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The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. According to key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially been a feature of the game for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these advanced speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for some time, but the movement requires skill to perform and gamers might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains developers aims for players to feel powerful — even those who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost users upward faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. But it's the high-flying Valkyrie receiving the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was dominant in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current the game. It was a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and implemented some powerful modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, allowing the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — requires much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn state Apex Legends this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.

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

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