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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of this game's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously existed of the game for quite a while, 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. In this update, the team is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to perform and a player might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding new ways to play for a much wider base."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead says developers aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones 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, 'What if we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Because right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we create a polished version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel players upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention this season, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead notes Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and implemented significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing her to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches her entire squad into the air for redeployment or escape — requires much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn state Apex Legends this update is all about giving players the resources they need to compete in the competition.

"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale the Amped season releases November 4th at the specified times.