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The game developers have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick movement can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a burst of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the feature and introducing new ways to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique accessible to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we said, 'What if we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, certain techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, '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 characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel players upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend who's getting significant improvements now, with various adjustments applied to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt she was top-tier previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, allowing her to remain longer in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — requires much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that users can choose to reduce fuel consumption, 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.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers says the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources they need to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer the lead.

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