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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts 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.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a burst of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique 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," Canavese explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche movement quirk accessible to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers wants gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, looked at what the community are doing, and we said, 'What if we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to use — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the central theme in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel players upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and the ability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. However the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention now, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, faster, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer notes Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, enabling her to spend more time aloft. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

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