Apex Legends' Specialized Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible This Season
Respawn Entertainment has a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of this game's super-slick traversal will be pleased to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.
Introducing Mantle Boosting
Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, 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 tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.
"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for some time, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and introducing new ways to play for a much wider base."
Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics
Why make a once niche technique accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team wants players to feel powerful — even those who are new.
"[The playerbase] performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, observed what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" the designer explains. "Since currently, certain techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we make a more official implementation?'"
Season 27 Movement Focus
Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel players upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her more potent, quicker, and more lethal.
"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. It was a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to former prominence."
Valkyrie's Upgrades
To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead notes the team assessed all her skills and implemented significant changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting her speed while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, enabling her to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — now takes reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate activation.
"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead comments.
Olympus Improvements
Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers says the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools they need to compete in matches.
"Really, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer Josh Mohan.
Apex Legends the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.