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The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, the team is making it easier for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for some time, but executing it requires skill to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team wants players to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, observed what the community execute, and we said, 'How can we extend some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Because right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel players into the air much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and the ability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. However it's the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states character developer the designer. "Certainly she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer says the team assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to remain longer in the air. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to fire up. She's also getting recently added perk choices that players can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Map Changes

Additionally, the lone airborne map, this location, receives a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says Apex Legends this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to compete in the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer the lead.

Apex Legends the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.