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Respawn Entertainment has a special treat in store for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to learn that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for a while, but executing it isn't easy to perform and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can clearly identify when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and introducing fresh strategies to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says the team wants players to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide some of this power to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. However the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with various adjustments applied to make her more potent, faster, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says Respawn assessed each of her abilities and implemented significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling her to remain longer aloft. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn state the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer the lead.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at the specified times.