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The game developers has an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, the team is making it easier for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts 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. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see when and how to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche technique accessible to all players? Principal designer the development lead explains developers wants players to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, looked at what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the central theme in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel users into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. But it's the high-flying Valkyrie receiving the most attention this season, with various adjustments applied to make her more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented an ideal chance for the team to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer notes Respawn assessed all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting her speed while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing her to remain longer in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad into the air for repositioning or escape — requires much less time to activate. She's also getting recently added perk choices that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that expands choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers state the game Season 27 is all about giving players the tools required to compete in matches.

"Really, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer the lead.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases Nov. 4 at the specified times.