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Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane movement ability, opening up the feature and adding new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide some of this power to more players?'" the designer explains. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we make a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost players upward much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. However it's the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements now, with various adjustments implemented to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"I think many agree that her moment has arrived," states character developer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier previously, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead notes the team assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates much quicker, enabling her to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the lone airborne map, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says Apex Legends this update is all about providing gamers the resources they need to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we examined the game's core identity as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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