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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a burst of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. In this update, the team is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for some time, but executing it requires skill to perform and a player might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding new ways to play for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk accessible to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains developers wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what our players execute, and we said, 'How can we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the name of the game in this season, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost players into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and the ability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. But it's the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment is here," states character developer the designer. "Certainly that she's been dominant previously, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says the team evaluated each of her abilities and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, allowing the player 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 launches her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers state the game Season 27 is all about giving players the tools required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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