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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick traversal will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for players to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, observed what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide some of this power to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — it requires to change controls and hit precise timings. So we said, 'How about we make a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost players into the air faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. But it's aerial Valkyrie receiving significant improvements this season, with various adjustments applied to make her more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's the game. It was an ideal chance for us to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting her speed while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, enabling the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area 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, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn state the game this update is all about giving players the resources required to compete in the competition.

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

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