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Respawn Entertainment have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of the game for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says the team wants gamers to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, certain techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to change controls and hit precise timings. So we said, 'How about we create a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the name of the game in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel players into the air faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie receiving significant improvements now, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," states character developer the designer. "Certainly she was top-tier previously, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented an ideal chance for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead says the team assessed all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing 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 tag enemies who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or retreat — requires much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says the game Season 27 is all about providing gamers the resources they need to compete in matches.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," explains principal designer the lead.

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