With Apex Legends' first official Ranked Series winding to a close and another fresh season looming on the horizon, competitive players are gunning for those highly coveted Ranked Points harder than ever. This means that everyone is bringing their A-game to the Ranked queues, and that you're going to need to do the same if you're still grinding ranks to secure those sweet exclusive rewards for the next tier.
If you're still struggling to pack away Ranked Points or you seem to have hit the dreaded "Gold Wall," don't panic yet. You might just need to adopt a few new tips, tricks, or strategies to up your game, which is precisely why we're here today. Keep scrolling to check out ten pro tips for upping your game in the ranked leagues of Apex Legends and take a few of them back to the grind with you.
10 Get A Pre-Made Team Together
This one might be a little obvious, and frankly, it's not always an option due to scheduling conflicts. Still, the fact is that playing with a team that's familiar offers infinitely more benefits than queuing up and crossing your fingers for a decent line-up.
You'll communicate more comfortably and effectively, know how to work with one another's playstyles, and cut down on the possibility of working with dead weight or outright unfriendly partners. As a bonus, you can plan out your squad composition to maximize each squadmate's potential. Besides, nothing's more frustrating than winding up with a random teammate that thinks they're better off playing as a one-man army.
9 Establish Communication With Your Randoms
Queuing up with randoms isn't an ideal situation to begin with, but there's no need to make it any worse by completely disregarding them. If you're queuing alone or with a single friend, take the extra step to extend an olive branch towards your randomly selected companion. It might just be a match-winning move.
While Apex's contextual ping system works wonders for team communication, establishing contact via the mic allows you to share much more specific and crucial information. If you're in a party, invite them. You might just wind up with a solid third teammate to include in the squad for your next match.
8 Make Friends With A Pathfinder (Or Just Be One)
Almost every Legend's set of abilities have the potential to be game winning moves in clutch situations, but the most tactically beneficial has to be Pathfinder's zipline and grappling hook. With these, the player --and, by extension, their squad-- can claim otherwise unreachable high ground positions that are critical in spotting targets and winning gunfights.
These abilities continuously pay dividends as the ring constricts and advantageous positions become increasingly limited. Having a Pathfinder on board ensures that they're always reachable, whether you're looking to seize them for an advantage or desperately need a way to counter a team that's already set up in a hard to reach spot.
7 Quiet Drops Are The Best Drops
Skulltown, Singh Labs, and practically any drop site designated as a hot zone should be completely stricken from your menu as the Jumpmaster. In Ranked Mode, you're presumably being matched with players that are every bit as good as you are, and chances are you won't be walking out alive.
That may seem like a defeatist attitude, but it's a simple matter of playing the numbers. Hot drop situations are easily the most lethal in the game, and dying there is the best way to lose those valuable ranked points. Dropping further out and later than the rest alone will likely get you into tenth place as a minimum, which scores you two ranked points just for dropping smart.
6 Survival Is Key
Put simply, avoiding unnecessary gunfights will likely score you more ranked points than the potential kills are even capable of being worth. RP scored from kills is capped off at five points per game, while just surviving into the top three will net you seven. Managing to actually win the game is worth a staggering twelve ranked points.
Playing it low, slow, and sneaky pays off. It reduces the frustrating instances of being victimized by a third party ambush, results in much more consistent RP gain, and will inevitably get you through the ranks much faster than challenging every single squad that crosses your path.
5 Cut Your Losses
This might make for a controversial entry, but once in a while cutting and running will end up being the strategy that prevents RP loss. The context varies wildly, but the only solution to an unwinnable situation is getting as far away from it as possible, even if that means leaving a teammate or two behind.
There might be a particularly reckless teammate that keeps making bad pushes. Downed squadmates might be too risky to rescue. Or it could be as simple as a toxic player that can't seem to stop screaming into their microphone. In any of these cases, it's worth considering the prospect of leaving them to their own devices. Besides, they might be thankful if you can carry them into a placement that saves their RP.
4 Always Have A Sniper
While sniping wasn't incredibly popular at launch, it's become increasingly prevalent with balancing changes that have exponentially increased its lethality. Being stuck behind cover with no recourse as an enemy squad rains fire from afar is one of the worst situations to be in, and the simple solution is to ensure that one can respond in kind.
Even having just one squadmate kitted out with a sniper rifle opens up a bevy of tactical options. Out sniping the other team doesn't necessarily need to be the name of the game, either. One squadmate returning fire to draw attention while the other two find routes to flank or close the gap is a remarkably effective strategy.
3 Squad Morale Is Important
Beyond ensuring that everyone is, you know, actually having fun playing a video game, being a positive influence on the squad is more important than most give it credit for. Beyond practically guaranteeing that no-one will want to join up with you, unloading verbal diatribes on your squadmates isn't going to make reviving you seem like an enticing prospect.
Players generally perform better when they feel good about what they're doing. So, when they land that perfect headshot, let them know that somebody noticed. If they're a newer player, offer advice and tips instead of petulant whinging. It should go without saying, but they'll be a bit more receptive, and a lot more likely to help when it's needed.
2 Being The Third Party
While being the third party in a gunfight is obviously an ideal situation to be in, there are a few finer points to pulling it off that often go ignored, often with disastrous results. The most important point to mention is timing. Observing and waiting until one squad has won the initial fight is key, as the surviving combatants will likely be injured.
Their first orders of business, typically, will be looting their kills and reviving their fallen squadmates. Both of these actions leave them exposed, stationary, and inattentive, making them ripe for headshots or close range ambushes that will drop them before they even know they're being hit.
1 ABF - Always Be Flanking
This is advice that can be applied to practically every gunfight. Whether they're being met head-on or they've managed to get the drop on the player's squad, smart and precise repositioning by a single squadmate can immediately flip the table on any situation.
Once shots are fired, chances are that the enemy squad is already focused on their targets. If you're the target, lose that attention as quickly as possible. If not, get outside of and behind the action by any means necessary. Octane and Pathfinder are professionals here. Map knowledge is also crucial for knowing which routes to take.
