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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding new ways to play for a much wider base."

Why Make It Accessible

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

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — you need to change controls and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we create a more official version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel players into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and the ability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. But it's aerial this Legend who's getting significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was top-tier in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer notes Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, enabling her to remain longer in the air. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy 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 some new perk choices that users can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says Apex Legends this update focuses on providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we examined the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

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