Apex Legends' Niche Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible During This Update

Respawn Entertainment have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of this game's super-slick movement can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a burst of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can clearly identify the timing to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding fresh strategies to play for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, looked at what our players are doing, and we said, 'What if we extend these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Because currently, certain 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 polished implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. However it's the high-flying this Legend receiving significant improvements this season, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states character developer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team assessed each of her abilities and introduced significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing velocity during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, enabling her to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting some new perk choices that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Her jet pack fulfills the pilot experience," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to keep up with matches.

"Really, we were looking at the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer the lead.

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