Apex Legends' Specialized Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream This Season

The game developers has an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of the game for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it's possible without external guides," the designer explains. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding new ways to compete for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains developers aims for gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend some of this power to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we create a more official version?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will boost players into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. However it's the high-flying this Legend who's getting significant improvements now, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current the game. It was a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and sort of bring her back to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer says the team assessed all her skills and introduced significant changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to tag opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends this update focuses on providing gamers the resources required to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains principal designer Josh Mohan.

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