Brawl Your Way to the Top in League Play!

Bring the heat to unlock the shiniest rewards

League Play

Hey, all you brawlers out there, it’s finally time to spill the beans on how League Play (aka ranked) is gonna work in Knockout City™. Let’s bring y'all up to speed on how to truly make a name for yourself when Season 1 kicks off on May 25.

Oh, I’m sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m Chris Mercado aka Merc (aka The Banana Guy), Gameplay and Technical Designer. With 19,292,912,093,280 hours of gameplay put into this game already, I know a thing or two. So listen up and let me walk you through it.

The Basics

First things first, you gotta prove you understand the basics of how dodgebrawling works around here. You’ll unlock access to League Play after reaching level 10 by completing Contracts and playing in Street Play. Leveling up shouldn’t take too long, but make sure you take your time to complete the training sessions and sharpen your skills before you take on your first match in League Play so you know you’re ready for the competition.

The basic structure of League Play is dead simple: you win, you get a League Point (LP). You lose, you lose a League Point. Win three matches in a row, and you'll receive a BONUS League Point. In fact, every consecutive win starting from your third straight victory will land you two LP instead of one. Go on a tear, get yourself up those ranks fast, and seek out more worthy adversaries who will keep you challenged as you progress.

Tl;dr: Wins are good. Win Streaks are better. Losing is bad. Don’t lose. I’ll be sad*.

Started From the Bottom

Ready to take on the competition? The playlists for League Play will rotate every Season, and for Season 1, your options are Team KO and Face-Off. Queue up in Team KO for the most intense 3v3 dodgebrawl battles this side of Saturn. Or, should solo scraps suit you more, throw down in Face-Off to prove you’re the top dog who ain’t afraid of taking your brawls straight into the Danger Zone. Each Playlist is tracked separately, and there’s no special reward for competing in one over the other, so feel free to stick to your preferred Playlist on your way to the top—your League Play rewards are based on the highest rank you achieve in either Playlist.

You’ll be crawling and brawling your way up through nine different Divisions, honing your techniques and transforming from a baby brawler into a hardened, master dodgebrawler. Everyone begins in Unranked on a level playing field, where you receive one LP for completing a match regardless of whether you win or lose. Once you get a few Ws under your belt, you’ll reach Bronze Division, where you’ll only receive a point for a win, but you don’t lose a point when you lose a match. At Silver Division and beyond, you’ll only get LP for winning, and they’ll be subtracted when you lose. From here, you’ll gain even more experience working your way through Gold Division, then finally taste your first bite of stardom by reaching Platinum Division. If you reach Platinum, take a moment and pat yourself on the back—you’ve certainly achieved notable brawler status, and you should be very proud. Maybe you’ll even be ready to take me on in a match! There are still more divisions ahead, but we’ll come back to those in a sec.

Each Division from Bronze upward is made of three tiers. Once you’ve earned your rank, it’s yours to keep for the Season. For example, once you make it up to Gold I, you don’t have to worry about falling back down to Silver III. Of course, you can still find yourself shuffling within a Division, up and down between tiers I, II, and III. But once that sweet, sweet promotion has landed in your lap, you (and your rewards) are safe. At least, until the Season ends and you gotta prove yourself all over again.

Fret not, the climb won’t be as savage next time around. At the start of each Season, you’ll be placed at the bottom of the previous Division. So if you end Season 1 at Platinum III, you’ll be starting Season 2 off at Gold I. And you’ll have your hard-earned beatifications from Season 1 all ready to show off.

King of the Mountain

Now, we recognize that a few elite Brawlers aren’t going to be satisfied with being “great” and stopping at Platinum. If you’re the kind of player who is driven to be the best of the best, then get ready to battle your way into the elite Divisions of Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, and Diamond.

Once you crack your way into Diamond Rank, you’ll notice that up here, there are no more tiers to push through, no more rewards to unlock. It’s just you, your skill, and your drive to be the best of the best. If you’ve battled your way up, congratulations—you’ve earned the right to see your Skill Rank directly. No tricks, no number massaging, no sugar-coating. Just bask in the glory of knowing exactly where you stand on a scale from 1 to 5000—the closer you are to 5000, the closer you are to being the best.

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Ooo, Shiny!

At the end of each Season, you’ll walk away with a sizable pile of loot for your efforts based on the highest rank you earn in either Playlist. The higher the division you reach, the more rewards you unlock. When you reach Platinum in Season 1, you’ll get:

Uncommon Glider: Fast Fashion
Rare Taunt: Here’s Lookin’ at You
Epic KO Effect: I’m #1
Legendary Ultimate Hologram: Hit ‘n’ Run
Platinum Trophy and Player Icon
200 Holobux, two Energy Drinks, and two Style Chips

For the elite players who progress to the upper Divisions of skill at Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, and ultimately Diamond, we basically back up a truck of rewards and Holobux, drop them at your feet, then creep away slowly, averting our eyes to honor your greatness. These rewards will be a bit shinier—they’re the coveted Chrome versions of the rewards unlocked in the previous Divisions, and you’ll see them coming on the field from a mile away.

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Let’s Get Dangerous

In the Betas, we saw a lot of unique gameplay happen that we didn’t anticipate, and we’re already so excited to see players finding new ways to get that competitive advantage. You might have noticed that we’re trying something different than most, and we’re excited to see how it evolves over time based on your feedback. If you keep bringing the energy and excitement, we’ll keep stepping up to give you the competitive experience you all deserve.

Uh-oh, I gotta run before they yoink this keyboard out of my hands again. Keep on brawling and I’ll see you in the streets of Knockout City!

Knockout City arrives on May 21, 2021, during a free, ten-day Block Party event with cross-play and cross-progression across PlayStation®4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Origin, Steam, Epic Games Store, and PlayStation®5 and Xbox Series X|S through backwards compatibility.

*Not that sad, actually. Okay, maybe a little bit. Chonky expected more from you. You got this—unless you’re my boss. You tried.

- Chris Mercado, aka Merc