Pros and streamers react to Apex season 13 ranked changes

The newest season of Apex Legends is less than a week away, and with it comes significant changes to the game’s ranked system. Respawn announced the sweeping changes today, shortly after a large leak revealed many changes to come in season 13.

Several top streamers and pros were quick to react to the revamp, with many of the game’s most popular players clearly happy with changes like kill points being awarded to a full team and tier demotion.

Respawn senior producer Josh Medina revealed that the studio invited several prominent players, including TSM member Mac “Albralelie” Beckwith, to have conversations about what the studio should look to change in ranked. And according to Cloud9 coach Jamison “PVPX” Moore, it seems like the Apex team largely agreed with what those players had to say.

While most top players seemed pleased with the ranked changes, one particular change that will go live with the new season has split opinions a bit more: finishing downed players for kill points after the team that knocked them already died. Some praised the change, expressing distaste for players getting credit for kills that a different team had knocked. Other players, like TSM’s Christian “Noko” Feliciano, weren’t so sure.

Finishing downed players (or thirsting knocks, as it’s commonly called) has become important in the professional Apex meta. Teams that position themselves for third-party opportunities stand to gain three kill points by thirsting knocks instead of just one or two, but don’t have to open themselves to the dangers of a full three-vs-three fight. 

While earning kill points for thirsting knocks might not be “fair,” considering the team finishing the knocked players weren’t the ones who actually knocked the player down, it’s still become part and parcel of the pro game. Now, it seems this practice will go away.

Despite some misgivings about some changes, the feedback from most pros and streamers seems to be overwhelmingly positive. We’ll see if those opinions hold when the new version of Apex ranked launches with season 13 on May 10.