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The game developers has a special treat prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick traversal can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," Canavese states. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the mechanic and introducing new ways to play for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

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

"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, looked at what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we extend some of this power to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'What if we make a polished implementation?'"

Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is primarily the name of the game in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel players into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and the ability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. However it's the high-flying this Legend receiving significant improvements now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as stronger, faster, and deadlier.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," states character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead notes the team assessed all her skills and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity during flight, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, 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 enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that expands choke points and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers says Apex Legends this update focuses on providing gamers the resources they need to compete in the competition.

"Really, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at the specified times.