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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 movement can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these advanced speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for a while, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers might not realize it's possible without external guides," Canavese states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the feature and introducing fresh strategies to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

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

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, looked at what the community are doing, and we said, 'What if we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Because currently, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we create a more official version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel users upward much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. But it's aerial this Legend receiving the most attention this season, with various adjustments implemented to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for us to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of bring her back to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer says Respawn assessed all her skills and implemented significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting velocity during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, enabling her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that players can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

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

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers says the game Season 27 is all about providing gamers the resources they need to compete in the competition.

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

Apex Legends the Amped season launches Nov. 4 at the specified times.