The Battle Royale's Niche Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible This Season

The game developers have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid movement can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially existed of the game for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to execute these advanced speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," the designer explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche technique available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says the team aims for gamers to feel powerful — even those who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we extend some of this power to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends 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 upward faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. It was a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer notes Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing the player to remain longer in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the tools required to compete in matches.

"Really, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.