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The game developers has a special treat in store for Apex Legends players, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for some time, but the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," Canavese states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche technique accessible to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to change controls and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will boost players into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. However the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been dominant previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, allowing her to remain longer aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that opens up choke points and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about giving players the resources required to keep up with the competition.

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

The battle royale the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.