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The game developers have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick traversal can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of the game for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play 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 the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the mechanic and adding new ways to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk available to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan explains the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what our players execute, and we said, 'How can we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because currently, certain techniques are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'How about we create a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will boost players upward much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states character developer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier previously, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer notes the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed while airborne, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling her to remain longer in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or retreat — requires reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers state Apex Legends this update focuses on providing gamers the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer the lead.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at the specified times.