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The game developers has a special treat prepared for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick traversal can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a burst of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it's possible without external guides," the designer explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to activate the high-octane movement ability, opening up the mechanic and introducing fresh strategies to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains the team wants gamers to feel powerful — even those who are new.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we extend some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'What if we create a polished version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is largely the central theme in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users into the air faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But it's aerial this Legend receiving significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been dominant previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in current the game. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine 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 introduced some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to spend more time in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates into the air for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn state the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," says principal designer the lead.

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