to one.
1. What Is an Heirloom in Apex Legends?
An Heirloom is a Legend-specific melee weapon with a unique model, inspect animation, kill quip and an exclusive execution-style finisher. Only a portion of the roster has one at any given time, and Respawn adds new Heirlooms gradually, usually tied to a Collection Event built around that Legend's backstory. Owning one doesn't change gameplay — melee damage is identical to the default knife — but it's the clearest status symbol in the game precisely because it can't be bought outright with real money.
Every other item in the Apex Legends store, from weapon skins to Legend skins, can eventually be purchased directly with the game's premium currency. Heirlooms are the one exception, and that restriction is the whole reason this system has its own currency.
2. Heirloom Shards: The One Currency You Can't Buy
Heirloom Shards are Apex Legends' most restricted currency. Per EA's official support documentation, Heirloom Shards can only be obtained through Apex Packs — the game's randomized loot containers, which each hold three items drawn from cosmetics or crafting currencies. Shards cannot be purchased directly, gifted, or earned through challenges, Battle Pass tiers or ranked play.
That makes Heirloom Shards fundamentally different from every other currency in the game:
- Apex Coins are bought with real money and can be spent on Apex Packs, Battle Passes, Legends and most store items.
- Crafting Metals drop from Apex Packs and are spent in the in-game Crafting rotation to unlock specific weapon and Legend skins at set rarity costs.
- Legend Tokens are earned simply by playing matches and leveling up, and are mainly used to unlock new Legends.
- Heirloom Shards only ever come from Apex Pack RNG (or a guaranteed Collection Event track, covered below) — there's no grind that reliably produces them outside opening packs.
3. How Much an Heirloom Costs to Craft
Once you have Heirloom Shards, crafting an Heirloom itself is simple: head to the Heirloom section of the in-game store and spend 150 Heirloom Shards on the weapon of your choice, provided that Legend already has an Heirloom released. That price has stayed consistent across the game's cosmetic economy for years and applies the same way whether you're unlocking your first Heirloom or your tenth.
It's worth comparing that to standard Crafting Metal costs, which follow a fixed scale by rarity: Common items cost 30 Crafting Metals, Rare items 60, Epic items 400, and Legendary items 1,200. Heirlooms don't use that Crafting Metal scale at all — they run entirely on the separate 150-shard Heirloom Shard price, which is part of why the drop itself feels so much more significant than pulling a Legendary skin.
4. Why Pack Odds Feel So Low
Heirloom Shards are famous for being a low-probability drop from standard Apex Packs, which is exactly why Respawn has historically treated repeated bad luck as a support issue rather than something players should have to grind indefinitely around. If you've opened a very large number of Apex Packs — several hundred — without ever seeing a single Heirloom Shard, EA Support has in the past been able to step in manually. That's not an automatic in-client counter the way a mobile gacha "pity timer" works; it's a manual safety net, so don't plan around a specific guaranteed number. The practical takeaway is simpler: the only lever you fully control is how many Apex Packs you open, through either gameplay rewards, Battle Pass tiers, or purchasing them with Apex Coins.
5. Collection Events: The Guaranteed Shortcut
The one reliable way around pure RNG is a Collection Event. During these limited-time events, Respawn sells a themed 24-item pack track, and opening all 24 of that event's Collection Event packs has historically guaranteed the event's featured reward — which, during Heirloom-focused events, has meant unlocking that event's new Heirloom directly, without ever touching Heirloom Shard odds. It isn't free: buying out a full 24-pack track costs real money or a large amount of saved Apex Coins, but it trades a low-probability pull for a fixed, guaranteed outcome.
Recent examples of this event format on walkthroughs.net include our breakdown of the Blood Pact event's Beasts vs. Demons wildcard mode and its limited-time skins, which ran on the same Collection Event scaffolding Respawn uses for Heirloom-focused events.
6. Prestige Skins: Heirlooms' Mythic Cousin
Since Respawn introduced the Mythic rarity tier, some Legends have also received Prestige Skins — cosmetics that sit alongside Heirlooms as the game's highest rarity. Unlike a standard skin, a Prestige Skin evolves across three visual tiers as you complete a set of in-game challenges tied to that Legend, culminating in an exclusive finisher at the final tier. Prestige Skins are typically introduced during their own Collection Event and, once that event ends, usually move into the Mythic Store for purchase with Heirloom Shards — the same 150-shard currency used for Heirlooms themselves. In other words, if you're stockpiling Heirloom Shards, they aren't just for melee weapons; they're the universal currency for the entire Mythic tier.
7. Quick Tips and Official Resources
A short recap before you go back to opening packs:
- Heirloom Shards only come from Apex Packs or a Collection Event's guaranteed 24-pack track — there's no other farming method.
- Crafting an Heirloom costs a flat 150 Heirloom Shards once you have enough.
- Standard Crafting Metals follow a separate scale (Common 30, Rare 60, Epic 400, Legendary 1,200) and are not used for Heirlooms.
- Collection Events trade a guaranteed outcome for a higher up-front cost — useful if you want a specific Heirloom or Prestige Skin without relying on luck.
- If you're new to the economy entirely, start with our beginner's guide to Legend classes, currencies and every game mode before chasing cosmetics.
For currency questions beyond what's covered here, EA's official support site maintains a dedicated crafting-and-currency help article, and Respawn posts every Collection Event's exact terms on the official Apex Legends news page when each event goes live. If you're climbing Ranked while you save up Apex Coins for packs, our guide to how Ranked Points, splits and season rewards work covers the other major progression system running alongside the cosmetic economy. You can also browse every other Apex Legends breakdown on walkthroughs.net through our full guides archive.