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The game developers have a special treat in store for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for some time, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding new ways to play for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains developers aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we extend some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Because currently, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we create a more official version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with characters Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been top-tier previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for us to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, allowing her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or retreat — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about giving players the resources they need to keep up with matches.

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

The battle royale the Amped season launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.