If you’ve ever pulled a set of heirloom shards for a legend you never play, or want to surprise your main squad mate with their dream Wraith knife for their birthday, you’ve probably asked can you gift heirlooms in Apex Legends. Heirlooms are the rarest cosmetics in the game, with custom animations, voice lines, and a 1 in 500 Apex Pack drop rate, so it makes total sense players want to share these coveted items with people who will actually use them. I’ve been playing Apex since its 2019 launch, and I’ve had three sets of heirloom shards drop over the years, so I’ve dug into every official rule and community workaround to answer this question clearly.
Can You Gift Heirlooms in Apex Legends Directly?
The short official answer from Respawn Entertainment is no, you cannot directly gift heirlooms or heirloom shards to other players right now. All heirloom shards and unlocked heirloom sets are permanently tied to the account they are earned or purchased on, with no option to transfer or trade them to another account. The current in-game gifting system only lets players send specific items from the in-game store, including battle passes, non-limited legendary skins, and Apex Coins, as long as you’ve been friends on your platform for at least two weeks. Heirlooms are excluded from this gifting pool entirely, both as shards and as completed sets earned from collection events. Respawn has stated multiple times that this restriction is in place to cut down on account fraud, item selling, and hacked accounts that steal rare cosmetics from players.
Safe Ways to Help a Friend Unlock an Heirloom
While you can’t send an heirloom you already own to a friend, there are a few legitimate, Respawn-approved ways to help them unlock their own heirloom faster, plus a few low-risk workarounds if you’re comfortable with small risks. Gifting Apex Coins is the only fully Respawn-approved way to help a friend unlock an heirloom faster, since they can use those coins to buy Apex Packs or collection event bundles that reward heirlooms. Here are the most reliable options to consider:
Never share your account login details with anyone you don't know and trust completely, even if they promise a free heirloom or in-game currency. Thousands of players lose their accounts every year to scams that start with a stranger offering to trade or gift an heirloom, so it’s not worth the risk of losing all your progress and cosmetics for a rare item.
Common Heirloom Gifting Misconceptions Debunked
There are a lot of myths floating around Reddit, TikTok, and Discord servers about heirloom gifting, so I want to clear up the most common ones to keep you from wasting time or getting scammed. First, a lot of players claim you can trade heirloom shards with friends through a hidden trade menu, but that’s completely fake. There is no in-game trade system for any rare cosmetics, including heirlooms, in Apex Legends, and Respawn has never announced plans to add one. Second, you might see third-party sites advertising “heirloom accounts” that you can buy and gift to friends, but 90% of these sites are scams that steal your credit card info, and any account you buy from them will almost certainly get banned within a few weeks for violating terms of service. Third, a lot of players spread rumors that heirloom gifting is coming in the next season, but Respawn has repeatedly stated that it’s not a priority right now, since the fraud risk is too high for regular players. I’ve seen hundreds of posts asking for this feature on the official Apex subreddit over the last 5 years, and devs have consistently responded that it’s not on the short-term roadmap.
Tips to Unlock Heirlooms Faster for Yourself or Others
If you’re saving up for an heirloom for yourself, or trying to help a friend get theirs faster, there are a few easy tricks to cut down on the time and money you spend grinding for packs. First, track your pity timer so you know how close you are to a guaranteed heirloom drop. You can check your Apex Pack count in the game's settings under the "data collection" tab to track your pity timer progress, so you don’t waste money on extra packs if you’re only a few away from a guaranteed drop. Second, take advantage of all free Apex Pack rewards available, including Twitch Drops, Prime Gaming bundles, event challenges, and battle pass free tiers. You can earn up to 50 free packs a year just by playing regularly and claiming these rewards, which cuts down the time to hit your pity timer by 10%. Third, if you’re planning to buy an heirloom during a collection event, wait for sales on Apex Coins first, and buy the 24 event items during the event’s first week when bundle discounts are active. You can usually save 20-30% on the total cost of the heirloom if you plan your purchase ahead of time, instead of buying packs randomly.
At the end of the day, the answer to can you gift heirlooms in Apex Legends is no, you can’t send existing heirlooms or shards directly to another player, but there are plenty of safe, allowed ways to help a friend unlock their own heirloom faster. Stick to gifting Apex Coins, teaming up for free pack challenges, or gifting a physical replica if you want to surprise a fellow Apex fan, and avoid any sites or strangers promising to trade or sell heirlooms directly. If Respawn ever changes its policy and adds heirloom gifting in a future update, you’ll be able to find all the details in official patch notes, but for now, focus on earning those packs and enjoying the rare cosmetics you unlock for your own account.