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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of this game's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a burst of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to activate the high-octane movement ability, opening up the mechanic and introducing new ways to play for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan explains the team aims for players to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we create a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will boost players into the air faster than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer notes Respawn assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts teammates into the air for redeployment or escape — requires reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that players can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

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

Map Changes

Additionally, the lone airborne map, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the resources required to keep up with matches.

"Really, we were looking at the game's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer the lead.

Apex Legends the Amped season launches Nov. 4 at the specified times.