Apex Legends' Specialized Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible This Season

Respawn Entertainment has a special treat in store for Apex Legends players, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of the game for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for a while, but executing it requires skill to pull off and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify the timing to activate the high-octane traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains the team aims for players to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished version?'"

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 receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel users into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was top-tier previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, enabling her to remain longer aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that players can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate activation.

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

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. Respawn state the game this update focuses on giving players the resources required to keep up with matches.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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