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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's super-slick traversal can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially existed of the game for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for a while, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk available to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan explains developers wants players to experience empowerment — 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, 'What if we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, certain techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost users upward much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented an ideal chance for us to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead notes the team evaluated all her skills and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting recently added perk choices that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says the game Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains principal designer the lead.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.