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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick traversal 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 "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of the game for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, 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.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but executing it requires skill to perform and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "Now including a visual cue so players can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique available to all players? Principal designer the development lead explains developers aims for players to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, looked at what our players are doing, and we said, 'How can we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Because right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will propel users into the air much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer the designer. "Certainly she was top-tier in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. It was an ideal chance for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim her competitive status in current strategies, the developer says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, allowing her to remain longer in the air. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires reduced delay to activate. She's also getting some new perk choices that users can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says the game this update focuses on providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined the game's core identity as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends the Amped season releases November 4th at the specified times.