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The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for some time, but the movement requires skill to perform and a player would never know it's possible without external guides," the designer explains. "Now including a visual cue so players can clearly identify the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains the team 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 looked around at other games, looked at what our players are doing, and we said, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since currently, certain techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to change controls and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel players upward faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But it's aerial this Legend receiving the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer says Respawn assessed all her skills and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, allowing the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes 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 takeoff time.

"Her jet pack fulfills the pilot experience," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers state Apex Legends this update focuses on giving players the resources required to keep up with the competition.

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

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