Apex Legends Won’t Make High-Rank Solo Queue Permanent
The test left the win-rate gap between the top and bottom 10 Masters teams at 9%, while return rates fell among Diamond-and-above players who usually queued with friends.
Apex Legends will not make high-rank solo queue a permanent Ranked rule after the Overclocked trial failed to improve match quality. Respawn’s matchmaking test results on Steam say the solo-only setup barely changed who won, while a separate party-rank restriction had little effect beyond Diamond and Platinum.
The experiments targeted the advantage of premade squads. Across Ranked, a duo with a solo fill won 19% more often than a team of three solo players, and full premade trios won 17% more often. Respawn also found that 85% of Masters squads were premade three-stacks.
In the first test, players could only party with others within one rank tier, rather than two. Diamond players faced about 8% fewer Diamond opponents and roughly 8% more Platinum opponents. Platinum players saw more Diamond players, but other ranks changed little. Respawn will not make that tighter restriction permanent.
The second trial was the June 30 solo-queue test, which required Diamond, Master, and Predator players to queue alone. Premade top-rank trios disappeared, but match results stayed close to the same. In Masters, the spread between the 10 teams with the highest win rates and the 10 with the lowest remained 9%.
Solo queues also changed how high-ranked players appeared across matches. Apex’s matchmaker selects 60 players with similar RP, sorts them by rank points, then builds squads with one player from each third of that pool. With Masters and Predators no longer grouping together, more squads contained one of those top-tier players, increasing the odds that Diamond players would meet them. The pre-match display did not distinguish a squad with one Master from one with three Predators, which could make a lobby look more intimidating than its overall rank distribution suggested.
Ranked return rates fell among Diamond-and-above players who had been playing in duos and trios. Respawn says it wants to reduce encounters with fully coordinated top-tier squads without keeping friends from queueing together. The biggest Ranked changes informed by these tests are due in Seasons 31 and 32, with more details planned for October.
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Apex Legends
Developed by Respawn Entertainment
Conquer with character in Apex Legends, a free-to-play Hero shooter where legendary characters with powerful abilities team up to battle for fame & fortune on the fringes of the Frontier.
Master an ever-growing roster of diverse Legends, deep tactical squad play and bold new innovations that go beyond the Battle Royale experience—all within a rugged world where anything goes. Welcome to the next evolution of Hero Shooter.
- Genre Shooter, Tactical
- Platforms Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
- Perspective First person
- Modes Multiplayer, Co-operative, Battle Royale
- Release February 4, 2019
- Publisher Electronic Arts
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Age Rating
