Apex Legends solos mode goes live along with expensive new skins and a new currency

Apex Legends' Iron Crown Collection event is now live in a new update, bringing with it a new, temporary solos mode and at least seven stylish character skins that mix medieval armor, post-apocalyptic looks, pirate apparel, and other themes. 

The Iron Crown Collection is bigger, much more expensive, and more complicated than I expected. It adds a whole separate unlock system for 24 time-limited legendary and epic items—a mixture of character skins, gun skins, and other cosmetics. It also adds a separate seasonal currency, Crowns, for unlocking separate items in the Iron Crown Event Shop. You earn Crowns by completing special Iron Crown challenges (separate and concurrent with Season 2 challenges). 

VIDEO: I open an Iron Crown pack, plus a look at the Iron Crown Collection page in-game.

You can get up to two Iron Crown packs by completing the tasks "Complete 20 Daily Challenges" and "Deal 25,000 damage," but mostly they can be purchased with Apex Coins. The major difference is that Iron Crown packs cost 700 coins, not 100. Like normal packs, Iron Crown packs contain three things, but two of those items are guaranteed to be Crowns, meaning they essentially only contain one item.

A special Heirloom item, the second such high-tier item in the game, Bloodhound's "Raven's Bite," can only be purchased for 3500 Apex Coins, effectively $35. You can only buy Bloodhound's axe after you unlock the 24 other items in the set.

As explained in the full event details that are viewable in-game, unspent Crowns will be converted into an equivalent amount of Apex crafting metals after the event ends.

Some of the Iron Crown Collection's skins are Apex's best-looking so far, particularly the new Lifeline, Bloodhound, and Wraith legendaries. But I didn't expect the packs that they sit in to be seven times more expensive than a normal Apex pack, or be so difficult to obtain for free-to-play players. Spending $21 got me a Legendary Wattson skin, an Epic Havoc Skin, an Epic Octane frame, and 90 Crowns. Ouch.

(Image credit: EA)

(Image credit: EA)

In smaller news, Apex's map continues to transform with this incremental update. Legless daredevil Octane has taken over a western edge of the map (it looks like it's south of Airbase) and thrown down an extreme sports playground of sorts, with a fiery ring sitting in the middle of a few ramps and jump pads. This may have been intended as a nod to Apex's recent tournament appearance at the X Games in Minneapolis, which was later cancelled from broadcast on ESPN2. If anyone is lucky enough to fight through a final ring in this spot, please send me your clip.

We also learned that Respawn will be running a bonus XP weekend this Friday through Sunday, August 16-18. Below, I've screenshotted a few of the new skins.

(Image credit: EA)

(Image credit: EA)

(Image credit: EA)
Evan Lahti
Strategic Director

Evan's a hardcore FPS enthusiast who joined PC Gamer in 2008. After an era spent publishing reviews, news, and cover features, he now oversees editorial operations for PC Gamer worldwide, including setting policy, training, and editing stories written by the wider team. His most-played FPSes are CS:GO, Team Fortress 2, Team Fortress Classic, Rainbow Six Siege, and Arma 2. His first multiplayer FPS was Quake 2, played on serial LAN in his uncle's basement, the ideal conditions for instilling a lifelong fondness for fragging. Evan also leads production of the PC Gaming Show, the annual E3 showcase event dedicated to PC gaming.

Latest in Battle Royale
Shohei Ohtani wearing Samurai Shohei outfit in Fortnite
The best baseball player alive is coming to Fortnite, and so is his dog
Fortnite jacked Peter Griffin
Parents are suing Epic over Fortnite item shop 'FOMO' timers they say are inaccurate and manipulative
talk to the joneses fortnite
Epic's war against the Fortnite fraudsters sees it simultaneously name and shame alleged ne'er-do-wells as its high-powered lawyers sue them
Twisted Metal - Sweet Tooth
Apparently the canceled Twisted Metal game would have been a battle royale where you could get out of your car for some reason
talk to the joneses fortnite
Epic will give Fortnite cheaters 'a second chance' with a new, more forgiving ban policy, as long as they didn't do anything too awful or illegal
Fortnite skin for Master Chief from Halo
Don't stress, Epic Games says you can still unlock Fortnite's Xbox-exclusive Master Chief skin
Latest in News
spectre divide
Spectre Divide and its studio are shutting down after just six months: 'The industry is in a tough spot right now'
Naoe looking at the wrist blade in Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubisoft backflips, says Assassin's Creed Shadows will support Steam Deck at launch, but I doubt I'll actually want to play it there
Henry from KCD2 wearing nice outfits
'Diversify your fashion endgame' with this Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mod that gives Henry fly new gambesons, pourpoints, and caftans
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
There's hope yet for Classic Offensive after its Steam rejection: The team behind the Counter-Strike 1.6 revival mod is in touch with Valve about its 'concerns'
Recently appointed Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan.
Here comes Intel's new CEO: a semiconductor veteran that won the same prestigious award as Jensen Huang and Lisa Su
BURBANK, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 15: Protestors attend the SAG-AFTRA Video Game Strike Picket on August 15, 2024 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Lila Seeley/Getty Images)
8 months into their strike, videogame voice actors say the industry's latest proposal is 'filled with alarming loopholes that will leave our members vulnerable to AI abuse'