🔗 Share this article

The game developers have a special treat prepared for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a burst of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique was previously been a feature of the game for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for some time, but executing it requires skill to perform and a player might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify the timing to activate the high-octane traversal skill, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche technique available to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan says the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Because right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — you need to change controls and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we create a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is primarily the name of the game in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost users into the air much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But it's aerial this Legend receiving significant improvements this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," states character developer the designer. "Certainly she was top-tier previously, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead notes Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, enabling her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts teammates into the air for redeployment or escape — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the lone airborne map, this location, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that expands choke points and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources they need to compete in the competition.

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

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