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Respawn Entertainment has a special treat in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but the movement requires skill to perform and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so players can clearly identify the timing to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and introducing new ways to play for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers wants players to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we extend these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Because currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will boost players upward faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements this season, with various adjustments applied to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer the designer. "Certainly she was top-tier in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current Apex. It was an ideal chance for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team evaluated all her skills and implemented some powerful changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches teammates skyward for redeployment or retreat — requires reduced delay to activate. 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 now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that expands choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to compete in the competition.

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

The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at the specified times.