Apex Legends' Niche Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible This Season

The game developers has an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick traversal will be pleased to learn that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But 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 players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see when and how to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and introducing fresh strategies to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

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

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because right now, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'How about we create a more official version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the central theme in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost players upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, the developer notes Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, enabling her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark opponents who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates skyward for redeployment or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. She's also getting some new perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about providing gamers the resources they need to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we were looking at the game's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains principal designer the lead.

Apex Legends the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.