The Battle Royale's Niche Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible During This Update

Respawn Entertainment has a special treat prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and introducing new ways to play for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains developers aims for players to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what our players are doing, and we said, 'What if we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we create a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel users upward much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and the ability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's the game. It was a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team assessed each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing her speed while airborne, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, allowing her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — requires much less time to fire up. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers state the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources they need to compete in the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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