~9 min
Marvel Rivals runs on six currencies, not three, and the most expensive mistake in the game has nothing to do with spending money: it is letting Chrono Tokens expire unconverted at the end of a season. This guide explains every currency in the economy, exactly how to earn each one for free, every conversion path and its rate, the weekly caps worth planning around, and the spending order that gets the most cosmetics per hour of play or per dollar spent.
Every Currency at a Glance
Currency | How you get it | What it buys | Resets? |
|---|---|---|---|
Lattice | Real money only, in bundles that bonus at larger sizes; small amounts also appear as Battle Pass rewards | Luxury Battle Pass, premium store bundles, and 1:1 conversion into three other currencies | No |
Units | Free: achievements, events, Battle Pass, surveys, Twitch drops, referrals, conversions | Hero skins, bundles, emotes, MVP animations, and limited-time cosmetics | No |
Chrono Tokens | Free: daily and weekly missions, challenges, event tasks; also Lattice conversion | Battle Pass rewards at 200 to 600 tokens each | Yes, every season |
Accessory Points | Playing any mode, capped at 700 per week | Accessories at 1,350 points each | No, but weekly earning cap |
Costume Coins | Rewards and promotions | Any costume in the Exchange Store, or 100 Units each | No |
Unstable Molecules | Battle Passes and events, or Lattice at 1:1 | Chromas and Ultimate VFX at 600 each (base costume required) | No |
The one-sentence economy: Lattice is money, Units are your skin wallet, Chrono Tokens are a seasonal engine that must be spent or converted before the reset, and the other three are specialist currencies with their own small rules.
Lattice: The Premium Currency
Lattice is the only currency bought with real money, and it cannot be farmed: in-game sources amount to small Battle Pass drops, so treat any plan that revolves around earning Lattice as a plan that revolves around spending. Bundles scale in your favor, with larger purchases carrying bonus Lattice on top.
Its real power is flexibility. Lattice converts 1:1 into Units, 1:1 into Chrono Tokens, and 1:1 into Unstable Molecules, which makes it a universal top-up: short 200 Units for a skin, or a few tokens from a Battle Pass page, and Lattice bridges the exact gap without overbuying.
The highest-value Lattice purchase in the game is the Luxury Battle Pass at 990 Lattice. A completed pass pays back more value than it costs, in Units, Lattice drops, Unstable Molecules, and cosmetics, which is why the standing rule is Battle Pass first, store cosmetics second. The 2,100-Lattice Upgraded Luxury version adds 2,800 Chrono Tokens up front plus a 20% acquisition bonus on all tokens you earn, and only makes sense if you join a season late and need to sprint the track. Event passes follow the same logic at 690 Lattice with a daily progress cap or 990 without one.
Units: The Skin Wallet, and Every Free Source
Units are what most players are actually farming, because skins live here: Epic costumes run around 1,600 Units and Legendary ones around 2,200. Unlike Lattice, every source below is free.
Source | What it pays |
|---|---|
Achievements | The biggest single pool. Milestone rewards throughout the categories, with the Journey tab alone paying 1,000 Units at 440 points |
Seasonal events | Event challenge tracks regularly include Units among their rewards |
Battle Pass | Both free and Luxury tracks drop Units as you claim pages |
Leftover Chrono Tokens | After finishing the full Battle Pass: 1,000 tokens convert to 100 Units |
Costume Coins | Each coin can be cashed as 100 Units instead of a costume |
Surveys | In-game mailbox surveys pay around 100 Units each |
Twitch drops | Watching flagged streams during drop campaigns |
Account linking and referrals | Linking platforms like Discord and inviting players through Hero Assembly grant bonus Units |
The achievement pool deserves special attention because it is enormous, one-time, and most players leave the majority of it unclaimed. A systematic pass through the achievement categories funds a Legendary skin faster than any daily grind. Hero-specific achievement sets also pay Achievement Points toward exclusive costumes and Titles, so the same games often progress two reward tracks at once.
Chrono Tokens: The Seasonal Engine
Chrono Tokens exist for one purpose: claiming Battle Pass rewards, at 200 to 600 tokens per item. They flow steadily from daily missions, weekly challenges, and event tasks, which makes them the currency your login habit actually controls. Two rules govern them:
- They reset every season. Your balance does not carry over. Whatever you hold at season's end is spent, converted, or gone.
- The conversion escape hatch is manual. Once every reward in your Battle Pass is claimed, leftover tokens convert at 1,000 to 100 into Units or Accessory Points. The game does not do this for you; walk away from a finished pass without converting and the reset deletes the balance. This is the single most common currency mistake in the game.
If daily-mission discipline is not your thing, the tokens simply stop flowing and the pass stalls; a Battle Pass boost clears the track before the deadline with none of the daily repetition.
The Full Conversion Map
Every legal path between currencies, in one table. Anything not listed here does not convert.
From | To | Rate | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
Lattice | Units | 1:1 | Any time |
Lattice | Chrono Tokens | 1:1 | Any time |
Lattice | Unstable Molecules | 1:1 | Any time |
Chrono Tokens | Units | 1,000 : 100 | Only after every current Battle Pass reward is claimed; manual, before season end |
Chrono Tokens | Accessory Points | 1,000 : 100 | Same condition as above |
Costume Coins | Units | 1 : 100 | Any time, via the Exchange Store |
Read the asymmetry: Lattice converts down generously, nothing converts up into Lattice, and Chrono Tokens only leak out at a 10:1 loss. The design intent is clear, and so is the counter-strategy: earn Chrono Tokens for the pass, earn Units from achievements and events, and let Lattice fill only the gaps you choose to pay for.
Accessory Points: The Capped Grind
Accessory Points buy Accessories at 1,350 each and accumulate from playing anything: Quick Match, Competitive, vs AI, or Arcade. The catch is a hard weekly cap of 700 points, resetting Fridays at 9:00 UTC, with the first 200 of each week earning at double speed.
That structure rewards a specific habit: a short session every week beats a long session once a month. Playing just far enough to bank the fast first 200, every week, keeps the accessory pipeline moving at a quarter of the grind. Missing weeks cannot be made up later, because the cap does not roll over, so an accessory costs a minimum of two weeks of capped play no matter how much you binge.
Costume Coins and Unstable Molecules
Costume Coins are the economy's gift certificates: each one redeems for any costume currently listed in the Exchange Store, or cashes out as 100 Units. The decision rule is simple: if the Exchange Store holds a costume you would spend 1,000+ Units on, the coin is worth far more as a costume than as currency. Check the store before cashing one, every time.
Unstable Molecules buy Chromas, recolors of costumes you already own, and Ultimate VFX at 600 each. They arrive through Battle Passes and events or from Lattice at 1:1, and they are strictly a fashion currency: spend here only after the skins themselves are handled, because a Chroma without its base costume is unusable by definition.
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Where the Currency Is in Season 9
Beyond the evergreen sources, the current season is running limited-time faucets worth catching before they close:
- The Death of Apocalypse mini-game, Season 9's detective event, pays out Units and Gallery Cards through its investigation chapters. It is the rare event where the reward is the skin-wallet currency itself rather than event-locked cosmetics.
- Blood Hunt runs until July 30 at 09:00 UTC, and its challenge track is in its final weeks. Event challenge rewards do not return after the deadline, so anything unclaimed there is on a hard clock; the Event Challenges service clears a track before it expires.
- The ranked costume remains the best free cosmetic of any season: reach Gold by season's end and the seasonal costume is yours. How the ladder and that threshold work is covered in our Competitive system guide, and the fastest route there is in the climbing guide.
What Everything Costs
The reference card for planning any farm or purchase, in one place.
Item | Price | Currency |
|---|---|---|
Legendary costume | ~2,200 | Units |
Epic costume | ~1,600 | Units |
Battle Pass reward (per item) | 200 to 600 | Chrono Tokens |
Luxury Battle Pass | 990 | Lattice |
Upgraded Luxury Battle Pass | 2,100 (includes 2,800 tokens + 20% earn bonus) | Lattice |
Premium event pass | 690 with a daily cap, 990 without | Lattice |
Accessory | 1,350 | Accessory Points |
Chroma or Ultimate VFX | 600 (base costume required) | Unstable Molecules |
Any Exchange Store costume | 1 coin (or cash the coin as 100 Units) | Costume Coins |
Put the Units rows against the sources table above and the shape of a free-to-play season emerges: a single achievement-tab sweep plus event tracks funds an Epic skin, and a disciplined full season funds a Legendary one, before a Costume Coin or a converted token balance shortens the road further.
The Mistakes That Cost the Most
- Ending a season with unconverted Chrono Tokens. The reset deletes them, the conversion is manual, and it is gated behind a completed pass. Set a reminder for the final week; this one mistake outweighs every optimization in this guide.
- Buying a skin solo without checking bundles. The same costume regularly appears in a bundle at a better effective price alongside extras. Thirty seconds in the bundle tab is the cheapest discount in the game.
- Cashing a Costume Coin without opening the Exchange Store first. A coin is 100 Units as cash but well over a thousand Units of value as the right costume. The store rotates, so check every time.
- Converting Lattice into Chrono Tokens to buy what play would earn anyway. Tokens are the one currency your daily habit generates for free; paying premium currency for them is only rational as a late-season sprint.
- Hoarding everything. Units and Lattice keep, but caps and resets punish passivity everywhere else: the weekly Accessory Point cap does not roll over, event tracks expire with their events, and tokens die with the season. In this economy, unspent is not the same as saved.
The Spending Playbook
- Free-to-play priority: daily missions for Chrono Tokens, finish the free Battle Pass track, sweep the achievement categories for Units, bank the weekly fast-200 Accessory Points, and convert leftover tokens before every reset. That routine funds an Epic skin most seasons without a dollar spent.
- First dollar in: the Luxury Battle Pass, nothing else competes on return. Buy it at season start, not season end, so every token you were earning anyway claims premium rewards.
- Skins: check bundles before buying any skin solo; bundles regularly price the same costume lower alongside extras. And check the Exchange Store against any Costume Coin you hold first.
- Never: convert Lattice into Chrono Tokens to buy Battle Pass items you would have earned by playing anyway, and never end a season holding an unconverted token balance on a completed pass.
- The order of operations: Battle Pass, then achievements, then event tracks, then store cosmetics, then Chromas. Value strictly descends down that list.
FAQ
What are the three main currencies in Marvel Rivals?
Lattice is the premium currency bought with real money, Units are the free-to-earn currency that buys skins and cosmetics, and Chrono Tokens are the seasonal currency that claims Battle Pass rewards. Three specialist currencies sit alongside them: Accessory Points, Costume Coins, and Unstable Molecules.
How do you get Units for free in Marvel Rivals?
Achievements are the biggest pool, with the Journey tab alone paying 1,000 Units at 440 points. Beyond that: seasonal event challenges, Battle Pass rewards on both tracks, in-game surveys at around 100 Units each, Twitch drops, account linking and Hero Assembly referrals, cashing Costume Coins at 100 Units each, and converting leftover Chrono Tokens at 1,000 to 100 after finishing the Battle Pass.
Do Chrono Tokens carry over between seasons?
No. Chrono Tokens reset every season. The only escape hatch is manual conversion: once every reward in the current Battle Pass is claimed, leftover tokens convert into Units or Accessory Points at 1,000 to 100. The game will not convert them automatically, so an unconverted balance on a finished pass is simply deleted at the reset.
Can you convert Lattice into other currencies?
Yes, at 1:1 into Units, Chrono Tokens, or Unstable Molecules, any time. Nothing converts back into Lattice, so it is a one-way currency: the standard use is topping up the exact shortfall on a skin or a Battle Pass page rather than bulk conversion.
Is the Luxury Battle Pass worth buying?
Yes, and it is the best-value purchase in the game: at 990 Lattice, a completed pass returns more than it costs across Units, Lattice drops, Unstable Molecules, and cosmetics. The 2,100-Lattice Upgraded version adds 2,800 Chrono Tokens and a 20% earning bonus, which mainly pays off for players joining a season late. Buy at season start so every token you earn claims premium rewards.
How do Accessory Points work?
They accumulate from playing any mode and buy Accessories at 1,350 points each, but earning is hard-capped at 700 per week, resetting Fridays at 9:00 UTC, with the first 200 of each week earning at double speed. The cap does not roll over, so consistent short weekly sessions beat occasional long ones.
How much do skins cost in Marvel Rivals?
As reference points, Epic costumes run around 1,600 Units and Legendary costumes around 2,200. Bundles frequently include the same skin at a better effective price alongside extras, so checking the bundle tab before a solo skin purchase is the standing rule. A Costume Coin, when one of the Exchange Store costumes appeals to you, outvalues its 100-Unit cash-out many times over.
