Apex Ranked System – How Do Apex Legends Ranks Work?
9 minutes
Last Updated: May 28, 2024
The Apex ranked system functions similarly to other popular multiplayer titles like League of Legends. Performing better on a consistent basis ensures you will rank up. This combined with the mix of unique characters in the vein of hero shooters like Valorant, makes Apex Legends one of the most popular free-to-play battle royale titles out there.
But when season 18 rolled around, the Apex Legends ranking system underwent some significant changes. It’s been a few months since then so let’s see what impact has been made and how the rank distribution depicts that.
Apex Legends Ranked System Season 18 Changes
The Apex Legends Season 18 ranked changes rolled out in early August 2023. Developers Respawn Entertainment implemented these significant changes to the Ranked system with the intent of preserving the competitive integrity of the game
The best way to do that is to reward aggressive and proactive gameplay, so players won’t reach Master rank again without registering a single kill. Here’s a summary of every adjustment they made to the Apex ranked system to achieve this:
- Ring Adjustments: In the new Apex ranked system update, adjustments were made to ring timings. These were implemented in order to increase action in the mid game and reduce final timer manipulations. These changes aim to make matches more exciting and intense, so players get full satisfaction of ranking up.
- Matchmaking MMR Enhancements: Matchmaking algorithms were updated to reward players who actively challenge opponents with better MMR than their own. This should result in a more competitive environment that pins players with similar skill levels against each other, ensuring challenging and rewarding gameplay for both sides.
- Ring Damage Tuning: Ring damage was turned up to force players to stay inside the ring and fight for their survival. This should also add more spice to the mid game.
What's your favorite update from the new Apex season?
💀 Revenant rework
🏃 New fast-play maps
🔫 Weapon balance
🏆 Ranked changes pic.twitter.com/U4pLEURY6Z— TSM (@TSM) August 9, 2023
New Apex Ranked System LP MMR changes
The big kicker with the Apex Legends ranked system season 18 changes comes with the addition of MMR and the LP adjustments.
- Decreased LP Gains: All players participating in the Apex ranked queues will now receive fewer LP (Ladder Points) per match. This should address the issue of players quickly rising through the ranks. Ensuring a more balanced matchmaking system was the main priority here.
- Apex Diamond+ Rank Rule Changes: A specific rule was introduced for ranks above the Apex Diamond rank to clean the congestion at the top of the ladder. Players in these ranks will earn fewer rating bonuses and have fewer loss mitigations, which greatly increases their stakes and losses when entering every single match.
- Fixed LP Cost: All Apex players entering the ranked queue will now pay a universal cost of 35 LP. Previously this cost varied depending on the rank, which caused the massive elo inflation.
- Minimum Elimination Bonus: Players now receive a minimum elimination bonus based on their Matchmaking Rating (MMR). Eliminations contribute significantly to a player’s rank, encouraging a more aggressive playstyle. Additionally, more points are awarded for eliminations in general, emphasizing the importance of combat skills in ranking.
Apex Legends Ranked System Explained
With all of these changes in mind, let’s discuss how does the new ranked system work in Apex Legends. Similarly to improving your CS2 gameplay, improving at Apex Legends will result in better results in the ranked queues.
What is Apex Legends Ranked Mode?
Similarly to the old Apex ranked system, players can partake in three distinct game modes within this free crossplay game. While the Trios and Duos game modes provide a more casual experience with no expectations, rewards, or entry costs, ranked play raises the stakes significantly.
Ranked gameplay in Apex Legends operates based on the Ladder Point System (LP). This requires players to progress through the Apex ranks in Apex Legends Season 18 by earning more Ladder Points.
Unlock Ranked Mode in Apex Legends
To be able to participate in the Apex ranked system, players must be at least Level 50 and complete 10 provisional matches. These matches determine the player’s rank based on performance.
The Apex Legends ranked Mode is noticeably harder because it introduces more rules and penalties compared to the other game modes. But apart from your visible rank, the player’s motives for climbing the Ranked Ladder often are end-of-season rewards.
These include Banner Badges, Gun Charms, Banner Frames, and much more in-game content that helps you distinguish yourself from the rest of the Apex Legends player base. Similarly to the Fortnite building technique, climbing the Apex ranks requires a certain level of skill expression.
First Apex Legends rank
So you’re probably wondering what are Provisional Matches and how can you earn your first Apex Legends rank. Upon entering the ranked queue, players engage in 10 provisional matches, determining their rank. This process repeats at the start of each season, ensuring a fair and competitive environment for all players.
Players who will not complete the 10 placement matches before the season ends, will be placed in the Rookie rank. This is the lowest possible Apex Legends rank, where players aim to climb the ranked ladder by winning matches and demonstrating their skill. Players can participate in the standard Trio mode, queuing solo or with two friends to form a complete party.
Rank #1 Apex Predator was just banned live during a game.
GG @HisWattson 🫡
(via @RealLegendJuice)pic.twitter.com/H04La7eCY3
— Apex Legends News (@alphaINTEL) August 23, 2023
Apex Legends Ranks in Order
In Apex Legends, the ranked system consists of seven tiers. These Apex ranks in order range from Rookie to Apex Predator, with each tier (except Predator) having four subdivisions. Players start at the bottom of the ranked ladder allowing newcomers to familiarize themselves with ranked modes before proper placement. To advance through tiers, players need to earn Ladder Points (LP). These are the Apex ranks in order and how much LP you need to advance through each one:
- Bronze: 1,000 LP
- Silver: 5,000 LP
- Gold: 9,000 LP
- Platinum: 13,000 LP
- Diamond: 17,000 LP
- Master: 21,000 LP
- Apex Predator: Top 750 players
Highest Rank in Apex Legends
As of season 18 in Apex Legends, the top 750 players on the ranked ladder become Apex Predators. The changes Respawn Entertainment and EA have implemented in the season 18 Apex Legends ranked system are aimed at better distributing the best players.
Apex Predator Rank
To combat this, the Master rank was slotted in between Diamond and Apex Predator. So now, only the top 750 players will be worthy of this prestigious honor. Coupled with the increased entry LP fees, and adjusted LP bonuses depending on MMR, high elo players will gain less LP with each win and lose more with each loss.
This makes it so that obtaining and maintaining the highest rank in the Apex Legends ranking system becomes a persistently challenging experience. Additionally, players will now have three games’ worth of demotion protection in every tier before they are liable to be demoted.
The penalty for dropping below the LP threshold will now be 50% of the lower division. Losing 3 games at Master 0 LP will land you at Diamond 1 with 19 000 LP, half of the 21 00 required to rejoin the Apex Master rank. This makes losing streaks and negative behavior a lot more punishable if you’re striving for the highest possible rank.
There is no new Legend in Season 18.
What's coming in Apex Legends Resurrection:
– Revenant Reborn
– Mixtape on Broken Moon
– New Ranked Season with changes pic.twitter.com/eG0KsBnnv0— Apex Legends News (@alphaINTEL) July 31, 2023
What Apex Ranks Can Play Together?
In season 18 of Apex Legends, any players in ranks below Platinum can team up and play with each other against equally matched opponents. For ranks above the Apex platinum rank, however, things are a bit different.
To preserve the competitive integrity of the title, players ranked Platinum or higher can only team up with players whose rank is only 1 tier above or below them. This is done to prevent boosting and baiting, which will negatively affect their future teammates.
How to Earn Apex Legends LP?
In Apex Legends’ Ranked Mode, your progress and Ladder Points (LP) gains and losses are influenced by bonuses, affecting your rank with every season’s soft reset. The amount you win and lose is determined by four main factors: Placement, Eliminations, Skill, and Rating. Let’s take a look at how they impact the Apex ranking system:
- Placement Points: Naturally, placing higher on the scoreboard at the end of the game, would net you better results. Higher placements yield more points, with a victory awarding you with a minimum of 150 LP. Finishing in the top half guarantees a net 0 LP gain, on top of earning back the 35 LP entry cost. You must finish in the top 8 in order to gain additional points.
- Elimination Bonuses: As always, more kills mean you made a bigger impact and thus you deserve more points. The LP equation incorporates bonus multipliers based on factors like damage dealt, rank of eliminated players, and other variables. Players can also earn LP for assists if they dealt damage to an enemy within 30 seconds of their death.
- Skill Bonuses: These bonuses mean that all of your previous bonuses are adjusted accordingly to the skill level of your opponents. Farming stats on lower ranked players will have a continuously worse return than challenging and eliminating higher ranked players.
- Rating Bonuses: The same goes for rating bonuses, where you gain more LP for outperforming players with higher MMR. On the other hand, if you underperform in a lobby with players whose MMR is lower than yours, you will lose more of your visible rank.
Apex Legends Ranked System Season 18 LP Adjustments
This is how much LP you will earn depending on your placement and how the season 18 ranked changes will make an impact in higher ranks.
| Placement | Season 17 | Season 18 | Season 18 Diamond+ |
| 1 | 200 | 150 | 150 |
| 2 | 175 | 100 | 150 |
| 3 | 150 | 85 | 85 |
| 4 | 125 | 70 | 70 |
| 5 | 100 | 55 | 55 |
| 6 | 80 | 40 | 40 |
| 7 | 60 | 25 | 25 |
| 8 | 40 | 10 | 10 |
| 9 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | -25 | -30 | -45 |
| 12 | -25 | -30 | -45 |
| 13 | -25 | -30 | -45 |
| 14 | -35 | -50 | -75 |
| 15 | -35 | -50 | -75 |
| 16 | -35 | -50 | -75 |
| 17 | -35 | -50 | -75 |
| 18 | -35 | -50 | -75 |
| 19 | -35 | -50 | -75 |
| 20 | -35 | -50 | -75 |
Apex Legends elo system (MMR)
With the latest season 18 update, the developers of Apex Legends have introduced a new hidden MMR system. This system tracks a player’s performance through games, and assigning them a Match Making Rating.
This rating then helps the system put you in lobbies with less skill discrepancy, while simultaneously challenging you to prove you’re worthy of a higher rank. But unless you play solo all the time, many factors will be outside of your control. And this is where loss forgiveness comes into play.
Loss Forgiveness Apex Legends
Loss forgiveness in Apex Legends happens when any LP losses you suffer are negated. Usually, loss forgiveness in Apex Legends when your teammates are having trouble connecting or they abruptly leave the game.
The same loss forgiveness applies if your internet connection goes down during a match, resulting in you leaving the game. But if that happens more than 3 times in a shorter time frame, the system will detect it as intentional abandoning of the game.
Apex Legends Rank Reset
If you’re wondering when do Apex ranks reset, we have you covered. Season 18 of Apex Legends will end by the end of November 2023. Similarly to Season 17, it will be split into 2 halves that span across the period.
With that, the maps available for the ranked pool will also change. As per usual, 3 of them will be in a 24-hour rotation at a time. Broken Moon, King’s Canyon, and Olympus are the 3 maps that became available with the start of season 18.
Apex Legends Ranked Rewards
Coming into season 18, ranked players will no longer receive Dive Trails as their end-of-season ranked rewards. This change was made to combat rampant toxicity in the title, while Diamond+ players will receive an animated Banner Frame instead.
Apex Legends Ranked Distribution
This is what the Apex Legends ranked distribution looks like as of October 2023. It’s safe to say that the changes implemented to the Apex ranking system with the season 18 update have achieved their purpose.
| Apex Legends Rank | Rank Distribution Percentage |
| Rookie 4 | 7,64% |
| Rookie 3 | 7,94% |
| Rookie 2 | 7,44% |
| Rookie 1 | 6,79% |
| Bronze 4 | 6,43% |
| Bronze 3 | 7,98% |
| Bronze 2 | 7,85% |
| Bronze 1 | 6,55% |
| Silver 4 | 5,45% |
| Silver 3 | 6% |
| Silver 2 | 5,29% |
| Silver 1 | 3,93% |
| Gold 4 | 3,27% |
| Gold 3 | 3,4% |
| Gold 2 | 2,86% |
| Gold 1 | 2,96% |
| Platinum 4 | 2,05% |
| Platinum 3 | 1,68% |
| Platinum 2 | 1,3% |
| Platinum 1 | 1% |
| Diamond 4 | 1,25% |
| Diamond 3 | 0,59% |
| Diamond 2 | 0,33% |
| Diamond 1 | 0,171% |
| Master | 0,48% |
| Apex Predator | 0,07% |
