Apex Legends is testing a change to the way Ranked will work for higher ranked players–Diamond, Masters, and Predators–by banning them from teaming up completely and forcing all higher ranks to solo queue.
Announced officially on social media, the rollout for this test had begun appearing in-game a day beforehand, causing confusion among Apex Legends players who thought they couldn’t team up. According to the developers, the reason for the Ranked test is to create more balanced matches in higher ranks and prevent high-skill players from carrying their friends into Diamond or above.
Apex Legends tries out solo-queue-only for high ranks
The test to Ranked gameplay in Apex Legends will run from June 9 to June 23 during Season 29 (which is already plenty full of changes), and will only impact players in Diamond or above. According to Respawn, the change is meant to “create more evenly matched high-skill lobbies, reduce hard-carries into Diamond, Master and Predator and build trust in the overall fairness of these matches.”
This type of change has been a highly discussed topic in the Apex playerbase for years, which Respawn acknowledged by stating, “while this is a commonly requested feature by portions of our community, we will be closely monitoring community sentiment and match data.”
📋TESTING:
— ApexLiveComms (@ApexLiveComms) May 20, 2026
From June 9th to June 23rd we will be conducting the following test in Ranked:
Ranked will be solo queue only for all players Diamond and above. If you are Diamond or higher, you will not be able to squad up as a premade in Ranked.
Our hypotheses are that this will…
Pro players weigh in
While the majority of the player base will never be impacted by this change, higher ranks have had reason to complain as they will no longer be able to play a multiplayer game with their friends – though they can always jump into public lobbies to terrorize Platinum-ranked players there.
A few pro players have posted their thoughts on the test, with John “Hakis” Håkansson sharing a moderate take that the Ranked change is welcome to balance the highest ranks, but that Diamond-ranked players shouldn’t be included as Diamond will be matched up with Predator players, something Hakis believes will only cause discontent due to the skill-gap between those two ranks.
Solo queue is amazing and 100% needed for the game to fix the power imbalance at the highest ranks so we can finally got some quality gameplay in Ranked.
— Alliance_Hakis (@Alliance_Hakis) May 20, 2026
But Diamond should NOT be forced to solo queue, it should be only Master & Apex Pred that should be solo and then they should… https://t.co/H96r4Nikjw
Jack “NiceWigg” Martin gave his opinion during a livestream of ALGS scrims, agreeing that the idea is sound but that it might be too punishing to include Diamond players, stating “I think the majority of Diamond players that queue with their friends are just gonna quit, and I don’t think that’s a good look for Apex.”
Other players, including retired pro Otto “ottr” Boström, had shorter takes on the change, as he simply tweeted “based as hell” but later wrote “should’ve left it Master+ tbh”.
Based as hell https://t.co/jQ3o0pHCpv
— ottr (@ottrTweets) May 20, 2026
While it might be unpopular among higher ranked players for obvious reasons, it’s good that Apex Legends is testing ways to make the Ranked experience better and more fairly balanced. A short test is the perfect way to find out if this commonly requested addition produces the ideal results, or if it’ll just cause players to hit Diamond and stop playing.
Either way, clear communication and tests are excellent ways to make Apex Legends a better game.
