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The game developers have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for some time, but executing it isn't easy to perform and a player would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese states. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see the timing to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique accessible to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we extend some of this power to more players?'" the designer explains. "Since currently, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel players into the air faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However it's the high-flying Valkyrie receiving the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer says the team assessed all her skills and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to spend more time aloft. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — requires reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn state Apex Legends this update focuses on providing gamers the tools required to keep up with matches.

"Really, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale the Amped season releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.