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Respawn Entertainment has a special treat in store for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick movement can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a burst of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. According to key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team 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 a player would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique available to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for players to feel powerful — even those who are new.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Because right now, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel users into the air faster than it used to. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. However it's aerial this Legend receiving the most attention this season, 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 character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier previously, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead notes Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, allowing the player to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting recently added perk choices that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers state the game this update is all about providing gamers the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we were looking at Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," explains principal designer the lead.

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