Based on documents published up to Nov 3, 2025
Season 27: Amped
Season start: Nov 4, 2025
Amped is Season 27, live from November 4, 2025. Ranked leans toward earning: both kill points and the Challenger Bonus go up, and the season runs twelve 3-day ladders — the most of any season here. Pulling the other way, Heat Shields leave core BR, so there is less escaping the ring. Olympus gets a major overhaul.
At a glance
- Twelve 3-day ranked ladders from November 13 to February 8, with an 11-day gap over the year end
- Kill points rise across placements — a kill in first place goes from 20 to 22 RP
- The Challenger Bonus goes up a step too: a one-tier gap pays 20% instead of 15%
- Heat Shields are removed from core BR modes; ring damage has to be taken
- Every Legend gets Mantle Boost, and Olympus is rebuilt POI by POI
Ranked ladder calendar
| Ladder | Window | Span |
|---|---|---|
| Ladder 1 | 11/13 – 11/16 | 3 days |
| Ladder 2 | 11/20 – 11/23 | 3 days |
| Ladder 3 | 11/27 – 11/30 | 3 days |
| Ladder 4 | 12/4 – 12/7 | 3 days |
| Ladder 5 | 12/11 – 12/14 | 3 days |
| Ladder 6 | 12/25 – 12/28 | 3 days |
| Ladder 7 | 1/1 – 1/4 | 3 days |
| Ladder 8 | 1/8 – 1/11 | 3 days |
| Ladder 9 | 1/15 – 1/18 | 3 days |
| Ladder 10 | 1/22 – 1/25 | 3 days |
| Ladder 11 | 1/29 – 2/1 | 3 days |
| Ladder 12 | 2/5 – 2/8 | 3 days |
The dates exactly as the patch notes print them. No timezone is given there.
Kill points go up across the board: 22 RP for a kill in first
The table of kill points by placement is raised from top to bottom. The examples the notes give cover both ends, so the lower placements gain too. Season 26 had just tightened kill points by placement, so this loosens that grip by a step.
- Kill in 1st place: 20 → 22 RP
- Kill in 2nd place: 18 → 20 RP
- Kill in 11th–15th: 6 → 8 RP
- No change listed to entry cost or to placement points
What it means if you track your rank
A match that ends early hurts less. At 8 RP a kill in 11th–15th, clawing back the entry cost is realistic again, which shortens the downward spikes on an RP curve.
Sources: Apex Legends™: Amped Patch Notes / Apex Legends™: Showdown Patch Notes
Beating someone above you pays five points more at every step
The bonus for killing someone in a tier above you goes up five percentage points at each of the one-, two- and three-tier gaps. The stepped shape itself only arrived in Season 26, so this is an upward revision one season later. The notes say nothing about gaps of four tiers or more.
- One-tier gap: +15% → +20%
- Two-tier gap: +25% → +30%
- Three-tier gap: +35% → +40%
- Gaps of four tiers or more are not mentioned in the notes
What it means if you track your rank
The climb from below gains the most. In the bands where you meet players above you most often — mid-climb Gold and Platinum — the RP curve steepens.
Sources: Apex Legends™: Amped Patch Notes / Apex Legends™: Showdown Patch Notes
Twelve 3-day ladders — the high-water mark before the count falls
Twelve three-day windows from November 13 to February 8 — roughly one a week, except for the eleven days between the fifth closing on December 14 and the sixth opening on December 25. The Ladder Champion Dive Trail also gets cheaper: two completions instead of three.
- Twelve windows of three days — 36 competitive days in total
- Four days between windows, except the eleven between the fifth and sixth
- Dive Trail requirement: three completions → two
What it means if you track your rank
With this many windows, no single one carries much weight and you can pick your weekends. The count falls to ten in Season 28, six in Season 29 and five in Season 30 — five days each by then — so this is the last season where skipping one is cheap.
Sources: Apex Legends™: Amped Patch Notes
Heat Shields leave core BR: no more parking outside the ring
The item that shuts off ring damage is removed from the core battle royale modes. Season 26 had already disabled it in Ranked; this season takes it out everywhere in core BR.
- Disabled in Ranked in Season 26, removed from core BR in Season 27
- Tridents are reworked alongside: 800 health, destructible, with gliding and a boost meter
What it means if you track your rank
Closing in from outside the ring late is off the table, so holding position inside it is worth more. Placement-led play gains; circling the edge to third-party loses.
Sources: Apex Legends™: Amped Patch Notes / Apex Legends™: Showdown Patch Notes
Olympus rebuilt POI by POI, with cover added to the open ground
Ranked rotates Olympus, Broken Moon and World's Edge, and Olympus is the one that changed. Four POIs are swapped out, and large amounts of cover are added to rotation routes that had little. The Rift stops sucking players in and becomes a Horizon Lift, and Trident barriers are pulled out across the map.
- New POIs: Somers University, Gravity Engine, Stabilizer, Dockyard
- Phase Driver loot cooldown: 45 seconds → 90 seconds
- Two extra doors at the central chokepoint of Carrier
What it means if you track your rank
More cover makes a ring-driven rotation survivable, so fewer matches end melting on the edge. It gives back on the map some of what removing Heat Shields took away.
Sources: Apex Legends™: Amped Patch Notes
Mantle Boost for everyone, and reworks for Valkyrie, Rampart and Horizon
Mantle Boost — extra velocity on a timed input after a mantle — is added to every Legend. Valkyrie's VTOL recharges an order of magnitude faster, and Rampart's walls gain health as she gains Evo levels. On weapons, the Peacekeeper and Charge Rifle lose top-end damage, the Triple Take returns to the floor and the C.A.R. enters the care package.
- Valkyrie VTOL recharge delay 8s → 2.5s, recharge time ~10.9s → 3s
- Rampart wall health: 400 → 800 at max Evo
- Peacekeeper full burst 108 → 99, clip size 6 → 5
- Charge Rifle max damage 110 → 99, damage falloff starts at 75m instead of 50m
Sources: Apex Legends™: Amped 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.