Respawn finally spilled the beans on everything they have in store for competitive-ranked junkies in the upcoming season 10 of Apex Legends, now known as “Emergence.”
The biggest addition to the upcoming season 10 ranked will definitely be the new Arenas ranked mode. While the developers hinted in the past that their new Arenas game mode would eventually get a ranked variant, it is all but confirmed now as Respawn officially announced it.
Aside from the new ranked game mode, there will also be changes to the MMR (matchmaking rating) system that is responsible for putting players of similar skills against each other in the ranked lobby.
In terms of the main battle royale ranked mode, Respawn decided not to introduce any drastic changes. As season 10 will bring out a completely new ranked experience, Respawn decided to leave their main ranked mode unchanged.
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Arenas Ranked Explained
MMR Changes
Similar to other MMR systems, Respawn will use these two measures listed below to get an accurate measurement of your skill in the game.
- Your rank, which is your visible skill rating (e.g., Bronze, Silver, Gold, all the way up to Predator, just like the BR ranking system).
- An underlying MMR (matchmaking rating) score, a number that is invisible to everyone, including you. This is the number Resoawn would use to determine who you should be matched against in Ranked Arenas.
Furthermore, getting an accurate assessment of a player’s MMR would allow Respawn to quickly adjust MMR to keep your rank stable. In short, if your MMR is closer to the Diamond, then with each win, you will receive more ranking points that will help you climb to Diamond faster, while losing matches will only result in you losing fewer ranking points.
However, after reaching your true rank, it will be much harder for players to actually climb to the next rank, as with each new win, you will gain fewer Arenas points(AP).
Placements
When you first play Ranked Arenas, you start in placement matches. Your performance over these 10 matches will determine your initial MMR and your starting rank. MMR variance is wider initially, so these first ten matches might be stomp-or-get-stomped until your MMR settles more.
Arenas is a head-to-head fight between two teams, so awarding ranked Arenas Points is more cut and dry than in the 20-team Battle Royale. This means there is no entry cost and no AP for kills. Everything comes down to getting the win.
AFK Penalty & Loss Forgiveness in Arenas Ranked
Similar to Ranked BR, Respawn will maintain competitive integrity in Ranked Arenas. Players who abandon a Ranked Arenas match will be hit with a temporary matchmaking ban and will be unable to queue for Ranked Arenas until the ban is over. Along with this, if you have a teammate who abandons you, you will receive loss forgiveness for that match. With loss forgiveness, you won’t lose any AP and, at worst, will earn 0 AP for that match.
Party Restrictions
The same party rank restrictions for Ranked BR will also be in effect for Ranked Arenas. Starting at Platinum, you won’t be able to queue for Ranked Arenas with party members more than 1 tier away. This means that Platinum players can queue with Gold but not with Silver party members. Gold players can still queue with their Bronze friends. Matchmaking will consider whether or not you’re partied and always try to match your team to a similarly skilled team.
Arenas Map Rotation
Ranked Arenas will share the same overall map schedule as unranked Arenas. Party Crasher, Phase Runner, and Overflow will be in rotation along with one BR location that changes every two weeks. The Emergence update has three new BR locations that will replace the ones from Apex Legends: Legacy. These will once again be one location from each BR map.
- King’s Canyon – Hillside
- World’s Edge – Dome
- Olympus – Oasis
Maps in Ranked Arenas will change once an hour, while unranked Arenas will continue to rotate every 15 minutes.

Emergence Ranked Split Dates
World’s Edge will be back for the first split, which is currently scheduled to begin August 3, 2021, and will end on September 21, 2021. The second split will be on the Kings Canyon map, where the remainder of the season will be played out. Also, the Arenas Ranked mode won’t have any split similar to the battle royale mode.
Unfortunately, the ranked rewards, like the dive trails and rank-specific weapon charms, have not been officially revealed as of writing. We’ll definitely keep an eye on that one.