Apex Legends reveals major Ranked changes for Season 18 after Season 17 problems

Respawn Entertainment has revealed extensive changes for Ranked play in Apex Legends coming in Season 18, after a series of changes made Season 17 one of the most disliked Ranked experiences so far.

Although made with good intentions, Season 17’s ranked updates simply did not work out. Changes to the points system and matchmaking just resulted in over 20% of the player base reaching Master rank, as opposed to being evenly spread across all the ranks.

Bangalore in Apex Legends

It was clear changes were needed for Season 18, and with a few weeks until the reset, Respawn have outlined their plans in a detailed blog post forApex Legendsplayers to check out.

Ranked changes in Season 18 of Apex Legends

After revealing data about Season 17’s ranked system, including the massive increase in “ratting” (hiding to earn a higher placement rather than fighting enemies),Respawn laid outsome of the headline changes they have planned:

The exact tuning of these changes is still to be determined, and Respawn is also asking for feedback from players, by hosting an AMA on Reddit, on July 21.

Pick rate in Apex Legends

“We want to deliver the best Ranked BR experience in the world,” Respawn said, “with the tightest matchmaking and the sweatiest competition at every rank tier.

“Splits will not be returning for now as we’re focusing on monitoring and further finetuning. We look forward to sharing more updates on Ranked and how we plan to achieve our goals, especially as we approach Season 19—which is already in motion!”

apex season 26

An update on Ranked: What we’ve learned so far with Arsenal and a peek at what’s to come.Read more 📄:https://t.co/Mpegp7FCAKpic.twitter.com/sm1S2O0miI

While Respawn does admit they “missed the mark” with some of the Season 17 changes, they also say “We hit some aspects of our goals.”

Ash Apex Legends

Season 18 of Apex Legends is due to release on Tuesday, August 21, 2025. We should see the changes in full just before then, when patch notes for the season release.

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