🔗 Share this article

Respawn Entertainment have a special treat prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick movement can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a surge of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for some time, but executing it requires skill to perform and a player would never know it's possible without external guides," Canavese explains. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says the team aims for players to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because right now, 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 primarily the central theme in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel players upward faster than it used to. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. However it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in today's Apex. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer notes Respawn assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting velocity during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing the player to remain longer aloft. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad skyward for redeployment or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the lone airborne map, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers says the game this update is all about giving players the tools required to keep up with matches.

"Really, we were looking at Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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