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The game developers has a special treat in store for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a burst of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. According to key developer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but executing it requires skill to perform and a player would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding new ways to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

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

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we make a more official version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the central theme in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel users upward faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But it's the high-flying this Legend receiving significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was top-tier previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing her speed while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

"Her jet pack fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources they need to keep up with the competition.

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

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.