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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for some time, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and introducing fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan explains developers wants players 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 other games, observed what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to help keep them mobile. Recovery time on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel players upward much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But it's aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in today's Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer says Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, allowing the player to remain longer in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches teammates into the air for redeployment or retreat — requires reduced delay to activate. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn says Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale the Amped season launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.