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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to perform and a player would never know it's possible without external guides," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

Why Make It Accessible

Why make a previously obscure technique accessible to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says developers aims for players to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we said, 'How can we extend some of this power to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we create a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel players into the air faster than before. Her defensive walls feature a roof and the ability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie receiving significant improvements this season, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states character developer the designer. "Certainly she was top-tier previously, 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 restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer says Respawn evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting velocity during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, enabling her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad into the air for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers state the game Season 27 is all about giving players the resources they need to compete in matches.

"Really, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer the lead.

Apex Legends the Amped season releases November 4th at the specified times.