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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously existed of the game for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, the team is making it easier for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for some time, but executing it isn't easy to perform and a player would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains developers aims for gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide some of this power to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'What if we create a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel players into the air much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and the ability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was dominant previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's the game. It was a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, enabling the player to spend more time in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches her entire squad into the air for redeployment or escape — requires much less time to activate. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that users can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools they need to compete in the competition.

"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer the lead.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at the specified times.