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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick traversal can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. According to key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for a while, but executing it requires skill to perform and a player would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains developers aims for gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we extend some of this power to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will boost users upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and capability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. But the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in today's the game. It was an ideal chance for us to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer notes the team evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, enabling the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts teammates skyward for redeployment or retreat — requires much less time to fire up. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that players can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the lone airborne map, this location, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends this update is all about giving players the resources they need to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at the specified times.