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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. As explained key developer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for some time, but the movement requires skill to perform and a player might not realize it's possible without external guides," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche technique accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead says the team aims for gamers to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, observed what our players are doing, and we said, 'How can we extend these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Because right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we make a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel users into the air much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and the ability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting the most attention this season, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer notes Respawn assessed each of her abilities and implemented significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, allowing her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or escape — requires reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that users can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends this update focuses on 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.

The battle royale the Amped season launches November 4th at the specified times.