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The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's super-slick movement will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the feature and introducing new ways to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers wants players to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, looked at what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Because currently, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving significant improvements this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says character developer the designer. "Certainly she was dominant in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer says Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting her speed during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, enabling her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad into the air for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to activate. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the tools they need to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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