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The game developers have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of this game's highly fluid movement can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. According to key developer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so players can clearly identify the timing to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says the team aims for gamers to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, observed what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Because right now, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we make a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is primarily the name of the game in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will boost users into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature a roof and the ability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. However the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current the game. This presented an ideal chance 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 the game's meta, the developer says Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing velocity during flight, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, allowing her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad into the air for redeployment or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting some new perk choices that players can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

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

Map Changes

Additionally, the lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says Apex Legends this update is all about giving players the tools they need to compete in the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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