One of the most important items in Apex Legends is the body shield. It allows players to take up to an additional 125 damage before being knocked down in a fight. The better the rarity of the shield, the more damage it can take. However, instead of the higher rarity shields being only obtainable through looting and luck, players can also improve the shield they currently have through a few different methods. Here's how upgrading your body shield in Apex Legends works.

　　

How to upgrade your body shield

The red, purple, blue, and white Evo ShieldsThere are two ways to upgrade your body shield in Apex Legends, you can either deal damage to enemies or you can spend materials at the Replicator. Damage is translated 1:1 when attacking an enemy legend, so dealing 10 damage to an enemy will get you 10 points closer to upgrading your body shield. Damage also counts when dealt to PvE enemies, like prowlers, spiders, or flyers, but this only offers a fraction of damage dealt as progress–about 4:1. Damage dealt to downed enemies does not count towards upgrading your body shield. As for the Replicator, 50 crafting materials will get you 150 points towards upgrading, but you will have to wait without a shield while the points are applied.

　　Here are all of the shields currently available in battle royale.

　　White Evo Shield: absorbs 50 damage, takes 150 to upgradeBlue Evo Shield: absorbs 75 damage, takes 300 to upgradePurple Evo Shield: absorbs 100 damage, takes 750 to upgradeRed Evo Shield: absorbs 125 damage, is fully upgradedGold Shield: absorbs 100 damage, cannot be upgraded but improves the effectiveness of shield cells and syringesShields of any rarity can be looted around the map, so you can skip a few tiers if you get lucky. You can also take the body shield from a dead opponent and it will retain their progress towards upgrading. All of this only applies to battle royale mode, as Arenas does not use Evo Shields.

　　

Strategies for upgrading your body shield

Damage dealt to enemy legends is translated to shield upgrade progress 1:1There are a few ways to ensure you are upgrading your body shield quickly and efficiently, which can ensure you're rocking the best possible shield in the late-game. One of the best ways to ensure a strong start is to get at least a blue shield at your starting location. This can be achieved by dropping at a location with other players present, with that either being a hot spot to drop or the actual Hot Zone for that match, indicated by the blue circle.

　　Dropping in the same location as other players will lead to one of a few things. Your squad might get eliminated immediately, but if you can manage to win or at least not get killed, you should leave with at least enough damage to have a blue shield. Even if you didn't deal very much damage, one of your dead enemies might have dealt more and you can loot their shield. There is also a strong possibility that there are higher-tier shields around to loot.

　　The other option, if you're playing on Storm Point, is to land near one of the PvE areas, either prowler nests or spider nests. As mentioned earlier, fighting these enemies gives a reduced amount of points, but defeating a nest early in the game should get you a blue shield, or at least help you come close. The downside to this method is that you probably won't be able to get the whole squad to blue shields with just one nest.

　　The strategy for upgrading your shield after the initial drop is relatively simple: Be aggressive. Ultimately, you need to deal 1,250 damage to go from a white shield to a red shield in a single match, and the only way that is going to happen is by fighting enemy squads. The method here is to go from named location to named location, heading towards the center of the circle. This will increase your chances of running into an enemy squad if you move from small building to building. The other tip is to always take shots at an enemy you see in the distance. This will either initiate a fight, netting you more damage and shield progress, or they will flee and you get some free damage.

　　After you have achieved a blue shield, fighting prowlers or spiders to upgrade your shield isn't worth your time unless you are within 100 points of upgrading. Obviously, progress is progress, but getting only a quarter of the damage you deal as shield progress means you barely move the needle considering the amount of time spent fighting.

　　For tips on how to be the best Apex Legends Arenas player check out our guide for the game mode and if you have more cosmetics than you know what to do with, check out our guide for equipping multiple skins, loadings screen, and music tracks.