Apex Legends is like most other battle royale games where there are plenty of issues and bugs that players can discover. Some of these are glitches allowing players to get an unfair advantage over other players in matches or avoid having to deal with problems everyone else has.

Apex Legends Dashboarding Is a Popular Exploit

One glitch is the Apex Legends dashboarding problem that allows players to circumvent the way the game is supposed to work and get around potential punishments. Though this is an unfair method that players utilize currently, it should be coming to an end soon.

Apex Legends dashboarding is a method of avoiding the punishments that most players must deal with when they are doing the ranked matches. Ranked matches are the competitive matches that allow you to show how great you are against other players.

Each season, there are tiers players can go through as they win and lose these types of matches. If you are the best, you can climb through the ranks by earning points in ranked matches through winning.

The ranked matches are challenging because winning them rewards you, but losing also punishes you. It can cause the player and their losing team to lose points in the ranked tiers rather than gain them. This can result in moving down the ranks rather than up them.

The controversial skill-based matchmaking system supposedly helps with this by matching you with people who have similar skills and rank in the game. Even still, though, you are bound to die at some point in a match and end up losing it.

But players have found a way to get around this unfortunate loss of points by using the Apex Legends dashboarding method. Players can quit the game and get away with not having that particular match count against them.

Though this is a popular way of getting around the negative sides of ranked matches, it looks like retribution may be on the way soon. On Twitter recently, a user posted about the problems with the technique.

Developer Confirms Punishments for Dashboarding Soon

Twitter user Vincekully asked in their post if they have a way of reporting players using the Apex Legends dashboarding method. They noted they have video evidence of players using this unfairly and can share it, if necessary.

The Twitter user tagged some of the higher-up developers at Respawn Entertainment as well as the official social media account. In a few days after posting on Twitter, they didn’t receive any response officially, so they bumped it and tagged the developers again.

This led to a direct response on Twitter from the senior system designer at Respawn Entertainment Eric “Gh057ayame” Hewitt. He gave an update on what the team is doing regarding the problem. Hewitt quickly noted there is no need for the player or anyone else to report the problem.

There is no reason for players to have to report other players manually who use dashboarding in ranked matches because the developer can see those players who do this. Respawn is likely aware of the exploitative players who take advantage of this.

Also, Hewitt concluded the official response by stating ominously that “Judgment Day will be coming.” This mysterious statement implies that not only is the developer working to fix the problem but that players will be punished adequately for using it.

hey, no need to report it manually, we can see it on our end. Judgment Day will be coming 🙂

— Eric Hewitt / Ghost (@GH057ayame) January 7, 2020

The original poster thanked Hewitt for the response but followed up with another question about why that is coming later down the road. There isn’t some immediate punishment for those dashboarding players.

In a separate tweet, the senior system designer responded again and noted there would be “more immediate punishment in the future.” Still, the team must line up everything appropriately first. He stated the team profoundly cares about the ranked experience, so it should be handled soon.

there will be more immediate punishment in the future, just have to get everything lined up appropriately. We care deeply about the ranked experience, so things will be handled soon

— Eric Hewitt / Ghost (@GH057ayame) January 7, 2020

Another concerned Twitter user jumped into the thread, asking about their situation. They wanted to make sure that dropping out of a ranked match due to a spotty internet connection won’t count against them.

Hewitt confirmed they should be fine since they can tell the difference between the two situations so long as they haven’t also been abusing dashboarding. When asked about whether the punishment will be bans or a reset of the player’s rank, the developer noted it would be both.

What Dashboarding Is Exactly

Dashboarding is the act of leaving the game when you have died or know you are going to lose but do so before your team has a loss. On PC, players can do this by force shutting down the game and going back to the desktop screen.

On PS4 and Xbox One, this works mostly the same way by closing the game and quitting to the console’s dashboard. Hence the name of the method. When you do this, you can leave the game in a way that makes the game think it was an accident, and you won’t lose any ranked points.

However, it does look like Respawn Entertainment can tell the difference between an accidental disconnect and purposefully quitting the game. We highly recommend players do not try to use this method as it likely results in punishment sooner rather than later.

If you have used the Apex Legends dashboarding method in the past, we recommend that you never do it again. Your past uses may be forgiven, or the punishment will not be nearly as harsh as it could be. It isn’t guaranteed, of course, but it is something we recommend against using.