Based on players’ feedback, Respawn has made many ranked changes in Season 19. Let’s take a quick look at them.
Apex Legends introduced the ranked mode in Season 2. Since then, Respawn has made many small to big changes almost every season. As Apex is a live-service title with an evolving meta, it only makes sense that the ranking system also needs several adjustments.
In Season 17, Respawn made a huge overhaul to the ranked system. Although the changes looked good on paper, the overall outcome was pretty underwhelming, and Respawn received backlash from the community.
To recoup, Respawn again made several adjustments to the ranked in Season 18. The changes were good but not perfect. So, after listening to community feedback, Respawn is again making many adjustments to the current ranked system that’ll be ready to go live with Ignite.
Read More: Apex Legends Season 19 Ignite Battle Pass: First Look, Price & Release Date
Season 19 Ranked Changes
To make the Season 19 ranked balanced, Respawn is introducing a new feature called ‘Promotional Trials’ and making some changes to the already existing ranked system. We’ll go over each change and try to simplify it so you can understand it easily.
Promotional Trials
‘Promotional Trials’ is a new feature added to rank-ups from now on in Ranked BR. Previously, if you needed to rank up from Gold I to Platinum Rank, you just had to cross the 13,000 LP mark by gaining LP. For example, if you had 12,800 LP and gained 300 LP in the rank-up match, you would be directly promoted to Platinum IV, and your LP would be 13,100 after the match ended.
However, that will not be the case from now on. In Season 19, if you have 12,800 LP and you gain 200 or more LP, you will not directly rank up to Platinum IV. Instead, you’ll reach 12,999 LP. After that, you must complete Promotional Trials to rank up to the next tier.
Promotional Trials have 1 main condition or 2 alternative conditions. Completing either of them in the following rank matches will grant you your deserved rank-up. However, don’t worry. You will get up to 5 Promotional Trials matches to complete one of these conditions. You can complete them in the first trial or the last, and the result will be the same because, during the Promotional Trials, you’ll neither gain nor lose LP.
| Trial Tier | Main Condition | Alternative Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Rookie → Bronze | Win a game | During the Trial:3x Top 10 placementGet 3 Kills/Assists |
| Bronze → Silver | Win a game | During the Trial:3x Top 5 placementGet 6 Kills/Assists |
| Silver → Gold | Win a game | In 3 different matches complete both:Place Top 10Get 3 Kills/Assists |
| Gold → Platinum | Win a game | In 3 different matches complete both:Place Top 5Get 6 Kills/Assists |
| Platinum → Diamond | Win a game | N/A |
| Diamond → Master | Win a game | N/A |
What happens if you don’t complete your Promotional Trials within 5 matches? If you don’t pass Promotional Trials within the first 5 matches, you’ll be demoted with LP loss after the 5th match. But how much LP loss? That’ll entirely depend on your performance throughout those 5 matches.
Once you fail to pass the Promotional Trials phase, the number of Promotional Trials matches will increase by 1. This means that you’ll get a maximum of 6 Trials matches when you reach the trials state for the 2nd time. This way, you get up to 7 matches in your 3rd try, 8 in your 4th, and so on. However, the max Promotional Trials matches are capped at 10. So, your number of Promotional Trials matches count will not increase after the 6th try.
And what happens when you win your Promotional Trials? Well, you rank up with an additional 250 LP. This means that if you rank up from Gold I to Platinum IV, your LP will be 13,250.
The main condition for any rank tier is the same, which is to win a game. However, the alternative conditions vary from Rookie to Platinum (refer to the table above.) After Platinum, there are no alternative conditions. Meaning that you must win a rank match to be promoted to the next tier.
Ranked Tuning
As mentioned earlier, Respawn is also making other changes to the existing ranked system. Here are all the changes mentioned by Respawn.
- Increasing the amount of Rating Bonus given to help players’ ranking catch up to their skill bracket.
- Reduce the bonus that is withheld and thus the difficulty of climbing when players are actively pushing against their skill ceiling.
- Provisional Bonuses are adjusted to land players closer to the expected statistical 1.5 tier drop at the end of their 10 provisional games.
Ranking difference restrictions for 3-stack premades have been REMOVED. Players will now be able to play with friends no matter where they are on their climbs—with the caveat that your squad will face more difficult battles if there’s a bigger discrepancy between your skills.
Read More: Apex Legends Season 19 Ignite Full Patch Notes
There you go! Now you know what to expect from Season 19 ranked, and how you can reach the top. We hope our simplified guide helped you learn about every rank related changes the season is bringing to the table.
