If you've been grinding ranked in Season 16 and something feels... off, you're not alone. Riot's Lead Gameplay Designer Matt "Phroxzon" Leung-Harrison just dropped a detailed breakdown of what's happening behind the scenes – and why your climb might feel different this year. 🧗
Haven't checked out the full Patch 26.02 notes yet? Give those a read too – there's a lot going on this season.
Let's break it down like we're analyzing a post-game VOD.
Every new season brings an MMR reset, but this year's hit Apex players (Masters+) particularly hard. According to Phroxzon, there's a reason for this:
The game changes dramatically each season, and Riot wants to give players the opportunity to prove themselves in the new meta rather than coasting on last year's performance. It's basically a "show me what you've got" from Riot – no more resting on those Season 15 laurels.
The trade-off? Early season matchmaking can feel a bit coinflip. Comparing last season's ranks to current matchmaking quality isn't super accurate when everyone's MMR just got blended in Riot's ranked smoothie maker.
💡 The debate continues: Apex players often ask for MMR resets, but then complaints roll in when matchmaking feels wonky. Riot's running a poll to gauge community sentiment for next season's approach.
Here's something interesting: the best players are getting better relative to everyone else, season over season. This means peak LP keeps climbing higher, and those sweet +30 LP gains are sticking around longer than usual in certain regions.
What this means for you:
So if you're sitting in Masters wondering why the LP requirements feel steeper, it's not your imagination. The competition is literally getting better. Time to level up or get left in the dust. 💨
Duo queue in Apex ranks has always been a spicy topic, and this season brought some... creative interpretations of the rules. Some players were finding ways to game the system through de-ranking or account sharing shenanigans, and Riot wasn't having it.
The current state of duo restrictions:
| Your Rank | Can Duo With |
|---|---|
| Master | Diamond 1 ↔ Grandmaster |
| Grandmaster | Master ↔ Challenger |
| Challenger | Grandmaster |
These restrictions were pushed early (originally planned for Patch 16.2) after community concerns about Apex duo queue abuse.
Riot also increased the duo penalty this season to better reflect the actual advantage duos get. This might make some matches look weird on paper – like when a team with two duo pairs has noticeably lower average ranks than the enemy team. That's the system working as intended, evening out the communication advantage.
💡 Phroxzon's take: "It's a shame that a few bad actors ruin things for everyone." Riot plans to crack down harder on de-ranking and account sharing going forward.
One change that didn't make it into the Season Start patch: improved autofill matching. The goal was to better balance autofills by role and ensure teams have equal numbers of autofilled players.
Unfortunately, the risk of shipping it wasn't worth rushing it in. Expect this improvement to deploy in an upcoming patch. For now, if you're getting autofilled jungle while the enemy jungler is a one-trick... yeah, Riot knows. They're working on it. 🛠️
Early season always has some jank, but here's the specific cocktail creating that ranked roulette feeling:
So when that "Platinum" player on the enemy team is absolutely gap-ping your lane, there's probably a reason. The system knows they're better than their border suggests. 👀
Riot acknowledges this stuff is complicated and appreciates the patience. They're using this season's data to improve things for next year.
In the meantime, focus on what you can control: your own gameplay. The LP will follow. 🎮
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