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Apex Legends Ranked Roadmap Sets Legend Bans and a Pro-Am Split
The Apex Legends Ranked roadmap will reshape the competitive mode across Seasons 31 and 32. Its confirmed plans range from Legend Banning and lobby-tier rules to new ranks and immediate promotion rewards.
The first changes arrive in November 2026
The Apex Legends Ranked roadmap is divided into two main phases. The first begins with Season 31 in November 2026 and directly affects Diamond-and-above matches. Those games will use both the Drop Zone system and the new Legend Banning feature. This opening phase therefore changes how high-tier lobbies begin and how the available legend selection is determined.
Season 32, scheduled for early 2027, will then divide Ranked into Open and Pro-Am competition. Its second phase introduces the revised rank structure, changes to Masters and the new Grandmaster tier. Rather than placing every feature into one release, the announced roadmap separates the system updates of Season 31 from the broader competitive structure coming in Season 32.
Legend Ban votes become weighted probabilities
Under the new Legend Banning system, every player will nominate a character they want removed. The total number of votes received by each legend will determine that character's probability of being banned. The system will then make a random selection according to those percentages. The most nominated option is therefore not guaranteed to win; player choices instead create the weighted pool used for the final result.
Legend Banning will operate alongside Drop Zone in Diamond-and-above matches during Season 31. Once the Open and Pro-Am split arrives in Season 32, both bans and Drop Zone will be used on the Pro-Am side, which contains Diamond, Masters and Grandmaster. The roadmap consequently defines the competitive section and rank range in which these two systems will remain active.
Challenger and Goliath use the lobby median
For wide-skill matches, the lobby tier will be calculated from the median of every squad in the match. Squads whose rank sits at least two tiers below that lobby tier will receive Challenger status and pay a reduced entry cost. Their RP cost for entering the match will therefore reflect the size of the gap between their rank and the overall lobby level.
Squads at least two tiers above the calculated lobby level will instead be classified as Goliath and pay a higher entry cost. Season 32 also simplifies RP scoring: kills and placement will award fixed RP, while the multiplier connecting those two sources will be removed. Road to Ranked is being retired as well, leaving Account Level 20 as the sole stated access requirement for Ranked.
Iron, Emerald and Grandmaster reshape progression
When Season 32 begins in early 2027, Iron will replace Rookie. Emerald will sit between Platinum and Diamond and mark the boundary between Open and Pro-Am. Emerald itself will contain four divisions. Within this structure, reaching Diamond moves a player into Pro-Am, whose rank range consists of Diamond, Masters and the newly introduced Grandmaster tier.
Masters will also be divided into four divisions. Grandmaster becomes the highest tier in the standard progression structure, while the top 750 players at the end of the season will earn the Predator badge. Predator is therefore represented in the announced plan as an end-of-season leaderboard distinction awarded to that leading group rather than another regular progression tier.
Ranked rewards arrive at the moment of promotion
The rewards overhaul includes seasonal auras and new ways to use those auras. Dive trails will also be revisited, while Epic and Legendary Apex Packs are listed among the planned rewards. The announcement identifies these reward categories without providing a complete tier-by-tier distribution of every pack or cosmetic item included in the new structure.
Players will receive a reward immediately when they earn a promotion, connecting the achievement to the moment their rank increases instead of requiring a wait until the season ends. Taken together, the Season 31 bans, Drop Zone and scoring changes and the Season 32 Open and Pro-Am structure cover Ranked access, match costs, progression, top-level recognition and the presentation of competitive accomplishments.
Source: Steam News