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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick movement will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for a while, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so players can clearly identify when and how to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team wants players to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls and hit precise timings. So we said, 'How about we create a more official version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. However the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt she was top-tier previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says the team assessed each of her abilities and implemented significant changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, allowing her to spend more time aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or escape — requires much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that players can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer the lead.

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