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The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of this game's super-slick movement can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but executing it isn't easy to perform and a player would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique accessible to everyone? Principal designer the development lead explains developers wants gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a more official version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is largely the central theme in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost players into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current the game. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer says Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and implemented significant modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing her to spend more time aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — requires reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that players can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources they need to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we were looking at Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains principal designer the lead.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.