The Battle Royale's Specialized Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible During This Update

The game developers have a special treat in store for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of the game for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, Respawn is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the feature and introducing fresh strategies to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique available to all players? Principal designer the development lead says the team wants gamers to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. But the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie receiving the most attention this season, with various adjustments implemented to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially bring her back to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead notes the team assessed each of her abilities and implemented significant changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting her speed while airborne, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling the player to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. She's also getting some new perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn says Apex Legends this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

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