Apex Legends’ ranked system and its changes as each season has started and ended have led to big swings in the game’s ranked distribution.
In order, the ranks in Apex Legends are Rookie, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, and Apex Predator.
Ideally, the distribution of those ranks forms a bell curve, as it does in most ranked systems. After all, it wouldn’t make sense for the vast majority of players to be ranked particularly high or low in a ranked system. Those in Platinum, Diamond, and higher are supposed to represent the upper echelon of players on the ladder.
Apex Legends ranked distribution in season 18 (Oct. 2023)
A recent Dev Team Update posted by RSWN_Thieamy on Reddit has given the ranked distribution for Resurrection, two weeks before the season’s end.
Currently, Apex has a ranked distribution as pictured below:
| Rank | Percentage | Rank | Percentage | Rank | Percentage |
| Rookie IV | 0.2 % | Silver IV | 6.1 % | Platinum IV | 2.1 % |
| Rookie III | 2.5 % | Silver III | 7.6 % | Platinum III | 1.9 % |
| Rookie II | 5.8 % | Silver II | 6.7 % | Platinum II | 1.5 % |
| Rookie I | 7.5 % | Silver I | 5.5 % | Platinum I | 1.1 % |
| Bronze IV | 6.1 % | Gold IV | 3.5 % | Diamond IV | 1.2 % |
| Bronze III | 9.2 % | Gold III | 4.1 % | Diamond III | 0.8 % |
| Bronze II | 9.7 % | Gold II | 3.4 % | Diamond II | 0.4 % |
| Bronze I | 9.3 % | Gold I | 2.8 % | Diamond I | 0.2 % |
| Master | 0.6 % | ||||
| Apex Predator | 0.2 % |
The data from the Dev Update only counts Apex accounts who have played five or more hours of ranked, and does not include the statistics from any accounts who fail to meet the qualifying criteria.
Additionally, players can look at previous season ranked breakdowns on the Dev Update reddit thread, or on Apex Legends Status, which has stored the past distribution statistics all the way up to season 9.
What’s a good rank in Apex Legends?
Climbing through the ranks in Apex can be challenging, but if you make it into any of the Silver ranks, you’re already ranked higher than roughly 50 percent of players.
As the Dev Update’s chart shows, many players this season are peaking in Bronze, with even less than usual making it to Silver, or breaking through to Gold.
While getting into Silver is mighty fine, there are still five different categories ranked higher than Silver. Of course, those are ranks that will be filled by the most skilled players, but you shouldn’t feel too down if Silver is the highest you get, as you are within the average of most of the Apex player base.
This wasn’t the case in season 17, however, as there was a record number of Master players which has gone down significantly. The data we have for season 18 shows significant improvements from the last Dev Update’s distribution chart, where Masters accounted for 19.3 percent of the entire ranked player base, a much needed change, as the ease of climbing in the ranks killed off both the player base and their own viewership, and heavily skewed the perceived skill of each rank.
Generally speaking, higher ranks in a ranked system should be harder to achieve. Season 17’s ranked changes allowed any player to achieve their rank without even fighting, with the ranked distribution for the season showing all ranks plateauing at an equal percentage, besides a heavy skew towards Masters.
Despite a rocky start due to rank reset affecting many player’s placement matches, The changes in season 18 have now incentivized and rewarded teams who can both eliminate and outlast enemy squads. Respawn has succeeded in bringing the bell curve back to its original intended state, matching the ranked distribution of previous seasons where most of the player count is under Gold, and the amount of Masters players does not eclipse entire ranked tiers by itself.
