Apex Legends Armor and Gear [Season 11]: Evo Shields and Gold Gear explained

Evo Shields, Helmets, Backpacks, and Knockdown Shields explained

Guide by Ollie Toms Guides Editor

Updated on Oct. 29, 2021

Want to understand more about the different types of Armor and Gear in Apex Legends? Gear such as Evo Shields, Backpacks, Knockdown Shields, and Helmets are some of the most important items you can find in Apex Legends. Each one offers very powerful benefits which can help you stay alive and dish out all sorts of death over the course of a match.

Learn about each different type of Apex Legends Gear in this Armor and Gear guide. We'll also cover the unique effects of each piece of Gold Gear below.

On this page:

Apex Legends Armor and Gear
Apex Legends Starter Kits
Gold Gear: All Legendary Gear effects
Evo Shields
Helmets
Knockdown Shields
Backpacks

Apex Legends Armor and Gear

Armor and Gear is enormously important in Apex Legends. There are four types of gear that you can find in a match:

Evo Shields: provide extra shield HP for your character;
Helmets: reduce incoming headshot damage;
Knockdown Shields: protect you if you're knocked;
Backpacks: increase your inventory size.

You can also find every type of Gear in four different colours or rarities, ranging from common (white) to rare (blue), epic (purple), and finally legendary (gold).

Apex Legends Starter Kits

Since Season 9, all Apex Legends players begin the game with a starter kit containing the following:

A White Evo-Shield.
A White Helmet.
A White Knockdown Shield.
2 Shield Cells.
2 Syringes.

In addition, White Helmets and White Knockdown Shields no longer spawn as floor loot. White Evo-Shields still spawn (for the purposes of armour-swapping), but their frequency is greatly reduced.

Gold Gear: All Legendary Gear effects

Each piece of Gold Gear has a unique and powerful effect found nowhere else in Apex Legends. It's rare that you'll find a piece of Gold Gear (unless you loot it off somebody else), but the rewards are more than worthwhile:

Gold Body Shield: doesn't evolve like ordinary Evo Shields, but while equipped, Syringes and Shield Cells heal 50 instead of 25.
Gold Helmet: Reduces Tactical and Ultimate recharge time by 20%.
Gold Knockdown Shield: Gives you the ability to self-revive once. Reverts to Purple Knockdown Shield once used.
Gold Backpack: Revive squadmates with an extra 50 Health and 50 Shields.

Aside from these benefits, the Gold Gear pieces are all functionally identical to their Purple counterparts.

Apex Legends Evo Shields

Evo Shields provide you with Shields throughout a match. Evo Shields are so named because you can upgrade them over the course of a match by dealing damage to enemies. This includes both enemy players and NPC enemies on Stormpoint, which will evolve your shields at 25% of the normal rate. At certain damage thresholds they'll evolve and give you an extra bar of 25 max shields.

Evo Shields are the only piece of gear that can reach the red "Heirloom" rarity if fully upgraded.

You start with your own "Level 0" Evo Shield at the beginning of a match, which you can upgrade into an Common (white) Evo Shield by dealing 100 damage to enemies. But you can also find Evo Shields of various starting rarities as loot throughout the Apex Legends map, or indeed loot Evo Shields from enemy death boxes.

"Level 0": 0 Shield HP. 100 Damage to upgrade.
Common (white): 50 Shield HP. 150 Damage to upgrade.
Rare (blue): 75 Shield HP. 300 Damage to upgrade.
Epic (purple): 100 Shield HP. 750 Damage to upgrade.
Heirloom (red): 125 Shield HP. Can't evolve.

Apex Legends Helmets

Helmets reduce the damage of incoming headshots by a certain percentage. While not as important as Evo Shields, they can absolutely save your life in battle, particularly against Sniper weaponry.

Common (white): -20% headshot damage taken.
Rare (blue): -40% headshot damage taken.
Epic (purple): -50% headshot damage taken.

Apex Legends Knockdown Shields

Knockdown Shields can be activated once you're knocked, and will provide a directional barrier in front of you while you hold left-click. This barrier will absorb a certain amount of damage before breaking, which can prevent enemies from fully killing you in certain situations.

Common (white): 200 HP barrier.
Rare (blue): 450 HP barrier.
Epic (purple): 750 HP barrier.

Apex Legends Backpacks

Backpacks increase the number of slots in your inventory, allowing you to hold more items such as grenades, consumables, attachments, and more. As such they're probably the most useful piece of Gear in a match except for the Evo Shield.

Common (white): +2 slots (12 total).
Rare (blue): +4 slots (14 total).
Epic (purple): +6 slots (16 total).

And with that, we've covered every single piece of Gear in Apex Legends. Now why not supplement this newfound knowledge by perusing our Apex Legends weapon stats guide?