The midseason split in Apex Legends’ competitive season kicked off today to spice up ranked season seven. Matches will move to World’s Edge for the remainder of the season and players will see a soft reset that will water down their progress.
The first half of ranked season seven took place exclusively on the new map, Olympus. Starting today, however, all competitive games will take place on World’s Edge. In addition to the new arena, season seven also brought in another contestant, Horizon, and players will have a chance to test the boundaries of her kit in World’s Edge outside of casual matches.
The ranked splits determine which rewards players will get at the end of a season. Although the core prize takes into consideration the highest level in either split, players who reach the same rank in both halves of the season get an extra reward.
The split also brings a soft reset, which will drop players’ ratings by 1.5 ranks globally. High-tier players won’t have to worry about grinding all the way from scratch when a new split lands but they’ll still have an incentive to keep playing. Lower-level players, however, may have to start back up from bronze or silver.
Respawn introduced the first ranked split during season four, Assimilation, as a way to spice up the competitive environment. Each split happens around halfway through the season and contains a map change and a soft reset.
As expected, Kings Canyon won’t be a part of this season’s regular map pool in ranked or casual modes. Benching Kings Canyon is important to prevent the map pool from being overwhelming, though. Sticking with two maps is “the sweet spot for people learning [and] mastering maps over a season,” according to design director Jason McCord. The map might return as part of a limited-time mode before the season ends, however.
