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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a burst of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of the game for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says developers wants gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Because right now, some of these techniques are kind of janky to use — it requires to change controls and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we make a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the central theme in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost users into the air faster than it used to. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But it's aerial this Legend receiving significant improvements now, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," says Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented an ideal chance for the team to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team evaluated all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, enabling the player to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag enemies who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts teammates skyward for redeployment or retreat — requires much less time to fire up. She's also getting recently added perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time.

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

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to keep up with matches.

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

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