Apex Legends has jumped back into the holiday spirit with one of its more popular limited-time modes – Winter Express. This pirate-themed Winter Express event will be available from now until December 21st 2021. So you have until then to snag all the event-exclusive loot!

Even you haven’t played Winter Express before fear not because we’re going to break down the mode for you, the loot you can get and most importantly how to win. So get ready to bring in that holiday cheer mateys, Apex Legends style!

 

All aboard the Winter Express!

Winter Express works similarly to the Arenas mode in Apex Legends. Or a ‘King of the Hill’ type map if that phrase is more familiar to you. Three teams of three are competing to either capture the train by being the only team on it, or by eliminating all enemy players.

In this mode, you will not respawn during rounds. Instead of going down, die instantly when you run out of health. Each team spawns in on their own supply ship above the train and can drop in whenever they choose. The train objective unlocks at a certain point after stopping at its destination. And once a team either captures the train or kills all enemy players, the round ends and they earn a point. If the round goes on too long, the objective moves from the entire train to just the middle car, forcing a firefight.

The train is made up of three cars – the front and back are both enclosed with multiple doors. While the middle car is open air. Making that second objective even more tricky.

In between rounds, losing teams respawn on supply ships while the winning team can respawn on the train. When dead, players can pick a different loadout or change legends. This setup continues until one team wins three rounds.

 

Tips For Surviving The Train

Winter Express mode is an intense close-quarters battle that can push the best Apex Legends players to the limit. You’re not limited to the train, but you need to be on it to capture it. There’s also no loot around the map so there’s no reason for you to leave.

That being said you will have unlimited shield cells and syringes that can be used slightly faster than in the other areas. So go ahead and use them whenever you get the chance!

If you’re in a losing round and die you can use that opportunity to change up your loadout and legend to something that might be work better. That being said legends can’t be revived so if you see a particular legend in the opponent’s team acting too well. Then you can potentially try to hit them hard to remove them from the game.

 

Fuse And Seer Are Good Picks

Seeing this set up you may choose to pick more defensive legends. Which are going to be key to holding down a single train car. But if the objective changes to the middle car, your defences are far less useful. So don’t be afraid to switch legends at this time.

Since Winter Express was available last year, four legends have been added to the game: Fuse, Valkyrie, Seer, and Ash. While nearly every legend has some level of usefulness in Winter Express, Fuse and Seer are especially well-suited for this mode.

Fuse’s Knuckle Cluster Tactical ability places a continuous explosion on a small area, which works great for clearing enemy players out of the train cars, especially the enclosed ones at the front and the back. Fuse’s Ultimate ability creates a ring of fire, which can be used to zone enemies away from the train.

Seer, on the other hand, makes it very easy to know exactly where the enemy squads are and how many of them are left. Seer’s Tactical ability can cover nearly the entire train, both in length and width, revealing enemies on the whole train. His Ultimate ability can be thrown onto the train, revealing enemies in the surrounding area. Seer’s Ultimate ability will even stay on the train as it moves if thrown onto it.

Winter Express’ Loot

Now the reason why we’re all on the Winter Express – the loot. For Christmas, Respawn is gifting us a series of pirate-themed cosmetics.  The event adds 24 paid cosmetics, as well as a few items in a free reward track. The paid items include character skins, gun skins, holosprays, and emotes.

In the free event track, players can earn a full tracker set for both Wattson and Pathfinder. The track also includes the Apex Predator weapon charm, which is a mini-version of Ash’s rat holding a knife. Players can also earn the epic Patch Notes Crypto skin, legendary Power Coil Alternator skin, and legendary Sailors Pride Hemlok skin.

Skins from last year’s System Override event will also reappear in the shop, giving players another chance to grab skins they missed when the event was live. The in-game store will also include bundles with certain event skins and event packs. Fans who collect all of the items will get a special prize.

 

The Wattson Heirloom

Wattson, who joined Apex Legends in season two, is finally getting her own Heirloom Set. Which you’ll obtain after purchasing/crafting all 24 items in the collection. This includes her Energy Reader heirloom, as well as a pun-focused intro quip and cute banner pose for the static defender.