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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick traversal can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of the game for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, Respawn is making it easier for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and introducing fresh strategies to compete for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead says the team wants players to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — it requires to change controls and hit precise timings. So we said, 'How about we create a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel users into the air much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," says Legend designer the designer. "Certainly she was dominant previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for us to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead notes the team assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, enabling her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates into the air for repositioning or escape — requires much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn says the game Season 27 is all about providing gamers the resources they need to keep up with matches.

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

Apex Legends the Amped season releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.