For a new player, loot in Apex Legends is chaos: colors glow on the ground, weapons have slots you don’t understand, and before you get your bearings, someone is already standing behind you. Yet all you need is a few principles that barely change between seasons: which ammo goes into what, what attachments actually add, and why some weapons never show up on the floor at all.
Weapon and ammo categories
Weapons are split into assault rifles, SMGs, LMGs, marksman weapons, sniper rifles, shotguns and pistols. The category hints at range, but what really matters is what ammo the weapon uses. Without it, even a great gun is a paperweight. The ammo types you pick up are light, heavy, shotgun shells and sniper ammo, and the game highlights on the ground whatever fits the weapons you’re currently carrying.
Since Season 30, energy weapons are the exception: you no longer pick up ammo for them. They have their own reserve that recharges on its own when you don’t use the weapon for a while, roughly one magazine every 18 seconds. That means you can take them even where you find nothing else, and you save inventory slots.
This gives you a simple rule for building a loadout: don’t carry two weapons that use the same ammo, and above all not two for the same range. The classic combo that always works is one for close range and one for mid range.
How to spot good loot
Colors on the ground indicate quality: white, blue and purple, and in the past also gold. This applies to attachments as well as backpacks and helmets.
There are several kinds of attachments: magazines, optics, stocks, barrels, bolts, lasers and hop-ups. Ninety percent of the value comes from two of them: the magazine (more rounds per mag and faster reloads) and an optic that matches the weapon’s range. A stock or a laser isn’t worth standing out in the open for.
Hop-ups are a category of their own. They don’t bump stats by a few percent; they change how the weapon behaves: Turbocharger, Hammerpoint Rounds, Shattercaps and others. Each one only fits specific weapons, so a hop-up without its weapon is a dead slot in your backpack.
Two things work differently. Fully kitted weapons have fixed attachments that can’t be swapped, except for the optic. And Corrupted Attachments, added in Season 30, give a strong bonus in exchange for a drawback: a bigger magazine for slower reloads, better movement for a smaller magazine. A weapon can only have one, so it’s a decision, not an automatic upgrade.
Season 30 also lowered loot quality in regular spots on the map. Purple and gold items drop less often, and vaults, special locations and care packages have become the main source of top-tier gear.
Care package weapons and why they’re different from the rest
Some weapons you’ll never find on the floor, no matter what. They only drop in a care package, a crate that lands during the match at a spot visible in advance, so several squads usually converge on it at once. They’re stronger than regular loot, come fully kitted, and carry their own ammo that can’t be refilled.
The lineup changes between seasons, and it’s one of the main ways Respawn shakes up the meta without rewriting the stats of the whole game. A weapon that was overpowered on the floor disappears into the crate; a weapon nobody was using returns to regular loot. That’s how, in Season 30, the 30-30 Repeater went into the care package and the G7 Scout returned to the floor. The crate’s most permanent resident is the Kraber.
Shields level up from damage, not loot
This confuses players who know the game from its early seasons: you don’t pick up shields from the ground. Your shield is tied to your legend and upgrades with evo, which you earn mainly by dealing damage, plus from evo harvesters and evo caches around the map. The tiers are 50, 75, 100 and 125 shield points.
For weapon choice, the takeaway is clear: a weapon you hit reliably with also levels up your shield. So it pays to carry something you can control rather than the strongest weapon you keep missing with. From the ground you then pick up healing: shield cells and batteries for shields, syringes and med kits for health.
What to grab in the first three minutes
- Any weapon right after landing. Even a Mozambique beats bare hands.
- Ammo for what you’re holding. Two weapons without ammo are worse than one with it.
- Healing. At least two shield cells and two syringes before you care about anything else.
- Backpack and helmet. The backpack adds slots, and the helmet reduces the penalty for taking a headshot.
- Magazine and optic. In that order. Pick up the rest of your attachments on the move, not on the spot.
Only then does it make sense to think about the “ideal” weapon. The first fight is almost never won with better gear, but by being ready for it before your opponent is. How to get into that position is something we cover in our article on your first matches without the frustration.
FAQ
You pick up light, heavy, shotgun shells and sniper ammo. Since Season 30, energy weapons don’t need ammo: they have their own reserve that recharges on its own when you stop firing the weapon for a while.
A weapon that doesn’t drop on the floor and can only be found in a care package. It comes fully kitted, carries its own ammo that can’t be refilled, and the lineup changes every season. In Season 30 the 30-30 Repeater was added to the crate and the G7 Scout returned to regular loot.
The magazine and the optic. A magazine means more rounds per mag and faster reloads, and the optic decides whether you can handle the weapon at your range. Stock, laser and barrel come after that.
Since Season 20 they’re no longer picked up. Your shield is tied to your legend and levels up with evo points, which you earn mainly by dealing damage. From the ground you only pick up healing: shield cells, batteries, syringes and med kits.
Usually not. You run out of ammo faster, and both weapons cover the same range. A close-range and mid-range combination works better.
Details verified as of 6 September 2026. The care package lineup and loot distribution change every season, so expect some shifts after a major patch. Which abilities help you in a fight is covered in our overview of legends and their classes; what the game runs on is in our article on system requirements. The rest of our guides are in the Apex Legends section.