Almost every season in Apex Legends these days seems to bring some new twist to the ranked system, and the ranked distribution has changed accordingly.
The game is always seeking to hit that perfect bell curve from Bronze all the way up to Master, but that can be a difficult dream to achieve, as any developer will tell you. So, just how many people are actually above you if you find yourself wasting away in Silver? Here’s the ranked distribution in Apex.
Apex Legends ranked distribution in season 22 (October 2024)
It’s been about a year since Respawn unveiled their official numbers for the ranked distribution in Apex, but here’s what the current playerbase looks like in the game according to Apex Legends Status.
| Rank | Percentage | Rank | Percentage | Rank | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rookie IV | 6.8 percent | Silver IV | 2.7 percent | Platinum IV | 10.6 percent |
| Rookie III | 1.2 percent | Silver III | 3.7 percent | Platinum III | 8.7 percent |
| Rookie II | 1.1 percent | Silver II | 3.4 percent | Platinum II | 6.7 percent |
| Rookie I | 1.0 percent | Silver I | 2.9 percent | Platinum I | 5.6 percent |
| Bronze IV | 7.0 percent | Gold IV | 4.2 percent | Diamond IV | 8.5 percent |
| Bronze III | 3.1 percent | Gold III | 4.8 percent | Diamond III | 1.4 percent |
| Bronze II | 2.7 percent | Gold II | 4.5 percent | Diamond II | 0.7 percent |
| Bronze I | 2.5 percent | Gold I | 4.2 percent | Diamond I | 0.5 percent |
| Master | 1.1 percent | ||||
| Apex Predator | 0.4 percent |
There is one issue with this data: It’s taken from all active players in the game that have played ranked this season, but it’s impossible to tell just how much of ranked those players have played. Hence, you get a ton of people in Rookie IV and Bronze IV, the ranks people will simply sit at passively if they only play a couple games of ranked but mostly stick to pubs.
When Respawn actually publishes ranked distribution numbers, their solution for this is to filter out all players who haven’t met a certain threshold of time spent playing ranked games (usually somewhere between five and 10 hours). The reasoning behind this filtering is players who have spent more than that amount of time playing ranked in a season are more representative of the ranked playerbase across the full length of a season, and are a better indication of how the ranked system is working.
As for the current info from Apex Legends Status, ranked is in a bit of a weird spot. Platinum is actually the most populated rank in the game by far, even without accounting for Bronze and Rookie’s inflated ranks. There’s also a steep drop-off at Diamond IV, which might indicate that while it’s not very difficult to rank up that high at the moment, there’s a big difference between the playstyle and skill that can get you into Platinum or Diamond and those elements in a Master or Predator player.
What’s a good rank in Apex Legends?
A good rank in the game is entirely subjective to you and your own goals for playing. If you’re aiming to be in the top half of the playerbase and be “above average” according to the game’s ranked system, you’ll want to shoot for hitting Gold II, which cracks into the top 50 percent of all players playing ranked currently, according to Apex Legends Status.
Personally, I’d aim for Platinum to satisfy my competitive drive and desire to consider myself an above-average player, as that’s where so much of the playerbase has congregated at the end of season 22. Just remember that as you rank up, opponents will get smarter and better with their weapons, and you might be forced to play the game a little differently than you have been up to this point.
And, as always, keep in mind that your rank in this game does not mean all that much. There are plenty of players that never play ranked or sit at the bottom of ranked tables every season who are incredibly good at the game. They just prefer to spend their time playing pubs or non-battle royale modes, many of them honing their individual gunskill and movement abilities. How you have fun in this game is totally up to you, after all. And there have been several situations in past seasons where even hitting a rank as high as Masters truly didn’t mean anything at all thanks to a change in the game’s ranked system at the time which allowed people to just hide in ranked matches to try to get high placement, never having to fight.
Then again, that rush of seeing the winner’s screen at the end of an Apex match is still a good one. And knowing people are generally trying just a little bit harder in ranked still gives those wins just a little bit extra kick. You know what? I think it’s time to grind.
