Apex Legends' Specialized Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream This Season

The game developers have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but the movement requires skill to perform and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead says the team aims for gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we said, 'How can we extend some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Because currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will propel users upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include a roof and the ability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But it's the high-flying Valkyrie receiving significant improvements now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in today's the game. It was a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim her competitive status in current strategies, the developer notes Respawn assessed all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, enabling her to spend more time in the air. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad into the air for redeployment or retreat — requires reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," he says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that expands choke points and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the resources required to compete in matches.

"Really, we examined the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer the lead.

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