🔗 Share this article The Battle Royale's Niche Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible This Season Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4. Introducing The Mantle Boost Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. 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 no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts. "This technique existed in the game for some time, but executing it requires skill to pull off and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the mechanic and introducing new ways to play for a much wider base." The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says developers aims for players to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced. "[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Because right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished version?'" The Amped Update Movement Focus Movement is primarily the central theme in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel players upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as more potent, faster, and more lethal. "In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to her glory days." Valkyrie's Upgrades To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team assessed each of her abilities and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing velocity during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark opponents who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — requires much less time to activate. She's also getting some new perk choices that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time. "Her jet pack fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead comments. Map Changes Even the game's only floating arena, this location, receives a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about giving players the tools required to keep up with the competition. "Really, we were looking at the game's core identity as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan. The battle royale the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.