Whether you’re a longtime Quake fan, a top-ranked pro player, an eager amateur ready to make your mark – or someone who simply wants to enjoy a few intense rounds with friends in this lightning quick FPS – Quake Champions is designed to be a competitive shooter that anyone can play. This philosophy isn’t just baked into the game’s design, but also into the array of options available to anyone who wants to jump into the game.
With Early Access for Quake Champions launching next week, we thought this would be a good time to explain the ways you can get the Champions you want and pile up awesome customizations, so that you can jump in and frag in style.
THE CHAMPIONS PACK
The best way to start off with Quake Champions is to purchase the Champions Pack on Steam or via the Bethesda.net launcher.
The Champions Pack gives you everything you need to dominate the Arenas in the way you want to play. Most critically, you immediately unlock all 11 current Champions, including the newest addition to the roster: the mighty DOOM Slayer from id Software’s incredible hit game, DOOM. That’s right, straight from the maw of hell, DOOM Slayer smashes enemies into bloody pulp with his Berserk active ability and Double Jumps to glory with his passive.
But you don’t just get 11 Champions; you’ll also unlock all future Champions that come to the game as soon as they’re available. Forever. Including at least six more that are expected to release before the end of 2018. Your roster will continue to grow, giving you the chance to choose the right Champion for the right opponent.
Also only in the Champions Pack, you’ll find an exclusive skin for Ranger, available only during Early Access and only for Champions Pack players, as well as three Reliquaries, each stuffed with three random customization items for your Champions, weapons, and Player Profile page.
The Champions Pack is available at a special discounted price during Early Access, so there will never be a better time to start Quake Champions. On August 22, you can grab it for only $29.99, that’s 10 bucks off the final price of $39.99.
FREE-TO-PLAY
We said Quake Champions would also be available for free, and that remains true.
While the free-to-play mode won’t be accepting new players during Early Access just yet, those of you who redeemed a key for the Closed Beta have the opportunity to continue playing completely free. Just keep signing in via the Bethesda.net launcher. You can upgrade to the Champions Pack at any time, of course, or buy Champions on the fly, or even try out Champions for 24 hours before you buy them using an in-game resource called Favor (which we will explain below).
Our community of players is our most important asset, so you won’t find yourselves split. Free-to-play players and Champions Pack players will continue to play together on the same servers, on the same maps, in the same modes, and with the same weapons.
ACQUIRING ADDITIONAL CHAMPIONS AS A FREE-TO-PLAY PLAYER
Don’t want to commit to all the Champions upfront? That’s fine. Free-to-Play Players can also purchase new Champions outside of the Champions Pack. (As a note: it will be less expensive to get all of the Champions at once through the Champions Pack.)
The easiest way is to just buy Champions using Platinum, the in-game currency that can be purchased for real money in the store. Champions will be available for you to buy a la carte, so grab some Platinum and then grab your Champions!
Want to try before you buy? As we mentioned above, players can also use Favor – an in-game resource acquired through leveling up and completing in-game challenges – to unlock a Champion for a 24-hour trial. That means you can see how much you like Scalebearer’s Bull Rush or Nyx’s Ghost Walk before you lay down the Platinum to permanently buy them.
There’s also a chance you could get Champion via a rare drop in Chests and Reliquaries (explained below), but that might take a little longer.
BACKPACKS, CHESTS AND RELIQUARIES
So how do you get the awesome loot you need to customize and accessorize your Champions?
In Quake Champions, new items are acquired in two ways. First, through loot boxes, which are earned through playing the game or purchasing in the store, and second, by building specific items with Shards.
These loot boxes contain tons of vanity items – including armor, skins, legendary weapons, profile pictures and banners, and more to make your Champions and Weapons stand out from the crowd.
There are three types of loot boxes:
- Backpacks, which reward one item
- Chests, which reward two high-quality items
- Reliquaries, which reward three high-quality items
Each time you level up, you’ll receive a Chest, except at larger milestones, when you will receive a Reliquary. You can also purchase Reliquaries and Chests using Platinum (for real money), or purchase Backpacks using Favor (earned by playing matches and completing challenges).
So how do you get Shards to build specific vanity items that haven’t dropped in a chest?
- The first time you receive a vanity item you can choose to keep it or deconstruct that item for Shards.
- Many vanity items have additional add-ons, like knee pads, visors, or other upgrades that further customize the piece. You will unlock these add-ons when you receive a duplicate vanity item from a loot box. Add-ons cannot be deconstructed.
- When you have received all add-ons for a vanity item, all future duplicates you receive will be automatically converted to Shards.
Once you have enough Shards, you can spend them to build that specific vanity item that has eluded you in the loot boxes!
Quake Champions is all about creating a fast, fun competitive game that everyone can enjoy, no matter how you choose to jump in, with tons of customization options to make it truly your own.
We look forward to seeing you all in Early Access and hearing your feedback on how to we can continue to make Quake Champions the best competitive shooter in the world.