If you’ve ever stared at the Apex Legends character select screen, mourning the fact you can’t unlock that new meta legend everyone’s spamming in ranked, you’ve probably asked how do you get legend tokens in Apex Legends without dropping extra cash on Apex Coins. I’ve been there too — I spent my first three months of playing hoarding Apex Coins for battle passes, and had no clue there were low-effort ways to stack legend tokens faster until a random teammate clued me in during a late-night ranked win. These tokens are one of the only completely free in-game currencies you can earn, no microtransactions required, so learning to farm them efficiently saves you a ton of real money long term.
Primary Methods for How Do You Get Legend Tokens in Apex Legends
The baseline way to earn these tokens is super straightforward, even if you don’t play often. Every time you earn XP to level up your account, you get 600 legend tokens per level up, no exceptions, no battle pass required. That’s the core loop, but there are a few other guaranteed ways to earn extra tokens without extra grind if you know where to look.
You don’t just get them from level ups, right? I’ve gotten random token drops after completing event challenges too, and that’s no accident. The other consistent method is through account level up milestone rewards — every 10 levels, you get a bonus chunk of tokens on top of the regular 600, usually around 1,200 extra for milestones under level 100, and even more for higher level milestones.
There are also limited-time ways to earn tokens that pop up every few months, including:
- Special event challenge rewards, both free and paid track rewards (you don’t need to buy the event pass to get free token rewards)
- Login bonuses during anniversary and holiday events, which often include 500 to 2,000 tokens for logging in 3+ days in a row
- Compensation rewards for server outages, bugged challenges, or other game issues that Respawn rolls out to all players
These limited drops add up way faster than you think. I got 3,000 tokens last year just from anniversary login rewards and a server outage compensation package, no extra playtime required.
Pro Tips to Speed Up Your Legend Token Grind
If you’re trying to unlock a new legend right as they drop, you don’t have to grind 12 hours a day to hit the level you need. There are small tweaks you can make to your play sessions that boost your XP gain, which directly boosts how many tokens you earn per hour played.
First, always play with at least one squadmate if you can. You get a 10% XP boost for playing with one friend, and a 15% boost for playing with a full three-person squad, and that boost applies to all XP you earn during the match, not just match placement XP. Even if you’re playing with a random friend who’s worse than you, that extra XP adds up to an extra level up every 5 or 6 matches, which is 600 extra tokens for almost no extra effort.
Another easy trick is to prioritize completing daily and weekly challenges, even if they’re for legends you don’t main. Each daily challenge gives 3,000 XP minimum, and weekly challenges give 9,000 to 25,000 XP each, which is enough to level up multiple times a week just from checking off challenges. I usually knock out all my daily challenges in my first two matches of the day, and that gives me enough XP to get at least half a level right off the bat, even if I finish in 10th place both times.
You should also stick around for the full match even if you get knocked early. Leaving before the match ends cuts your match XP by 50%, which is a huge waste if you’ve already spent 10 minutes in the game. Even if you’re just spectating your squad, you get full XP for the match’s final placement and any challenges you completed during your time alive. That's one of the most overlooked tricks for fast XP gains, and it doesn’t require any extra work from you.
Common Mistakes That Waste Your Legend Token Earning Potential
Most players don’t realize they’re leaving thousands of tokens on the table every month from small, easy to fix mistakes. The biggest one I see all the time is ignoring limited-time event challenges that give token rewards. A lot of players skip event challenges if they don’t care about the cosmetic skins, but most event free tracks have at least 3,000 to 5,000 tokens hidden in the first 10 tiers, which you can unlock with just a few hours of play.
Another huge mistake is spending your legend tokens on stupid, low-value items before you have all the legends you want. I see new players waste 1,000 tokens on stat track resets or banner frame recolors all the time, and then they have to grind for weeks to get enough tokens to unlock a new legend when it drops. Unless you have every single legend unlocked and thousands of extra tokens sitting around, there’s no reason to waste tokens on these low-value cosmetic items.
You also want to avoid playing in low-XP game modes if you’re grinding for tokens. For example, the firing range gives you zero XP, no matter how long you spend practicing there, and limited-time modes like Team Deathmatch give way less XP per minute than Battle Royale or Ranked modes. If you’re trying to grind tokens fast, stick to Battle Royale or Ranked matches, which give the highest XP per hour of play.
One other mistake I’ve made myself is letting daily challenges expire. Each daily challenge resets every 24 hours, so if you miss one, you’re throwing away 3,000+ free XP for no reason. I set a small reminder on my phone to log in for 10 minutes each day if I’m too busy to play a full match, just to knock out the easy daily challenges like “deal 200 damage with shotguns” or “revive one teammate”.
Smart Ways to Spend Your Legend Tokens Once You’ve Earned Them
Once you’ve stacked up a good amount of tokens, you want to make sure you’re spending them on the highest value items first, so you don’t have to grind extra later for things you actually need. The first priority for every player should be unlocking new legends, since each new legend costs 12,000 tokens, and they give you way more flexibility in ranked and casual play than any cosmetic item ever could.
If you already have every legend unlocked, the next best use for tokens is buying exclusive legendary skin recolors that are only available for legend tokens. These recolors usually pop up in the store for a week at a time, cost 10,500 tokens each, and are never sold for Apex Coins, so they’re one of the only ways to get unique skins without spending real money. I’ve bought three of these recolors so far, and they’re way more worth it than stat resets or random banner items.
You can also use tokens to buy crafting metals in limited-time offers, but that’s only a good deal if you already have extra tokens sitting around and you’re saving up for a specific heirloom or mythic skin. Most of the time, these offers are only available during big events, so keep an eye on the store tab if you’re low on crafting metals.
Wait, one thing to note: you can’t trade legend tokens with other players, and you can’t convert them to Apex Coins, so don’t fall for any scams that promise to let you swap tokens for other currencies or skins. All token spending has to be done through the official in-game store, and any third-party offers are fake. I’ve seen multiple players get their accounts banned for trying to buy tokens from third-party sites, so it’s not worth the risk at all.
At the end of the day, figuring out how do you get legend tokens in Apex Legends doesn’t have to be a complicated, time-consuming grind. The core loop is simple: play the game, complete challenges, play with friends to boost your XP, and avoid wasting tokens on low-value items you don’t need. I’ve unlocked every single legend in the game without spending a single cent on Apex Coins, just by following these simple tips, and you can too. Next time you log in, take two minutes to check your daily challenges and any active event rewards, and you’ll be stacking tokens faster than you know.