Ranked in Apex Legends is the competitive Battle Royale playlist where every match costs Ranked Points (RP) to enter and you earn RP back through kills and placement, climbing from Rookie through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Master toward the Apex Predator leaderboard. As of November 2026 the mode is in Season 31 (Cipher), which launched on November 3 with Legend bans in Diamond and higher lobbies, new entry cost adjustments for lopsided matches, and a return to a simple Level 20 requirement. This page explains how the system works right now, what the new rules change in practice, and how to plan a climb that does not stall at the first hard wall.
We checked everything here against EA Help's Ranked article, the official Cipher patch notes and the Ranked Roadmap that Respawn published on October 20, 2026.
How the Ranked Ladder Is Built This Season
There are seven tiers in the current ladder: Rookie, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Master. Every tier from Bronze upward is split into four divisions, so Bronze IV is the entry point and Bronze I is the last step before Silver. Apex Predator is not a separate tier you promote into; it is a title given to the top 750 Master players on each platform, which means the line moves every day as people above and below you play.
To queue at all you need an account level of 20. Respawn removed the old Road to Ranked challenges for Cipher, saying they took some players too much time and were not the skill check they were meant to be, so the level requirement is once again the only gate. If you are still short of it, our guide to raising your account level quickly covers which match habits give the most XP per hour.
Your first placement is not random. If you have never played Ranked, the game seeds your starting tier from your hidden skill value in Unranked Trios. If you played last season, it uses your hidden Ranked skill value instead. That is why two friends who start the season together can land in very different tiers on day one.
One detail surprises a lot of people who play on more than one device: Ranked progress is kept separately per platform. Your cosmetics and account level follow your EA Account everywhere, but you can be Gold on PC and Silver on PlayStation at the same time. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 count as one platform for this purpose.
Entry Costs and Where Your RP Comes From
Every Ranked match charges an entry cost that rises as you climb, and you only start earning RP back once you reach the top half of the lobby. Rookie is free, which is deliberate: it is meant as a learning tier, and once you leave it you cannot be placed back into it. From Bronze onward the cost grows quickly, and the jump into Diamond is the point where most players feel the squeeze.
| Tier | Entry cost |
|---|---|
| Rookie | 0 RP |
| Bronze | 10 RP |
| Silver | 20 RP |
| Gold | 38 RP |
| Platinum | 48 RP |
| Diamond | 65 RP |
| Master and Predator | 90 RP |
RP is earned from three things: placement, eliminations and skill based bonuses. The higher your squad finishes, the more placement RP you bank, and the higher you finish, the more each kill or assist is worth. Bonuses reward things like eliminating higher ranked players or putting together a streak of top five finishes. EA Help is explicit that heals and revives earn nothing directly; only kills and assists count, so a support player's value shows up through the squad's placement rather than through a personal number.
The practical takeaway is that a hot drop that ends in eighteenth place usually loses RP even with three kills, while a calm game that reaches the top five with one or two kills often gains. The kill value scaling with placement rewards squads that hold their eliminations into the late rings instead of trading them away early.
What Cipher Changed: Legend Bans and Lopsided Lobbies
The headline addition this season is Legend banning. In any match that uses Drop Zone deployment, which is triggered when a lobby has enough Diamond, Master or Predator players, there is now a short banning phase before Legend select. Each player requests one Legend. The game then shows every requested Legend's chance of being banned, which equals its share of the total requests, and randomly removes two Legends for that match. If fewer than four different Legends were requested, the system tops up the pool with the previous week's most played picks so there are always at least four candidates.
Respawn explained why it did not simply ban the most voted picks: a fixed rule would create its own predictable banning meta. For you, that means keeping a second and even a third Legend you are comfortable on. Our Season 31 Legend tier list is a good place to pick a backup that still fits your squad's plan when your main disappears.
The second change targets matches where the matchmaker had to stretch. Each lobby now has a Lobby Tier, which is the median of all squad tiers. If your squad is two or more tiers below it, you are in a Challenger match and your entry cost is cut by 30 percent. If you are two or more tiers above it, you are in a Goliath match and your entry cost rises by 50 percent. Your squad tier is the average RP of the team, except that everyone in a premade group is counted at the highest teammate's RP. If a teammate never connects, your squad tier drops by one full tier. You are told which match type you are in on the waiting screen and again when you leave the dropship.
Cipher also added a Ranked tab to the inventory menu that shows your entry cost, the RP you need to break even and to promote, and when you will leave demotion protection. The kill feed now shows how much RP each kill was worth, and your net RP counter turns red when you are negative and white once you are back in profit.
Splits, Resets and Demotion Protection
Each season has two Ranked splits: one at the start and one roughly halfway through. At a split your RP resets and you are placed back into a tier that matches your matchmaking rating. EA Help lists the reset points: Bronze resets to Bronze IV at 1,000 RP, Silver to Silver IV at 3,250, Gold to Gold IV at 5,750 and Platinum to Platinum IV at 8,750. Diamond IV and III drop to Platinum III at 9,250, Diamond II and I to Platinum II at 10,000, and Master or higher to Platinum I at 11,000. Season end rewards are based on the highest rank you reached in either split, and you get the animated version of the badge if you match your first split rank in the second.
Demotion protection is an older feature that Respawn made more visible this season. It switches on when a single bad match could push you down a tier, for example after promoting or after landing in a Goliath match. While it is active you hold three Demotion Shields; each time you would lose enough RP to drop, one shield is spent instead. Protection ends either when you have built enough of a cushion that one match cannot demote you, or when all three shields are gone.
Weekly Ranked Ladders also return this split. They run from Tuesday to Sunday, group you with up to 100 players of similar hidden skill, and score your best five Ranked results. The Cipher patch notes list five ladders, the first running November 10 to 15 and the last December 8 to 13.
A Practical Plan for Climbing This Split
Most stalled climbs come from the same handful of habits. These are the adjustments that matter most under the current rules.
- Know your break even number before you drop. The new Ranked tab shows it. In Platinum you need to recover 48 RP, which usually means a top half finish plus a fight or two, not a frantic hunt for kills.
- Treat the Stronghold as a decision, not an obligation. The new mid game airdrop holds a Care Package weapon, three gold guns, three Amps and two Corrupted Attachments, and capturing it gives every living teammate a level up. It also pulls in nearby squads. Contest it when your ring position is already good; skip it when it drags you across open ground.
- Play the current maps on purpose. Ranked is rotating Storm Point, E-District Night and Broken Moon in Cipher. Our map rotation breakdown explains the schedule so you can queue on the maps you know best.
- Carry weapons that hold up in long fights. The Prowler and Nemesis both took recoil nerfs this season and the Hemlok is back in its Burst form. Our weapon guide for Cipher breaks down which loadouts still make sense.
- Queue with people near your rank. Premade squads must be within two ranks of each other or matchmaking fails, and remember that premades are treated as the highest member's RP for Challenger and Goliath checks.
The biggest single mistake is chasing RP late at night when the population is thin. That is exactly when wide lobbies happen, and although the new entry cost adjustments soften the blow, a Goliath match still costs half again as much to enter.
Looking Ahead to Season 32
Respawn has already published what comes next, scheduled for early 2027. Rookie will be replaced by Iron, a new Emerald tier with four divisions will sit between Platinum and Diamond, and a Grandmaster tier will crown the ladder, with the Predator badge going to the top 750 Grandmasters at season end. Ranked will split into an Open League (Iron to Emerald, always using the dropship) and a Pro-Am League (Diamond, Master and Grandmaster, where Drop Zones and Legend bans will live).
Scoring is being reworked too. Kills and placement will each be worth a fixed amount, every kill your team gets will count fully for every squad member, assists and participation will be removed, and entry costs will rise per division instead of per tier. The Open League will weight kills a little more heavily and the Pro-Am League will weight placement more. Weekly ladders are being retired from Season 32 while Respawn designs a replacement. None of this is live yet, so treat it as a reason to bank a good result in Cipher rather than as a change to plan around today.
If You Would Rather Not Grind the Climb
A ranked climb is a lot of evenings, and with Season 32 resetting the ladder structure next year some players simply want this season's badge without the hours. The store's Battle Royale Rank Boost is built for that: you choose the rank you want, and the product page lists account levels, Apex Packs and Legend Tokens earned along the way as part of the order.
The Apex Legends boosting hub covers PlayStation, Xbox and PC (Steam and the EA app), and the ranked tier boost page has the options for each tier. Keep in mind that Ranked progress is tracked per platform, so pick the platform where you actually want the rank to show.
Frequently Asked Questions
What level do you need to play Ranked in Apex Legends?
Account level 20. Respawn removed the Road to Ranked challenges in Season 31, so the level is the only requirement as of November 2026.
How many players are Apex Predator?
The top 750 Master players on each platform hold the Apex Predator title. From Season 32 the Predator badge will go to the top 750 players in the new Grandmaster tier.
Does Ranked progress carry over between PC and console?
No. Cosmetics and account level are shared through cross progression, but Ranked progress is tracked separately on each platform. PS4 and PS5 count as the same platform.
How do Legend bans work in Apex ranked?
In Diamond and higher lobbies each player requests one ban, and two Legends are then picked at random, weighted by how many requests each received. Banned Legends cannot be chosen by anyone in that match.
What is a Goliath match in Apex Legends?
A Goliath match happens when your squad tier is two or more tiers above the lobby's median tier. Your entry cost rises by 50 percent. The opposite case, two or more tiers below, is a Challenger match with a 30 percent discount.
When does the ranked split happen in Season 31?
EA describes the split as happening about halfway through each season, and the exact date is announced with the midseason update. Check the midseason patch notes on the official Apex Legends news page for the confirmed date.