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Respawn Entertainment has a special treat prepared for Apex Legends players, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick traversal will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a surge of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for a while, but executing it isn't easy to perform and gamers might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the feature and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we provide some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we create a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will boost users upward faster than before. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment is here," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant previously, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says the team evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing the player to spend more time in the air. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.

"Her jet pack now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers state the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with the competition.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

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