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The game developers has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick movement can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season launches on Nov. 4.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique was previously existed of the game for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but executing it isn't easy to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche technique accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at other games, looked at what our players execute, and we said, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, certain techniques are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we make a more official implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with characters Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel users upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial this Legend who's getting significant improvements this season, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," says character developer the designer. "Certainly she was dominant in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in current the game. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, enabling the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — requires reduced delay to activate. She's also getting recently added perk choices that users can choose 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," Holstead says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn state Apex Legends this update is all about providing gamers the resources required to keep up with the competition.

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

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