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The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a burst of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "Now including a visual cue so players can easily see the timing to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the feature and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, observed what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Because right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we make a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is largely the central theme in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost users upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that her moment has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been top-tier in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer notes the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says the game Season 27 is all about giving players the tools required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer the lead.

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