Ranked system in Apex Legends

Whenever you start a new Apex game, you enter the game wanting to dominate the rest of the lobby, get a handful of eliminations, and get the all-important victory at the end. Inherently, the nature of the game pushes players to clash with each other and see who comes on top. Consequently, Apex Legends, just like every competitive multiplayer game, has a system that allows players to showcase their skills and compete against each other to prove who’s the best player. That system is called ranked, and if you’re someone who’s unfamiliar with ranked in Apex Legends, you’ve come to the right place as we’ll analyze everything you need to know with Respawn’s complicated ranking system.

What is Ranked?

If you’re an Apex Legends rookie, you might be unfamiliar with the term ranked in general. Simply put, ranked matches are matches in which your skill gets tested, and based on your performance, you get put in an appropriate ranked tier. Keep in mind that ranked matches do not differ from public matches in any way except for the obvious fact that players try a lot harder to obtain that victory. In other words, the game’s mechanics are completely unchanged.

Apex Legends has ranked seasons in which players are separated into ranked tiers and tested against each other. These ranked seasons usually last for about three months and are further divided into two splits, after which the players’ ranks are reset in preparation for the following ranked season.

What ranks are there?

In order to establish fair matchmaking based on the players’ skill level, every game has an organized ranking system. Depending on your results in ranked, you will be placed in one of the following ranked tiers:

• Bronze

• Silver

• Gold

• Platinum

• Diamond

• Master/Predator

If you’ve just started to play ranked, or if you’ve come back to the game after a long hiatus, you’ll start at the bottom of the ranked ladder and slowly climb your way up. 

You shouldn’t worry too much about starting in bronze, we’ve all been there. Additionally, all of the ranks, except Master and Predator, are separated into four divisions, for example, Silver IV, Silver III, and so on. Once you’ve reached the highest division and gathered enough RP to move up the ranked ladder, you’ll be promoted into the next ranked tier. Respawn separated these tiers into small divisions so the matchmaking can be more accurate and match players of a similar skill level.

Statistically, the overwhelming majority of Apex’s player base is placed in Gold (36%), followed by Silver(26%). Only 2% of players currently find themselves in Diamond while only 0.12% of 13 million weekly players ever make it to Apex’s top ranks which are Master and Predator.

How does it work?

Your in-game performance and result is the factor that determines your success in ranked. After every game you’ve played, you’ll be rewarded with Ranked Points (RP). 

There are two ways in which you can gain RP throughout a ranked game, and that’s through eliminations and by placement.

Eliminations

As far as eliminations go, every kill or assist will grant you 10 RP, up to 60 RP per game. Essentially, that means that you’ll be awarded for killing and assisting up to 6 times, after which you won’t get any RP at all. Keep in mind that only kills and assists add up to this tally, and you won’t get any RP for reviving your teammates.

Placement

On the other hand, you can also gain RP by surviving the ruthless Apex battle royale and making it to the very end. If you end up in the top 10, you’ll be granted RP based on your final standing, ranging from 10 to 100 RP.

This way of RP distribution is very clever as it promotes both safe and aggressive gameplay, depending on your preference.

Ranked cost

In order to maintain the game’s competitive integrity and to challenge players so they try their hardest every time they enter a ranked game, there is an RP cost for every game you enter, depending on the tier you’re in.

As you can see, if you perform poorly in a game, there is a chance you’ll end up losing RP instead of gaining it in the end, and the cost increases the higher you go up the ranked ladder. Respawn did this to raise the stakes at the highest ranks of the ladder and to ensure that ranked remains a competitive place where players try their hardest to win and improve overall.

Ranked demotion

If you end up losing a lot of RP over a period of time, you can demote into a lower division in the ranked tier you’re currently in. To put things into perspective, you can drop from Silver II to Silver III, but you cannot drop from Gold to Silver. That ensures a lot of stability in your rank, and if you choose to go with an Apex Legends boosting service instead of climbing the ladder on your own, you’re much more likely to maintain a high rank over time.