🔗 Share this article

The game developers have a special treat in store for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick movement will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for some time, but the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says the team wants players to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, '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 change controls and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we create a more official version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel players upward faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. However the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to make her stronger, quicker, 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 top-tier previously, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's Apex. It was an ideal chance for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says Respawn evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, enabling the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

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

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says the game this update is all about giving players the tools required to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we were looking at the game's core identity as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends the Amped season launches Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.