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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick movement will be pleased to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane movement ability, opening up the feature and adding new ways to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

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

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we said, 'How can we extend these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Since currently, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will boost players into the air faster than it used to. 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 Valkyrie receiving significant improvements this season, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in current Apex. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says the team assessed all her skills and implemented significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, allowing her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources they need to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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