What Is Apex Legends’ Server Tick Rate?

In layman’s terms, the tick rate of a server determines how often information is updated. Ever since Apex Legends launched, the game’s tick rate has been heavily criticized. It has a 20 Hz tick rate which is very low compared to other multiplayer titles. CS:GO has a tick rate of 64 Hz or 128 Hz depending on which server you are playing on, and so does Valorant. But Respawn thinks that having a higher tick rate would not improve much for players.

Why Apex Legends continues to offer 20 Hz tick rate servers

The tickrate of a server is the number of simulations that the server runs per second. It is a fixed number and Apex Legends uses a snapshot-based replication model. This mostly means that at the end of every tick, the server saves the world state and replicates it to all clients. This includes a lot of information that allows the weapon, map, and Legends' design to be of the highest fidelity.

To be successful in Apex Legends, you have to pay attention to a whole lot of information happening all over the map like Tactical abilities getting used, passives activating, ultimates popping off, care packages dropping in, or a new squad entering within range of Crypto's drone.

Respawn revealed in a blog post, “ 20 Hz servers result in about five frames of delay, and 60 Hz servers result in three frames of delay. So for triple the bandwidth and CPU costs, you can save two frames worth of latency in the best-case scenario. The upside is there, but it isn’t massive, and it wouldn’t do anything for issues that are tied to plain old lag (like getting shot while in cover), ISP-level issues, or bugs (like with hit registration and slow-motion servers).”

Respawn feels that the upgrade from 20-tick servers to 60-tick or 128-tick servers would not be a lot and the developers are unwilling to upgrade the servers as the gains would not be worth it. Despite concerns, Respawn has stated that it is working on the server level to the ISP level to improve and is also investing in the online infrastructure, with the ultimate goal of seeing players report fewer issues and enjoy a better overall experience.