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The game developers have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of this game's super-slick movement will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. According to key developer 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 Ranked Mode or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it's possible without external guides," Canavese states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify the timing to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk accessible 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 the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost users upward faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. But the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements now, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," says character developer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier previously, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. It was a really great opportunity for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer notes Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and implemented significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, enabling her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches her entire squad into the air for redeployment or retreat — requires much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the lone airborne map, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about giving players the resources they need to compete in the competition.

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

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.