🔗 Share this article

Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of this game's highly fluid movement can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability 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 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 players of all skill levels to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for some time, but the movement requires skill to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so players can clearly identify the timing to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding new ways to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche technique accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains the team aims for gamers to feel powerful — even those who are new.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to maintain them mobile. Recovery time 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 grant movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting significant improvements now, with various adjustments applied to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current Apex. It was an ideal chance for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, enabling the player to spend more time aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts her entire squad into the air for redeployment or escape — now takes much less time to activate. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time.

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

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about providing gamers the tools they need to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains principal designer Josh Mohan.

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