Apex Legends' Specialized Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream This Season

The game developers have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick 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 feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously existed of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but the movement requires skill to pull off and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we create a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will boost users upward much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But it's the high-flying this Legend receiving significant improvements this season, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in current the game. This presented an ideal chance for the team to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and essentially bring her back to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead notes Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to activate. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn says the game Season 27 is all about providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we were looking at the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer the lead.

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