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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat in store for Apex Legends players, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team is making it easier for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to perform and gamers would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can clearly identify the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding new ways to play for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk available to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, observed what our players execute, and we said, 'How can we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we make a more official version?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is largely the name of the game in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost players upward faster than it used to. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend who's getting the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was dominant in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and implemented some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling her to remain longer in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — requires much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that players can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn state the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale the Amped season releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.