With Apex Legends 20th season, Breakout, fast approaching and due to release on February 13, 2024, a new ranked system has been unveiled. Ranked has been a contentious talking point within the Apex Legends community for quite some time now, and Respawn hasn't managed to find the sweet spot it once had back in Season 12 or 13.
But Season 20 looks to at least try and fix that, with some major changes coming to ranked. Some of them might look pretty familiar, but it's a far cry from the state of play at current, so we're hoping these changes will only serve to make ranked a more enjoyable experience whether you're silver or diamond and beyond.
For more information on Season 20, be sure to check out everything we know about the upcoming legend upgrades, as well as changes to the armour evo system.
Ranked changes in Season 20 of Apex Legends
First and foremost, with there being such major changes to ranked, one of the most surprising will be the blanket reset. All players, regardless of where they placed last season, will be set back to 1RP. As frustrating as this may seem, it's surely a good thing, because it gives everyone a completely clean slate.
This gives everyone the same opportunity to learn, adapt, and progress through this brand-new ranked system. Chris "C4" Cleroux, Lead Progression Designer for Apex Legends, made a point to "thank all the players, and community, for their continued feedback on ranked and competitive play", meaning the team is aware of how burnt-out players have been feeling. The devs are looking to bring the best possible version of ranked to Apex Legends, and hopefully, these changes will see them succeed.
Chris "C4" Cleroux also stated that Apex Legends ranked is built on two foundations - trust and accessibility. The devs know that players want to trust that the system works and that the game mode is accessible for both high-tier players being pitted against worthy opponents, and new players being able to progress without getting stomped.
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+ 2Scoring system in Season 20 ranked
With all of this in mind, Apex Legends is bringing a new scoring system to ranked in Season 20, with the return of RP (ranked points) as opposed to the previous LP (ladder points).
As with older ranked systems, the ranked point system will be catered once again to reward players for their kills. Placement still matters, of course, and is actually directly connected to eliminations. Each elimination you get will be worth a certain amount of RP, and that value will increase the higher you place in a game. This means you can take fights with the knowledge your eliminations could be worth more, or if you have a crazy early game and walk away with several kills, it might be worth playing slightly more passive to secure a higher placement with those kills.
There will also be a bonus for eliminating players in a higher rank, which is now called a Challenger Bonus. But there's no penalty for killing a player of the same, or lower, rank than you.
Top 5 placement streak bonus
Season 20 ranked will also bestow another boon to players in their ranked matches, and this is based on consistency. The top 5 bonus is awarded to players who can maintain a streak of placing within the top 5 teams in their matches, and the longer you can keep your streak going, the more RP you can earn. It is capped, however, and it will reset if you can't hold your streak.
click to enlarge + 2Ranked matchmaking changes
One of the most exciting changes coming to ranked in Season 20 is how players are matched against one another. It's been a long, arduous conversation in Apex Legends, with higher-tier players complaining that they're not getting worthwhile fights, and lower-tier players complaining how they shouldn't be Silver and fighting for their lives against Predators.
To try and find a happy medium, ranked in Season 20 will no longer be using a hidden MMR to determine lobbies. Matchmaking will now use players' RP value to work out what games they should be placed into, and this means that players are more likely to go up against enemies with a similar skill set to them.
The start of the season will no doubt be a mish-mash, thanks to the hard reset that finds everyone at the same value of 1RP. But once the community starts to play and rank, matchmaking should be - hopefully - a lot more forgiving, and far more intuitive.
This means no more placement matches, no more trials, and no more battles against literal professional players when you're chilling in Bronze. With this in mind, Apex Legends is also bringing back splits to its ranked season. Surely a huge W for the Apex Legends ranked system, and we can't wait to see how it plays out.
For more on Season 20 coming on February 13, 2024, be sure to check out everything we know about the removal of the Replicator, plus we have a current Apex Legends tier list, so you can see if your main is still meta.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Guides and Apex Legends page.