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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts 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 Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over 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 "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team is making it easier for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for some time, but executing it requires skill to pull off and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche technique accessible to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says the team wants gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls 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 central theme in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users into the air much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. But it's aerial Valkyrie receiving significant improvements now, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. It was an ideal chance for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] 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 Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, allowing the player to remain longer aloft. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts teammates skyward for redeployment or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time.

"Her jet pack now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about providing gamers the resources they need to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer the lead.

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