Two Legends are removed from every Diamond lobby in Season 31, and a weighted draw decides which, so even the most voted pick is never a guaranteed ban.
Two bans per match, one request per player and a pool of at least four candidates: those are the numbers behind Legend banning, the Ranked feature that arrived with Apex Legends Season 31, Cipher, on Tuesday 3 November 2026. EA set out the rules in the Cipher patch notes and the reasoning in its Ranked roadmap from 20 October. Here is who gets to vote, when the vote happens, how the draw works and which Legends look most exposed.
Legend bans at a glance
| Rule | Season 31 |
|---|---|
| Where | Ranked matches in Diamond lobbies and above |
| Live since | 3 November 2026, the start of Season 31 |
| Requests per player | 1 |
| Legends banned per match | 2 |
| How they are chosen | Random draw, weighted by each Legend’s share of the requests |
| Smallest possible pool | 4 different Legends |
| How long a ban lasts | One match |
Who gets to ban, and in which matches
Bans follow the lobby, not your own badge. EA has tied the feature to Drop Zone deployment, the high rank format where each squad is assigned a landing spot before Legend select, and its roadmap says any match with Diamond or higher players will use it. EA’s Ranked help page describes Drop Zone matches as lobbies that meet a certain threshold of Diamond, Master and Apex Predator players, and the loading screen tells you when you are in one.
Inside such a match every player has one request, whether you queue solo or in a premade squad. Ranked lobbies that still start from the Dropship have no ban phase, and the feature does not exist outside Ranked.
When the vote happens
The ban phase sits at the very start of the match, before anyone picks a Legend:
- Request. Each player names one Legend they want removed. A timer runs, and the phase ends when everyone has chosen or the timer expires.
- Tally. All requests are counted, and every requested Legend is shown with its chance of being banned.
- Draw. The system picks two Legends at random, using those percentages.
- Legend select. Players pick as normal, but nobody in the lobby can choose the two banned Legends in that match.
EA’s help page adds that each player can also signal a Legend they do not want banned. EA has not said how long the request timer runs.
How the draw works
A Legend’s chance of being banned equals its share of all requests. EA’s own example is a lobby where Wraith receives 80% of the requests: she then has an 80% chance of going on the first selection, not a 100% one.
That is by design. EA considered simply banning the most voted Legends and dropped the idea, writing in the roadmap that such a system “creates its own banning meta”, the opposite of what bans are meant to do.
A Ranked match holds 20 squads of three, so up to 60 requests are in play. In a full lobby where everybody votes, the first draw looks like this:
| Requests for one Legend | Chance on the first draw |
|---|---|
| 1 of 60 (one player) | 1.7% |
| 3 of 60 (a full squad) | 5% |
| 15 of 60 | 25% |
| 30 of 60 | 50% |
| 48 of 60 | 80% |
Two details are worth knowing. If the lobby requests fewer than four different Legends, the system fills the pool from the previous week’s most played Legends, giving each of them one request, until four are in the draw. And the number of bans is not fixed for good: the patch notes say the system “currently” selects two. EA has not explained how the odds are recalculated for the second ban once the first Legend is out.
What bans mean for the meta
The practical effect is that no Diamond player can rely on one Legend any more.
- One-tricks need a second and third pick. Any Legend can be drawn if a single player requests it, and popular ones will be requested in most lobbies.
- Squads cannot plan around a ban either. Three teammates voting together move the odds by five percentage points in a full lobby. That helps, but it does not remove a Legend you fear.
- The meta should rotate from match to match. With a random draw there is no fixed ban list to build a composition around, which is exactly what EA is aiming for.
- Popular Legends are exposed even in quiet lobbies. When few players bother to vote, the fallback pulls from last week’s most played Legends.
EA says it will watch how bans affect Legend selection and keep adjusting the system.
Which Legends are most likely to be banned
EA has not published ban rates, so there is no official list of the most banned Legends. The best public guide is who is played most at the top, since those are both the Legends players meet in every fight and the ones the fallback draws from. These are the five most played Legends among Diamond and Master/Apex Predator players on apexlegendsstatus.com on Tuesday 10 November 2026:
| Legend | Diamond players | Master and Predator players |
|---|---|---|
| Pathfinder | 16.9% | 19.1% |
| Loba | 10.4% | 16.4% |
| Mad Maggie | 7.8% | 7.1% |
| Revenant | 7.3% | 8% |
| Octane | 7% | 7.8% |
The site warns that the Master and Predator sample is small. Still, the picture is the same in both groups: Pathfinder and Loba are far ahead, and Revenant, the big winner of the Cipher patch, has joined them. Anyone who mains one of the three should have a backup ready. Our Legend tier list ranks all 28 Legends for Season 31 and is the place to find that second pick.
Bans, ladders and the rest of Ranked
Bans have been live since the season started. What begins on Tuesday 10 November is the first of five weekly Ranked Ladders: Ladder 1 runs until Sunday 15 November, and the last one ends on Sunday 13 December. Ladder scores come from ordinary Ranked matches, so in Diamond lobbies they are played with bans in place.
Season 31 also changed what a Ranked match costs when your squad sits far from the rest of the lobby, through the new Challenger and Goliath match types. Our Apex Legends ranks guide covers tiers, entry costs and ladders, and everything new in Season 31 has the full patch.
In Season 32, due in early 2027, EA plans to split Ranked into an Open League and a Pro-Am League of Diamond, Master and a new Grandmaster rank. The roadmap places both Drop Zones and Legend bans in the Pro-Am League, so bans stay a high rank feature.
FAQ
When did Legend bans start in Apex Legends?
With Season 31, Cipher, on 3 November 2026. The date 10 November 2026 is the start of the first Ranked Ladder, not of bans.
What rank do you need to ban Legends?
Bans are active in Diamond lobbies and above. Every player in such a match gets one request.
How many Legends are banned per match?
Two. They are drawn at random, weighted by how many requests each Legend received.
Is the most voted Legend always banned?
No. A Legend with half of the requests has a 50% chance on the first draw. EA chose a weighted draw on purpose, to stop a fixed ban list from forming.
Can you ban Legends in public matches?
No. Legend bans only exist in Ranked.
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