The Battle Royale's Niche Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible This Season

Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these advanced speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can clearly identify the timing to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains developers wants players to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Because right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel players into the air much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. But the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as more potent, faster, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that her moment is here," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been 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 current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer notes the team evaluated each of her abilities and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing her to remain longer aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — requires reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," he says.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn state the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the tools required to compete in matches.

"Really, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains principal designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.