How does crafting work in Apex Legends Season 6 – Materials, Replicator stations, limited-time items

In advance of Apex Legends Season 6, we laid out some theories on exactly how the new Crafting mechanic will work. As we now know, crafting is a lot like buying equipment from a Buy Station in Call of Duty: Warzone. Here is everything you need to know about the new Crafting mechanic in Apex Legends Season 6.

Crafting basics

Players can now find a new item on the map: large orange canisters containing Materials, the Apex Legends crafting resource. Those a distributed at random in each match, and are generally found near compounds and named locations. Opening loot bins also gives players a small amount of Materials.

With enough Materials in their possession, players can head to another new map feature: the Replicator station. These stations act as mini-shops, allowing players to trade in their Materials for some new loot.

Limited-time items

As you can see in the image above, items available for purchase are marked as Daily, Weekly, Permanent or Weapon Fit. The Replicator always offers a mix of items which are always available, and items which are are different every day and every week. To see what is currently purchasable, open your map screen.

The rotation of Daily items will always contain a matching combination of a weapon and attachment. For their part, the Permanent items are something you could use regardless of your loadout: ammo and health packs.

The most interesting item available to purchase is the Evo Shield upgrade. You can now spend Materials to level up your shields, which until now was something you would exclusively earn in combat.

Why crafting?

Respawn’s reasoning for the new crafting mechanic – and sweeping loot, TTK, and map changes associated with it – is to give Apex players a new way to play. The idea is to reward the more passive and strategic players by making sure they get just as much loot as the more aggressive ones. In theory that’s a great idea

However, Apex Legends is still a squad game by default, and this change will more than likely throw a wrench in team cohesion, which is already artificially complicated by legends like Crypto. If you want to win in Season 6, you better be on the same page as your squad right from the start, otherwise you would find yourself so split up that no amount of crafting will save you.