Apex Legends Ranked to Add Legend Banning in Season 31

Apex Legends will introduce a Legend banning system to its Ranked mode in Season 31, starting in November.

The feature, detailed in a Ranked Roadmap posted on Steam on October 20, will apply to all matches with at least one Diamond+ player.

Before the drop, players will enter a Banning Phase where each participant selects one Legend for potential removal from the match.

Respawn Entertainment said the goal is to break up dominant metas at high-tier Ranked play and called the feature "long-discussed," both inside the studio and outside it.

The roadmap did not specify how the final ban list is decided from the individual selections, with the post cutting off after describing the initial phase.

The feature will run alongside Drop Zone deployment, meaning any match with Diamond+ players will use it.

Season 31 will also bring scoring adjustments for lobbies with wide skill disparities, which Respawn described as "meaningful," though no specific numbers were provided.

User interface clarity improvements are also planned for the season.

The studio framed these changes as groundwork, saying they provide "tangible value to players and lay the foundation for larger changes that come in Season 32."

Season 32 is scheduled for early 2027 and will introduce the Iron rank below the current entry point, as well as Emerald and Grandmaster tiers.

Respawn has not specified where Emerald fits in the ladder or detailed the structure of the Pro-Am League.

The studio outlined four design goals for Ranked, stating it should be the most competitive way to play, reward everyone who plays, offer more ways to show off accomplishments, and ensure players trust the fairness of competition.

The roadmap "isn't everything," the studio said, promising more changes in the short term and beyond Season 32, with detailed notes to arrive before each season.

The announcement follows a recent test of a solo-only queue for Diamond+ players that was ended after failing to improve match quality.

Apex Legends is free to play on Steam, where it launched on Nov 4, 2020.

The store page currently shows "Mixed" user reviews across 1,074,172 reviews as of October 20, 2026.

Metacritic gives the PC version an 88.

Of the 20 most-helpful reviews checked, 9 were positive and 11 were negative, fitting the Mixed rating, with cheating and bans frequently mentioned.

One positive reviewer, Oh Its Pixels, with 43 hours played, wrote, "The cheating situation my have gotten out of hand but the core of the game is still fantastic."

A negative reviewer, 400 year old egg, with 56 hours, stated, "Good game, Horrible company," after claiming to be banned for "gameplay enhancements" and losing five appeals.

The new Ranked roadmap does not address anti-cheat measures.