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The game developers has a special treat in store for the popular battle royale players, 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 will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained key developer the design lead, 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 casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, the team is making it easier for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for some time, but executing it requires skill to pull off and a player might not realize it's possible without external guides," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says developers wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what our players execute, and we said, 'How can we provide some of this power to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we make a more official version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel players upward 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 aerial Valkyrie receiving significant improvements this season, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead notes Respawn assessed all her skills and introduced significant changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting her speed while airborne, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, enabling her to remain longer in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad into the air for redeployment or retreat — requires reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that players can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," he says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers state the game Season 27 is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.

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

Apex Legends the Amped season launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.