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The game developers has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of the game for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to perform and a player might not realize it's possible without external guides," the designer states. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains developers aims for players to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we extend these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Because right now, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in this season, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost players into the air much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer the designer. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in current the game. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer notes Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, enabling the player to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's 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 state Apex Legends Season 27 is all about giving players the resources required to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we were looking at the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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