How Apex Legends’ Ranked System Works

Battle royale games are inherently competitive, and Apex Legends attempts to promote that ruthless atmosphere with a dedicated ranked playlist. Ranked modes are often a staple of online first-person shooters. They increase the stakes and, in battle royale games, supply a penalty for an early exit from the round. Dedicated Apex players will want to form a squad and try to climb the ranks, so here’s how Apex Legends‘ ranked system works.

The ranked playlist in Apex Legends differs from other games by not having placement matches. The first time a player enters a ranked lobby, their ranked points (RP) start at zero, and they will be placed in the Bronze tier. There are seven tiers in Apex‘s ranked mode: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Apex Predator. The highest tier, Apex Predator, is reserved for the 750 players with the most RP on each platform. That means a new set of Apex Predators will emerge shortly after Apex Legends‘ Switch release in March.

Ranked also only uses one map at a time, rather than Apex Legends‘ usual map rotation. Ranked seasons typically have a “split,” as well, where the map changes and ranked tiers are soft-reset. The current season began on February 2, and the next Apex Legends ranked split will occur on March 23, switching the map from Kings Canyon to Olympus. Having only seven weeks to attain a high rank, players will need to be familiar with RP and the ranked system.

Apex Legends: How Earning & Losing Ranked Points Works

Each tier above Bronze in the Apex Ranked playlist requires a per-game entry fee paid in ranked points. Since, besides spending, there is no other way to lose RP in the game, this is how Apex holds players in their respective tiers. Entry fees will also never cause a player to go down a tier; once a player hits Silver, for instance, it is impossible to go back to Bronze until a new season or split causes a soft reset. Each tier progressively costs more RP to join a lobby: Silver costs 12, Gold costs 24, Platinum costs 36, Diamond costs 48, and Master and Apex Predator cost 60.

If a player leaves a ranked game prematurely – that is, while it is still possible for them to be revived – they forfeit double the RP entry fee and suffer a 10-minute suspension from all playlists. Players shouldn’t worry about Apex Legends lag and connection issues affecting rank, though, since loss forgiveness will nullify any lost RP.

Once a player’s entry fee has been paid and a lobby has been joined, their current net RP is tracked in the upper right part of the screen. At the beginning of the game, this reflects the just entry fee paid to play (i.e., net 0 for Bronze, -12 for Silver, and so forth), so choosing the best Apex Legends drop location to start earning RP quickly is important. A team’s placement in the match rewards the largest chunk of RP. Finishing in the top 13 awards a scaling amount of points, from 5 RP for the 11th through 13th teams to 100 RP for the winning team.

Placement also dictates the RP multiplier applied to a player’s kills and assists, with a combined kill and assist maximum of six awarding points. Winning the game multiplies the kills and assists tally by 25; a podium finish grants a 20 times multiplier; and a multiplier of 15 goes to fourth and fifth places. Finishing in the top 10 gives a team a 12 times multiplier, and every placement after that has a base 10 multiplier.

This is all a bit complicated, but the pattern starts to become clear the more ranked games players participate in. It’s useful to know the most RP that can possibly be earned in a single game is 250 (not counting the entry cost). The 250 point maximum comes from finishing first (100 RP) plus having six combined kills and assists (6 x 25 = 150 RP). Ranked kill and assist multipliers help consistently good Apex Legends players quickly reach the higher ranks, while entry costs offset earned points to keep players in competitively equal tiers.

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