Apex Legends Ranked Arenas: What to Expect

Ranked Arenas is set to have a completely separate system from Ranked BR and features some important design differences that Apex Legends players should know before it drops on Aug. 3.

In addition to the Emergence launch trailer and Year 2 ALGS, Respawn Entertainment Game Director Chad Grenier was keen on the reception Arenas got from players in its first season, as well as bullish on the "built-from-scratch" ranked system coming to the mode with the Apex Legends: Emergence update. From placements, to leaver penalties and map rotation, here's what to expect of Ranked Arenas when it launches in the coming weeks.

Apex Legends Ranked Arenas: What to Expect

The brand-new Ranked Arenas mode will give players a visible ranking just like the BR ranking system, from Bronze to Predator, as well as a separate underlying MMR (matchmaking rating) score number to determine who they will be queued against. This is done so that players on a hot/cold streak can be potentially paired with players from another rank to speed up/down their ranked movement.

To get their rank and MMR, players will first have to complete 10 placement matches, which Respawn noted could be rough initially, but should gradually ease up as their MMRs settle more.

Being that Arenas is a fight between two teams, awarding ranked Arenas Points (AP) is more cut and dry than in the 20-team Battle Royale system—there is no entry cost or AP given for kills. Getting the win is the only thing that matters, and will give more AP than losses.

While there will be no demotion protection in Ranked Arenas, players will still earn the rewards for their highest milestone reached that season.

The same party restrictions remain the same in Ranked Arenas as in Ranked BR. At Platinum and above, players won’t be able to queue with others who are more than one rank tier away.

Unlike in Ranked BR, there are no splits in Ranked Arenas, meaning that players will have the entire length of Emergence to get their highest rank possible for their end-of-season rewards.

However, that also means Leaver Penalties will not be reset as often for people who quit on their teams early.

In Ranked Arenas, temporary matchmaking bans will be handed to those who continue to leave games early. Meanwhile, their abandoned teammates will be awarded Loss Forgiveness, which will grants them immunity from losing AP.

The Ranked Arenas map rotation will change once every hour and will share the same overall map schedule as unranked Arenas. Party Crasher, Phase Runner, and Overflow will be in rotation along with one new Emergence BR location that changes every two weeks:

• King’s Canyon: Hillside
• World’s Edge: Dome
• Olympus: Oasis