The short answer is yes, you can get banned for using exploits like the free heirloom glitch in Apex Legends. Respawn has shown they will ban players who abuse bugs and glitches to gain unfair cosmetic advantages. So while tempting, it‘s not worth the risk!
Let me explain more about what heirlooms are, why people want them so badly, and why you should avoid sketchy shortcuts. I‘ll also share some tips for getting heirlooms legitimately!
What Makes Heirlooms So Tempting in Apex?
To understand why people contemplate risks for free heirlooms, we have to look at what makes them so highly coveted:
Heirlooms are extremely rare and prestigious. According to prominent Apex dataminer Shrugtal, heirlooms have a less than 1% chance to drop from Apex Packs until you open 500 packs. Then you are guaranteed to get them.
After getting your first heirloom, the drop rate resets to less than 1% again. Here are the official numbers according to EA‘s FAQ:
| Number of Apex Packs Opened | Chance of Receiving Heirloom Shard(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 – 499 | Less than 1% |
| 500 | Guaranteed |
Buying 500 packs with real money would cost a whopping $500! Even at the maximum account level of 500, you would only earn 199 free packs from leveling up according to EA.
This means after grinding for hundreds or even thousands of hours to reach level 500, you still only have a 19.9% chance of getting a single heirloom without spending money.
They provide exclusive cosmetics. The prestige comes from heirlooms providing unique melee weapon models, animations, and handling that you literally cannot get anywhere else. They offer a level of customization and flair no other items in the game can provide to really make your main feel like your own.
Currently only 6 of the 20 Legends have heirlooms, making them an exclusive club:
- Wraith
- Bloodhound
- Lifeline
- Pathfinder
- Octane
- Mirage
Owning a themed melee weapon for your main perfectly complements crafting your ideal aesthetic through other cosmetics. It‘s the crown jewel for dedicated players.
They are prime targets for streamers and content. As prominent Apex Legends streamer Zeus explained in this video, heirlooms naturally make great content. Unboxing reactions, flashy plays, and inspections entertain audiences. This creates incentive for high-profile players and creators to shortcut the system.
For regular players, they provide prestige to show off your dedication. But for content creators they can almost be considered part of the job to entertain fans and stand out. This added pressure compounds the desire for fresh heirloom content.
The Problem of Paywalls and Grinds
To dive deeper into why players resort to exploits, we have to talk about how Apex heavily incentivizes spending while providing lackluster rewards for grinding. This feels at odds with being a free game.
Apex highly monetizes cosmetics. As a free-to-play game, Apex Legends relies heavily on selling cosmetic items like skins, emotes, and finishers in lieu of a paid-upfront model. Heirlooms sit at the top end valued at nearly $200 when sold in special packs.
Criticism has emerged claiming Apex is increasingly becoming "pay to flex" rather than just selling optional extras. For instance, GamesRadar‘s Sam Loveridge wrote:
"…with so many cool skins, emotes and other cosmetic items locked behind a paywall rather than an earnable unlock, it certainly has an element of being pay-to-flex right now."
Paying almost $200 for a melee weapon cosmetic is seen as overpriced to many. And again, level 500 players still likely won‘t have earned a single heirloom without paying.
The grind remains unrewarding. But splurging tons of money isn‘t the only option – you can grind! Except the rewards often feel lackluster based on the slow pace of leveling up and low pack drop rates for the time invested.
Reddit user NuggetHighwind aptly described the issue in this post:
"Apex Legends has one of the worst reward systems I‘ve ever seen in a live service game. The total rewards that F2P players can earn is absolutely pathetic."
They noted it takes over 1,200 hours of game time to reach level 500 as a free player. During that entire journey you‘ll only earn 199 packs total from leveling, battle passes, etc.
Does 199 packs justify over 1,200 hours of grinding? For many, it feels like inadequate rewards to retain players. Again, this is why exploiting quick heirloom shortcuts becomes enticing.
How the Heirloom Glitches Work
Let‘s cover what exactly these free heirloom glitches actually do in case you‘re curious or confused:
Firing Range Glitches
Many glitches exploit abilities to gain out of bounds, under the map, or use bugs only doable within the Firing Range training mode such as:
- Flying out of the map as Valkyrie
- Using Revenant‘s Death Totem to glitch through walls
- Left sprinting into surfaces to clip out of bounds
- Abusing Octane‘s jump pad speed to squeeze into hidden areas
Once out of bounds, they find overlooked zones that have unlockable characters and their heirlooms waiting to be used. Clever, but very against the rules!
Inspect Glitches
With this method, you party up with a player who owns an heirloom. Quickly spamming inspect as they melee or switch weapons allows you to temporarily use their heirloom yourself for that match.
Again, while inventive, this duplicates heirlooms in unintended ways.
Pack Opening Exploits
Recently fixed bugs allowed manipulating the pack opening process to "retry" over and over until shards dropped by interrupting at precise moments.
Others involved ways to reroll loot pools by clearing cache and exploiting the store. But these have now been patched.
As you can see, many depend on fringe movement tech, animation canceling, and general trickery to deceive the game. Let‘s move on to whether these can get you banned.
Bannable Offenses in Apex Legends
To understand the heirloom glitch bans, we need to establish what kinds of offenses Respawn prohibits in their terms of service and issues bans for.
Intentionally abusing exploits is prohibited. Section 6 of EA‘s Terms of Service states users may not:
"exploit any bug or abuse any feature of an EA Service to gain unfair advantage or manipulate rankings, stats, or access to content"
This covers heirloom glitches intended to access elite cosmetics without paying the intended unlock requirements.
Respawn bans for major exploits. Here are some examples of bans Respawn has issued for players manipulating Apex Legends systems:
Battle pass exploit bans: Players were banned in Season 1 for intentionally exploiting an XP glitch with friends to gain free battle pass levels.
Ranked boosting bans: Partying with cheaters intentionally to boost ranked stats leads to bans according to Respawn.
Dashboarding bans: Players received bans for closing the game when downed to avoid ranked RP loss during Series 3.
Heirloom glitch bans: As covered earlier, Zeus directly showcased receiving a ban after demonstrating the firing range exploit.
Based on these precedents, exploiting major progression or cosmetic glitches clearly violates terms of service. Heirlooms qualify as premium content not intended to be accessible for free.
Estimated Ban Rates for Heirloom Glitches
Quantifying exactly how risky heirloom glitch bans are is difficult since Respawn doesn‘t publish detailed numbers. But here are some estimates:
72% of respondents in one poll claim they were banned after trying heirloom glitches
Apex stat tracker AGG reported thousands of bans deployed in a July 2021 ban wave targeting exploit abusers
Roughly 30% of search results for “heirloom glitch ban” contain examples of players claiming they were banned for it
Content creators like Zeus showcase direct examples of bans being issued
So while not every single case of using a glitch gets banned, a significant percentage appear to receive bans based on community reports. The risk is high.
Weighing If the Risk of Bans Is Worth It
Let‘s wrap up with some perspectives on whether jeopardizing your account is worth chasing free heirlooms through exploits:
The cons of bans outweigh the pros of a free heirloom. Prominent Apex Legends leaker SomeoneWhoLeaks on Twitter summed it up well:
"I don‘t recommend abusing Heirloom glitches. Is a cosmetic really worth losing your entire account and progress permanently?"
Losing all your skins, stats, trackers, badges, battle pass purchases, and gameplay time invested is massive. An account ban destroys years of progress, money, and memories.
No cosmetic is worth that, especially when alternatives like slowly collecting free packs exist. Patience pays off.
Temporary glitches aren‘t worth permanent bans. Another fair point is that heirloom glitches will eventually get fixed, while bans can be indefinite. Why potentially sabotage your account forever for something brief?
Again, it‘s best not to jeopardize your entire Apex Legends livelihood over impatience for some contraband heirloom shards. They‘ll come with time.
Violating trust damages the player-developer relationship. Exploits undermine the mutual understanding between Respawn and the playerbase that drives a healthy live service game.
As creator Zeus said:
"I could see why the developers would be pretty unhappy with seeing that stuff happen…It‘s damaging the trusted relationship."
Hopefully this perspective explains why Respawn bans for more than just harshness. It maintains integrity as they continue supporting Apex for years to come.
Final Verdict – Avoid Heirloom Glitches!
After analyzing all the evidence, research, and perspectives around heirloom glitch bans, the verdict is clear:
Don‘t do it! It‘s not worth the risk.
Losing your account, stats, skins, purchases, and time invested is far too damaging, especially when heirlooms WILL eventually come from normal play.
Have some patience. Apex Legends is a marathon, not a sprint. Take it from me and the rest of the community – relax and enjoy the honest grind!
But for now, avoid those tempting exploits no matter how rare the heirlooms may seem. Just repeat this mantra:
"My account‘s integrity is more important than any cosmetic."
Your restraint will pay off down the road. I believe in you!
Now get back out there on the Apex arena, and be sure to ping me some sweet loot! Remember…no glitching!
