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The game developers has a special treat in store for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of this game's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a visual cue so players can clearly identify when and how to activate the high-octane traversal skill, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche technique available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead explains the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we said, 'How can we provide some of this power to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, certain techniques are kind of janky to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the central theme in Season 27, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost players into the air much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting the most attention now, with various adjustments implemented to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer notes the team assessed each of her abilities and implemented significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, enabling the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches teammates 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, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn state the game Season 27 is all about giving players the resources they need to keep up with matches.

"Really, we were looking at the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer the lead.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at the specified times.