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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick movement can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and a player might not realize it's possible without external guides," Canavese states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche technique available to all players? Principal designer the development lead says developers aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what our players are doing, and we said, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. So we said, 'How about we create a more official version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will boost players into the air much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was top-tier previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and sort of bring her back to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead notes the team assessed all her skills and introduced significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting velocity during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, allowing her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers says the game this update is all about providing gamers the resources they need to keep up with matches.

"Really, we were looking at the game's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer the lead.

Apex Legends the Amped season releases November 4th at the specified times.