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The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and a player might not realize it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the feature and introducing fresh strategies to play for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk accessible to all players? Principal designer the development lead explains developers aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, looked at what the community execute, and we said, 'How can we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" the designer explains. "Since right now, certain techniques are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'What if we make a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is largely the central theme in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will propel users into the air faster than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and the ability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. But it's aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention this season, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer notes Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting velocity during flight, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, enabling her to spend more time aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches her entire squad skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires much less time to fire up. She's also getting some new perk choices that players can choose to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers state Apex Legends this update focuses on giving players the tools they need to compete in the competition.

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

The battle royale the Amped season launches November 4th at the specified times.