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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially existed of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed 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 a while, but the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the high-octane movement ability, opening up the feature and introducing new ways to compete for a much wider base."

Why Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche technique available to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team wants gamers to feel powerful — even those who are new.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we create a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel users 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 this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier previously, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer says the team assessed all her skills and introduced significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, enabling the player to remain longer in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or retreat — requires reduced delay to activate. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," he comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn says the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools they need to compete in the competition.

"Essentially, we were looking at the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends the Amped season releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.