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The game developers has a special treat prepared for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick movement will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for a while, but the movement isn't easy to perform and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane movement ability, opening up the mechanic and introducing fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche movement quirk available to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan explains the team aims for gamers to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we provide these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Because right now, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we make a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will boost players upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," says Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt she was top-tier in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's Apex. It was an ideal chance for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer says the team assessed each of her abilities and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to remain longer aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn says the game Season 27 is all about providing gamers the tools required to compete in the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.