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Respawn Entertainment has 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 traversal can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. According to key developer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially existed of the game for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding new ways to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, observed what the community are doing, and we said, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we create a more official version?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will boost players into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and the ability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. However it's the high-flying this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think many agree that her moment is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier previously, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in today's Apex. It was an ideal chance for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves 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 has also been upgraded to tag opponents who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates into the air for redeployment or retreat — requires much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers says the game this update focuses on providing gamers the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains principal designer the lead.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.