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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but the movement requires skill to pull off and a player would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so players can clearly identify when and how to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the feature and adding new ways to play for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique available to all players? Principal designer the development lead says the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, observed what our players execute, and we said, 'What if we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we create a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. However the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented an ideal chance for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer notes Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, allowing her to remain longer aloft. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — requires much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer the lead.

The battle royale the Amped season launches November 4th at the specified times.