🔗 Share this article

Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for some time, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "We're adding a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead says developers wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we said, 'How can we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Because currently, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — you need to change controls and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we make a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel users upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include a roof and the ability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial this Legend receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that her moment is here," states Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer notes the team assessed all her skills and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, enabling her to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

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

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the tools they need to keep up with matches.

"Really, we were looking at the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.