Is 'ratting' a good strategy for ranking up in Apex Legends Season 17?

May 9 this year was a great day initially for every Apex Legends player as it marked the release of the latest season. However, with as much excitement as players were bustling with, things went downhill quickly. While there were positive changes associated with Season 17's release, like map and weapon changes, the cons definitely outweigh them.

The entire Rank system has been an incredible mess, as proclaimed by players across platforms and ranks. Let us discuss the prospects that have been encouraged in the game.

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Is 'ratting' an effective way to play Ranked in Apex Legends?

The concept of ratting is entirely a situational playstyle that should be essential for Apex Legends players to learn.

The art of being a rat in unfavorable situations and making the best out of third-partying when conditions become favorable are definitely marks of what differentiates great players from merely good ones.

It is a skill well learned through fighting tooth and nail in the Ranked ladder, losing teammates in the process, and adapting to unappealing situations. However, ratting essentially is not an effective playstyle for players to grow in the game.

If the end goal for players is to grow as competent gladiators on the battlefield, the ratting playstyle will never get you anywhere. True growth comes from engaging in fights and understanding the elements which call for disengaging at the right time.

A multitude of factors, like taking the call to fight and contesting drop-off areas, contesting high-ground late game, accentuate the true skill and potential of a competent player in Apex Legends.

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Why has the 'rat playstyle' gained so much traction in Season 17?

The failure of the latest Rank system developers at Respawn introduced in Apex Legends is responsible for the growth of a passive and unengaging playstyle in ranked games in Season 17.

While on paper, the new system definitely allows for a more balanced state of games, but however, it has been quite the opposite in reality.

The faulty structure of the new rank system has only a 32 LP entry cost and a fairly low emphasis on the kill count or assist count. This encourages people to simply not engage in any fights and wait till the endgame.

This has been extremely abused by players of all levels making the state of the ranked playlist stale and unenjoyable for the true grinders. The failure to engage makes for slow games that have no action till the endgame.

Since the entry costs are fairly low, players have been able to boost themselves up to undeserving ranks in Season 17. There are concurrently a total of over 1 million players in Masters, which should not be possible and definitely marks the lackluster Rank system Apex Legends offers.

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Ratting is a skill that players should definitely acquire as they progress and learn through the mechanics and difficulties associated with targeting unfavorable situations.

However, simply doing that to primarily push ranks is merely earning a Ranked badge without actually growing as a player. Learning to engage and analyze situations on a real-time basis during fights and rotations are elements that will help one improve their overall gameplay.

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