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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn 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 gives players a burst of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously been a feature of the game for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for some time, but executing it requires skill to perform and gamers might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see when and how to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche technique available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead says developers wants players to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, observed what our players execute, and we said, 'What if we extend some of this power to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel players upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But it's aerial this Legend who's getting significant improvements this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," says Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been top-tier previously, but with the introduction of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in current Apex. It was a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer says Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, enabling her to remain longer aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to activate. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn says Apex Legends this update focuses on giving players the tools they need to compete in the competition.

"Essentially, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains principal designer the lead.

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