New Apex Legends exploit lets players quit ranked with no penalty

Calum Patterson

Despite Respawn’s best efforts at stopping ‘dashboarders’ in Apex Legends, a new exploit has been found, allowing players to avoid incurring any penalties for dipping out of ranked matches early.

Ranked Play in Apex is meant to test players’ true skill level, and reward them with prestigious ranks and rewards for climbing up the tiers.

Of course, for this system to work, it’s crucial that the game can accurately record and track a player’s performance. When Ranked play was first introduced, some exploiters found ways of exiting a match without the game tracking score or receiving a penalty, also known as ‘dashboarding.’

Dashboarding is used to game the system and avoid penalties in Apex Legends ranked play.

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Although it was effective at first, the developers quickly took a harsh stance on it, issuing bans and other penalties for players caught dashboarding.

But, following the launch of the second split of Ranked Series 3, it appears a new way to dashboard has been discovered, and if not fixed soon, could run rampant.

Exposed by Reddit user u/ChangeThisXBL, it’s shown that after entering a ranked match and then using the ‘return to main menu’ option, they can safely quit out of the match, and incur no abandonment penalty whatsoever.

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This will be an issue that Respawn aim to iron out very quickly before more cheaters exploit it and ruin ranked play for everyone else.

Given the harsh stance they’ve taken against dashboarding in the past, it’s possible the developers issue retrospective punishment for anyone caught using this, so we strongly recommend resisting the temptation to do it yourself.

The post has already garnered significant attention, and so it should be on Respawn’s radar very soon, if not already. Although you can report players you suspect of dashboarding, developer Eric Hewitt said in January that they can identify these cheaters themselves.

He also confirmed “judgment day” was coming for these cheaters, and it looks like another judgment day might be in order if more people start using this new exploit.

About The Author

Calum is Dexerto's Managing Editor, based in Scotland. Joining Dexerto in 2017, Calum has years of experience covering esports, gaming and online entertainment, and now leads the team to deliver the best coverage in these areas. An expert on all things Twitch and gaming influencers, he's also an expert in popular shooters like Apex Legends, CS2 and Call of Duty. You can contact Calum at calum.patterson@dexerto.com.