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The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of Apex Legends for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer explains. "We're adding a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to play for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead says the team wants players to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we extend these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Since currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. 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 characters Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving enhancements to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting significant improvements now, with various adjustments applied to make her stronger, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think many agree that her moment is here," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current the game. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements in her abilities and sort of bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead says Respawn evaluated all her skills and introduced significant modifications. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling the player to remain longer aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or escape — requires reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says Apex Legends this update focuses on giving players the tools they need to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.