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The game developers has an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, this technique was previously existed of the game for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, the team is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these advanced speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," Canavese states. "Now including a visual cue so players can easily see when and how to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing 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, 'What if we extend some of this power to more players?'" the designer explains. "Because right now, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we make a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in this season, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost users into the air much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and the ability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. But the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend who's getting the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," says Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says the team evaluated each of her abilities and implemented some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity during flight, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, enabling the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or escape — requires reduced delay to activate. She's also getting recently added perk choices that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that expands choke points and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers state the game this update focuses on giving players the resources they need to compete in the competition.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

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