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The game developers have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these advanced speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it requires skill to perform and gamers would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can clearly identify the timing to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team aims for gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, some of these techniques are kind of janky to use — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the name of the game in this season, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel players upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial this Legend receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's the game. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting velocity during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, enabling her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires reduced delay to activate. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers says the game Season 27 is all about giving players the resources they need to compete in the competition.

"Really, we were looking at the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer the lead.

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