The Battle Royale's Specialized Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible During This Update

The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but executing it isn't easy to perform and a player would never know it's possible without external guides," the designer explains. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and introducing fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to everyone? Principal designer the development lead explains the team wants gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, observed what our players are doing, and we said, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" the designer explains. "Since right now, 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?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is primarily the central theme in this season, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will boost users into the air much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant previously, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's the game. It was a really great opportunity for the team to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead notes the team assessed each of her abilities and implemented significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to remain longer aloft. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

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

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the tools required to keep up with the competition.

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

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