🔗 Share this article The Battle Royale's Specialized Movement Mechanics Are Going Mainstream This Season The game developers have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid movement can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th. Introducing The Mantle Boost Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of the game for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts. "This technique existed in the game for some time, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and introducing new ways to compete for a much wider base." Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics Why make a once niche technique accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains developers wants players to experience empowerment — including ones who are new. "Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we extend these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — you need to change controls and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished implementation?'" The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters 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 boost users upward faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. However it's aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments implemented to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal. "I think many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states character developer the designer. "Certainly she was top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. It was a really great opportunity for the team to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to her glory days." Enhancements to the Aerial Legend To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer notes Respawn evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, allowing her to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy 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 conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation. "Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments. Map Changes Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says the game this update is all about giving players the resources required to keep up with matches. "Essentially, we examined Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," explains principal designer the lead. Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.