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Respawn Entertainment has a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. According to key developer the design lead, this technique was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for some time, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see when and how to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the feature and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche technique available to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — it requires to change controls and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will boost users upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and the ability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. However it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier in the past, but with the introduction 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 us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says the team assessed all her skills and introduced significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing velocity during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, allowing the player to remain longer in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — requires much less time to activate. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

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

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the resources required to compete in matches.

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

Apex Legends the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.