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The game developers has a special treat in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick traversal will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these advanced speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can clearly identify the timing to trigger the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and adding new ways to play for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche movement quirk available to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for players to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since currently, certain techniques are kind of janky to use — it requires to change controls and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel players into the air faster than it used to. Her defensive walls feature a roof and the ability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with various adjustments applied to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," says Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for us to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer says the team assessed all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, enabling the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches her entire squad skyward for repositioning or escape — requires reduced delay to activate. She's also getting recently added perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with the competition.

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

Apex Legends the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.