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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat in store for Apex Legends players, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of the game for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but the movement requires skill to perform and a player would never know it's possible without external guides," the designer explains. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so players can clearly identify when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

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

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Because right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel users into the air much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However it's aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment is here," says Legend designer the designer. "Certainly she was top-tier previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in today's Apex. It was an ideal chance for us to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer says Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented significant changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing velocity during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, enabling the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to activate. She's also getting some new perk choices that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says the game Season 27 is all about providing gamers the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer the lead.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.