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Based on documents published up to May 4, 2026

Season

Season 25: Prodigy

Season start:

Prodigy is Season 25, live from May 6, 2025. For ranked it is the season that changed how you are placed when a season opens: on tracked skill rather than on the RP you happened to end with. The ladder system itself is announced here for the first time. Sparrow joins as a new Legend, and Arenas returns as a limited-time mode.

At a glance

  • Season-start placement now follows tracked skill, not the RP balance you finished with
  • Players who skipped seasons are no longer dropped to Bronze IV on principle
  • Ranked ladders are announced: a personal leaderboard over your best 10 RP scores, with no dates given
  • Platinum and above wait longer in queue in exchange for closer-skilled opponents
  • Sparrow arrives as a Recon Legend, and Arenas returns for two limited-time phases
Ranked

Season placement — where a season opens is decided by skill, not by leftover RP

Initial rank and tier at the start of a season are set from the tracked skill value for that player, not from how much RP they had when the last season ended. Players new to ranked are placed on overall performance too. The principle holds in the seasons that follow; Season 29 fixes a bug in it at the tier boundaries.

  • changedPlacement reads the tracked skill value; the previous season's RP balance is not used
  • changedPlayers who skipped seasons are no longer reset to Bronze IV as a rule
  • changedPlayers new to ranked are seeded from overall performance
“initial Rank and tier placement is based on the player's tracked skill value and not how much RP they had at the end of the season”
Quoted from the source: Apex Legends™: Prodigy Patch Notes

Sources: Apex Legends™: Prodigy Patch Notes / Apex Legends™: Overclocked Patch Notes

Ranked

Ladders announced — a personal board over your best 10 matches

A personal, skill-banded leaderboard is announced for later in the split. It ranks your best 10 RP scores and needs at least 10 matches before you place, with rewards for completing it. Ranked Challenges — a minimum number of matches to earn the end-of-season rewards — and the Ladder Champion Dive Trail are announced alongside. No calendar is given at this point.

  • changedScored on your best 10 RP results
  • changedAt least 10 matches are needed to be placed
  • changedNo dates yet — Season 27 is where a table of twelve windows first appears

Sources: Apex Legends™: Prodigy Patch Notes / Apex Legends™: Amped Patch Notes

Matchmaking

Matchmaking — the top bands trade queue time for closer-skilled opponents

Platinum, Diamond, Masters and Predator wait longer so that opponents can be matched more closely. Region populations are also merged automatically to widen the pool, without letting latency climb too far.

  • changedLonger queues start at Platinum
  • changedRegions are merged automatically to keep the pool large without adding much latency

Sources: Apex Legends™: Prodigy Patch Notes

LegendsNew Legend

Sparrow — a new Legend with a double jump, and recon you place and leave

Sparrow arrives as a Recon Legend. Her passive is a mid-air double jump that launches her up walls when climbing. Her tactical is the Tracker Dart, fired from a gauntlet, revealing enemies who cross its line of sight and activating survey beacons remotely. Her ultimate, Stinger Bolt, anchors and pulses shock damage and slows around it.

  • changedA Level 2 upgrade adds a tactical charge and two more traps
  • changedAt Level 3 the ultimate can hold three charges, with fewer pulses over a smaller radius
  • changedSparrow is unlocked for everyone for the first two weeks of the season

Sources: Apex Legends™: Prodigy Patch Notes

Legends1 up, 3 down

Class perks — Assault and Skirmisher cut back, Pathfinder buffed

Assault loses the scan on cracking a shield, and the health bar it reveals lingers for less time; its move-speed bonus now applies only while sprinting. Skirmisher loses the tactical charge it got back on a knock. Among individual Legends, Pathfinder improves substantially while Ash's ultimate takes longer to travel.

nerfedAssault

  • nerfedThe scan on cracking a shield is removed
  • nerfedHealth bar lingers 4s3s
  • nerfedThe move-speed bonus applies only while sprinting

nerfedSkirmisher

  • nerfedNo longer regains a tactical charge on a knock

buffedPathfinder

  • buffedGrapple cooldown: a flat 30s10–30s by distance
  • buffedDamage mitigation on the Zipline Gun 25%50%

nerfedAsh

  • nerfedThe ultimate takes longer to travel

Sources: Apex Legends™: Prodigy Patch Notes

Weapons & loot1 up, 2 down

Weapons and Arenas — the Bocek carries its own arrows, and Arenas comes back for a while

The Bocek and the Havoc return to floor loot and the Triple Take takes their place in the care package. The Bocek loses a lot of top-end charge damage but now carries its own reserve of arrows, retrievable after they are fired. Snipers hit harder on limbs. On the mode side, the round-based 3v3 Arenas returns for two limited-time phases.

nerfedBocek

  • nerfedMax charge damage 7555
  • buffedCarries its own 40-arrow reserve, and fired arrows can be picked back up

nerfedHavoc

  • nerfedDamage 2119
  • nerfedSelectfire removed

buffedSniper limb multipliers

  • buffedCharge Rifle 0.70.9
  • buffedLongbow 0.70.8
  • buffedSentinel 0.70.9

In and out

  • changedBocek and Havoc back on the floor
  • changedTriple Take into the care package

Arenas

  • changedFirst phase: May 6–19
  • changedSecond phase: May 20 – June 23

Sources: Apex Legends™: Prodigy Patch Notes

Sources

Each entry is a summary with our own commentary, not a translation of the original. The primary documents it rests on are listed at the end of the write-up.