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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for a while, but the movement requires skill to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and introducing fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, observed what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we extend these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel players upward much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and capability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting significant improvements this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current the game. It was an ideal chance for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead notes Respawn evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, enabling her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts teammates into the air for repositioning or retreat — requires reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn says Apex Legends this update is all about giving players the resources required to compete in matches.

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

The battle royale Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at the specified times.