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The game developers have a special treat prepared for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of this game's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously been a feature of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for a while, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," Canavese explains. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding new ways to play for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche movement quirk available to all players? Principal designer the development lead says the team wants players to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we make a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is primarily the name of the game in this season, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel users upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However it's the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's the game. It was an ideal chance for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead says Respawn assessed each of her abilities and implemented significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge 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 Skyward Dive skill — which lifts teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting recently added perk choices that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to compete in matches.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at the specified times.