Apex Legends Season 19: Ignite sees Respawn take a hammer to the Ranked system once again. While Apex has always sought to make Ranked its most competitive form, marking it the true measure of skill when it comes to Respawn's battle royale, the newest season makes even more drastic overhauls to the format.
One of the biggest changes coming to Ranked this season, is the introduction of promotional trials. When players reach the point of ranking up from, say, silver to gold, they will need to complete a trial to do so. Where before, players simply had to gain LP to rank up, that is no longer the case.
These trials will directly impact whether or not players climb the ranks, regardless of points, and it puts a heavy emphasis on performance and gameplay. Once you hit the threshold to activate the trial, you will have 5 games to attempt to outright win a game, or alternatively, place in the top 10 for a total of 3 times, or get 3 kills or assists in 3 separate matches. It sounds complicated, but we've found it's actually pretty straightforward, and most will be gunning for that ALGS-style win once they hit the promotional trial.
This ensures that players can't climb just by being passive, so hopefully we can kiss goodbye to the "rat meta" that rose to fame when professional Apex player, Sweet, managed to hit Predator without dealing a single point of damage.
But with all this in mind, Respawn has also removed party restrictions when it comes to Ranked. Where before you could only play with people within the space of one ranking, players can now squad up with any of their friends regardless of where they currently sit. That means your Bronze buddy who was a three-times Pred back in the day, can play in your Diamond lobbies if you want to drag them back into the fray. This promotes team-playing and three-stacking, which we hope will actually be a good thing.
And of course, the rewards for Ranked are also getting a fresh coat of paint this season. Gone are the dive trails from seasons past, which will hopefully stop the absolute divebombing that most Predators and Masters in public matches receive when showcasing their trail out of the dropship. Now that we've seen dive trails added to mythic skins, such as that of Valkyrie's, we were left wondering what the reward would be for Ranked in Season 19.
So now, depending on where you place at the end of the season, players will be rewarded with an animated banner frame reflecting their rank. These banner frames will last indefinitely, so unlike the season-long dive trails, players can rock their Ranked rewards for the rest of time.
The winds of change are rattling through the Outlands, and we hope to see a lot more competitiveness and sweating - in a good, healthy way - once Season 19 goes live on October 31, 2023. In the meantime, be sure to check out everything we know about cross-progression, as well as a complete rundown of the newest legend to join the roster, Conduit.