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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick traversal will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. 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 "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding new ways to compete for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains the team wants players to feel powerful — even those who are new.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we said, 'What if we provide some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Because currently, certain techniques are kind of janky to use — you need to change controls and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'What if we create a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel users upward much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and the ability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer the designer. "Certainly she was top-tier previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says the team evaluated each of her abilities and implemented significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, enabling the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches teammates skyward for redeployment or retreat — now takes reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that expands choke points and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the tools required to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we were looking at the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains principal designer the lead.

The battle royale the Amped season releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.