Apex Legends Anime-Themed Gaiden Event Starts Today With Bangalore Prestige Skin

An anime-themed Apex Legends event is officially set to begin today, July 19. Making good on rumors that swirled since an earlier leak, Respawn recently confirmed the Gaiden event, which will bring with it new anime-themed skins and other rewards to earn over the next few weeks.

While Respawn has not categorized it as a Collection Event (one which rewards players with an Heirloom weapon if they collect all 24 premium cosmetics), it does include a Prestige skin for Bangalore. Additionally, after recently debuting in Apex Legends Mobile, the classic shotty-sniper LTM known as Armed and Dangerous will make its return to the console/PC version of Apex. Here's a closer look at all of the unique features coming to Apex Legends when the Gaiden event goes live.

Armed and Dangerous

Apex's first-ever LTM, Armed and Dangerous, will return to the game and remain playable for the entirety of the Gaiden event. This mode clears all weapons from the loot pool with the exception of the Charge Rifle, Kraber, Longbow, Sentinel, EVA-8, Peacekeeper, Mastiff, and Mozambique. Throwable ordnance will remain in the loot pool, but the Triple Take will not be available, as it was reclassified as a marksman weapon in 2021.

Armed and Dangerous is a fantastic way to get some practice in with shotguns and snipers--or just knock out a few of this season's sniper- and shotgun-exclusive battle pass challenges. The returning LTM will be playable on the Olympus, Storm Point, and World's Edge maps starting on July 19.

Flash Events and free rewards

The Gaiden event will have two free Flash Event reward tracks, one for each week of the event. They contain the following rewards:

Week One: July 19 - 26

• An event-exclusive transition screen
• A total of 22 battle pass stars
• Epic-tier Down Thunder Fuse skin
• Bionic Buddy gun charm
• Epic-tier Cloudburst 30-30 Repeater weapon skin

Week Two: July 26 - August 2

• 19 battle pass stars
• 50 Crafting Metals
• 1 Apex Pack
• Okay holospray
• 1 Gaiden Event Pack

Players who complete both reward tracks will gain enough battle pass stars to unlock four battle pass levels.

Gaiden cosmetics and Bangalore's Prestige Skin

The Gaiden event contains Legendary-tier anime-themed skins for Revenant, Mirage, Octane and Wattson. Each skin also has a matching banner frame and complementary firearm counterpart in the form of Legendary-tier weapon skins for the Charge Rifle, EVA-8, Flatline, and Wingman.

Though the Gaiden event is technically not a Collection Event, players will be rewarded with an exclusive cosmetic item for collecting every cosmetic. In this instance, that reward is Bangalore's Apex Commander Prestige skin, a Mythic-tier character cosmetic with an appearance that evolves as players rack up damage and complete challenges while playing as Bangalore.

The Apex Commander skin has three tiers, and unlocking the third and final tier will give players access to a new finisher for Bangalore. Players can equip any tier of a Prestige skin once unlocked, so you can always don a different tier of your choosing if you decide you don't like the third tier's appearance.

While Collection Events require players to collect 24 cosmetics to unlock an Heirloom weapon, players can only obtain Bangalore's Apex Commander skin if they unlock all 40 cosmetics in the Gaiden event. Fortunately, Crafting Metals and Gaiden Packs provide a less pricey option to unlock the event's cosmetics.

But there's good news for players who aren't dead-set on the Prestige skin but have their eye on a specific item, like Octane's One Piece skin, Revenant's Neon Genesis Evangelion skin, Wattson's Naruto skin, or any of the other unique Gaiden event skins. In addition to being craftable via Crafting Metals, all Gaiden event cosmetics will enter the evergreen cosmetics pool once the event ends--meaning that they can be obtained via standard Apex Packs. Similar to previous non-collection events, the cost to unlock Gaiden event items via Crafting Metals will be significantly decreased after two seasons.

Store items

Apex Legends' standard in-game store is also getting a makeover. While the event is live, players can purchase various store bundles each that contain a weapon or character skin from the Gaiden event, along with some Gaiden Event Packs. Several bundles containing Loba and Seer-themed cosmetics that are not from the Gaiden event will also be available.

The Gaiden event will begin on July 19 and end on August 2. For a closer look at what items will be available in the store during the event, check out Respawn's recent blog post, which details all of the new content the Gaiden event is bringing to Apex Legends.

Apex Legends is free to play on console and PC. A mobile version of the game, Apex Legends Mobile, is available for download on Android and iOS devices.