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Respawn Entertainment has a special treat prepared for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for some time, but the movement requires skill to perform and a player would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese states. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to activate the high-octane movement ability, opening up the mechanic and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan explains developers wants gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we said, 'What if we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer explains. "Since right now, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to access — it requires to change controls and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to help keep them mobile. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and the ability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. However it's the high-flying this Legend who's getting the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead says Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to remain longer in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to fire up. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

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

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 is all about providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains principal designer the lead.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at the specified times.