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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a burst of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it's possible without external guides," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique available to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, observed what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" the designer explains. "Since right now, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we create a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is largely the central theme in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost users into the air faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," states Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt she was dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead says Respawn assessed each of her abilities and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing the player to spend more time aloft. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts teammates into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

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

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends this update focuses on providing gamers the resources they need to keep up with matches.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer the lead.

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