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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's super-slick movement will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a surge of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to execute these advanced speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche technique available to all players? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team wants players to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what our players execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the central theme in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost users upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include a roof and the ability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. However it's aerial this Legend receiving significant improvements now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt she was dominant in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in current the game. It was an ideal chance for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer notes the team assessed each of her abilities and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts teammates into the air for redeployment or escape — requires reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we examined the game's core identity as a movement shooter," says principal designer the lead.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at the specified times.