Apex Legends will add Legend bans to Diamond+ lobbies in November

Apex Legends will introduce Legend bans in Ranked matches containing Diamond players or above in Season 31, scheduled for November. New ranks and a broader overhaul of Ranked Points will follow in Season 32, planned for early 2027.

Published on October 20, the official roadmap sets out the changes in two stages, starting with match conditions and Ranked access before the progression overhaul. Neither season has a confirmed launch day or time.

Legend bans will apply to the whole lobby

In Season 31, any match containing Diamond players or above will use a Legend ban phase and Drop Zone deployment. Because the rule applies to the whole lobby, it can also affect players below Diamond.

Each player will be able to nominate a Legend for a ban. Votes will determine the probabilities used to select banned Legends at random. A vote will therefore influence the outcome without guaranteeing that the nominated character is excluded.

The selected Legends will be unavailable to everyone in that match. All squads will have to build their lineups around the same restrictions. Players who rely on a particular Legend may need to choose another character if theirs is banned.

Entry costs will reflect the lobby’s rank

Season 31 will also introduce Lobby Tier, an indicator shown during loading that reflects the median rank of the squads in the lobby. It will serve as the reference for adjustments to Ranked entry costs.

Squads at least two ranks below the Lobby Tier will receive a reduced entry cost in a Challenger match. Those at least two ranks above it will pay an increased cost in a Goliath match.

The official example uses a Gold lobby. Bronze squads count as Challenger, while the Diamond squad counts as Goliath; Silver, Gold and Platinum fall within the range that receives no adjustment. Squads in the same lobby can therefore face different entry costs according to their rank relative to the field.

These adjustments change the RP at stake when entering a match with squads of different ranks. The size of the reductions and increases has yet to be specified.

Access to Ranked will become simpler as well. Road to Ranked challenges will be removed, leaving account level 20 as the only entry requirement. The studio says it will continue reviewing that threshold. Demotion protection already exists; Season 31 will make its active status more visible in the interface.

Emerald and Grandmaster arrive in early 2027

Season 32 will replace Rookie with Iron and add Emerald, with four divisions, between Platinum and Diamond. Masters will also have four divisions.

Grandmaster will become the highest rank. The Predator badge will require finishing the season among the top 750 in Grandmaster, so earning it will depend on a player’s position at the end of the season.

Diamond, Masters and Grandmaster will form the Pro-Am League, where matches will use Drop Zone and Legend bans. All Open League matches will begin in the Dropship. Alongside the expanded rank ladder, the leagues will have different deployment rules.

Every team kill will award full RP to every player

The Season 32 scoring overhaul will give each kill and each placement a fixed RP value, removing the multiplier that links kill value to placement. Placement will still award points, but that multiplier will no longer affect the RP earned from eliminations.

Every player will also receive the full RP for every kill secured by their team, regardless of their individual contribution. Assist and participation categories will disappear from the calculation. A team elimination will award the same kill RP to each squad member, including those who did not contribute to it.

Entry costs will rise with each division rather than each rank, creating more frequent cost increases as players progress. Without the numerical scoring and entry-cost breakdown, it remains unclear how these changes will affect the pace of climbing.

The rewards preview includes new seasonal auras and new uses for auras, a review of Ranked dive trails, Epic and Legendary Apex Packs, and promotion rewards. Details are due closer to launch.

For November, players entering lobbies containing Diamond competitors or above should be prepared to choose an alternative if their preferred Legend is banned. The broader changes to progression, including equal team-kill RP and the expanded rank ladder, are scheduled for Season 32 in early 2027.

See also the Apex Legends™ game page, our article on Apex Legends: a Wildcard AMA announced on October 14 and our article on Apex Legends: the test announced on October 9 extends the wait.

Official sources

• store.steampowered.com