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The game developers have a special treat in store for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for a while, but executing it requires skill to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can clearly identify the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and introducing new ways to play for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to all players? Principal designer the development lead explains developers wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, observed what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Since currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will propel users into the air faster than before. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But it's aerial Valkyrie receiving significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in current the game. This presented an ideal chance for us to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead notes the team evaluated all her skills and implemented significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, enabling her to spend more time in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts teammates into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

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

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers says the game Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases Nov. 4 at the specified times.