The Apex Legends Battle Pass is about to go live, as Season 1 launches on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Fans are counting down to the start of the Wild Frontier, which has a March 19 release date and a 5pm GMT launch time if you live in the UK.
Similar to Fortnite, fans can buy two different Season 1 Battle Pass bundles.
The standard Battle Pass costs 950 in-game coins, which works out at about £8 (It’s £7.99 for 1,000 coins on PSN).
Alternatively, you could opt for the Battle Pass Bundle, which reduces the grind by skipping you ahead 25 levels. This has a price tag of 2,800 in-game coins.
You can purchase coins through the in-game store, or by visiting the PlayStation and Xbox Store.
The Battle Pass itself can also be picked up in-game. Just visit the Battle Pass section in the Apex Legends menu.
Clearly influenced by Fortnite, the Battle Pass is made up of 100 tiers. Gain enough XP and you’ll move up a tier and earn a fresh reward.
“The more you play, the more you get,” EA explains. “Grab the Wild Frontier Battle Pass and jump into the arena, where every level you gain levels up your Battle Pass and unlocks exclusive rewards.”
While the full list of rewards is yet to be revealed, Respawn has unveiled some of the first wave of Battle Pass bonuses.
Purchasing the Battle Pass instantly unlocks new skins for Wraith, Lifeline and Mirage. You can take a look at the new skins below.
More skins will be available as rewards throughout the season, alongside weapon cosmetics, loot boxes and 1,000 coins that can be spent on the next Battle Pass.
According to Respawn, one of the rewards is a three-stage evolving Legendary Havoc weapon skin.
These rewards won’t be available to unlock after Season 1 ends in June, and your Battle Pass progress won’t carry over into the next season.
And even if you don’t purchase the Battle Pass, you’ll still unlock a few rewards just by playing.
Anybody who plays while Season 1 is in full swing will receive a Wild Frontier Legend skin, five Apex Packs and 18 Wild Frontier stat trackers.
The launch of Season 1 also coincides with the release of a new hero named Octane.
Octavio “Octane” Silva is a speedy character who’s said to be searching for the “ultimate adrenaline rush”.
“His Adrenaline Junkie ability lets him trade health for speed, and an endless supply of Stim health regeneration means he’s always ready for action,” Respawn explains.
“His Launch Pad Ultimate Ability lets his squad fly through the air with the greatest of ease.”
It looks like Octane will be available to purchase separate from the Battle Pass, although Express Online has contacted EA for confirmation.
Unfortunately, however, despite the similarities with Fortnite, Season 1 of Apex Legends seemingly won’t feature any weekly challenges.
“Our first Battle Pass is all about letting you continue to learn and experiment with the core Apex Legends experience while earning awesome loot at the same time,” Respawn explains.
“You’ll notice the first version isn’t built around a complex quest system where you need to do a 720 backflip off of Watchtower Artemis and get two Wingman headshots before hitting the ground.
“While we think there’s really cool design space in quests and challenges for future Battle Passes, we wanted the initial version to allow our players to just play and learn the game.”
Instead, Respawn has added a progression system that’s tied to playing as a variety of different characters.
Hopefully this will change for the next season, because we enjoy the weekly challenges in Fortnite.