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The game developers have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. As explained key developer the design lead, this technique was previously existed of the game for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these advanced speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for some time, but the movement requires skill to perform and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead says developers wants players to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we create a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost players into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. But it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," states character developer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant previously, but with the introduction of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. It was an ideal chance for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of bring her back to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says the team assessed all her skills and implemented significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing the player to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices 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 that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains principal designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.