Respawn bans cheaters abusing Apex Legends “infinite RP” boosting exploit

Andrew Amos
Ash holding sword in Apex Legends

Respawn is cracking down on Apex Legends cheaters abusing an “infinite RP” ranked exploit, boosting players from Bronze to the top of Predator. The developer has handed out thousands of bans ⁠— although none of them have been permanently suspended.

There’s nothing more prestigious than hitting Predator rank in Apex Legends ⁠— and some people will do anything to get the shiny red-and-gold icon on their player card.

A ranked ‘exploit’ has done the rounds in Apex Legends Season 11, with squads teaming up and dropping on Replicators to craft Respawn Beacons and farming kill points (KP) off each other.

While this was somewhat useful in previous seasons to get a bit of KP, the ranked changes in Season 11 have made it a lot more effective. You’re no longer limited to six kills for points ⁠— you can kill an infinite amount of people to reach the maximum 170 points. Then, you can play for placement to try and get the full 270.

respawn beacon in Apex Legends
Players have been crafting Respawn Beacons and teaming to farm KP in Apex Legends Season 11.

Some players abused this exploit to climb all the way to the top of Predator. However, Respawn is finally cracking down on the practice, issuing thousands of bans on December 7.

“2,051 users have now been banned for various amounts of time for colluding in ranked matches to trade kills to earn Ranked Points. Ban times are 7-60 days depending on how much they abused this,” developer Conor ‘Hideouts’ Ford said on Twitter.

“A chunk of these users made it to pred unfortunately. Fortunately, all of these users will be getting purged from the ranked leaderboards. GGs, play the game with some integrity next time.”

None of the 2,051 bans will be permanent suspensions ⁠— topping out at that two-month mark. However, future exploits will lead to more serious sanctions, including perma bans.

“For the players that exploited this a lot, they will not be able to play until next February. If they do it again they will be perma banned,” he said.

While it relies on Respawn Beacons being in the crafting rotation, which changes weekly, you can expect players to abuse this in Apex Legends even with the warnings. However, don’t expect to get away with this exploit in the future.

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About The Author

Hailing from Perth, Andrew was formerly Dexerto's Australian Managing Editor. They love telling stories across all games and esports, but they have a soft spot for League of Legends and Rainbow Six. Oh, and they're also fascinated by the rise of VTubers.