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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained 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 the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or tournaments. In this update, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for some time, but the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify the timing to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a once niche technique accessible to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers wants players to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'How can we provide some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we create a more official version?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Movement is primarily the central theme in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel players into the air faster than before. Her defensive walls now include a roof and the ability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But it's aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states character developer the designer. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in today's Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team evaluated each of her abilities and implemented significant changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing her to spend more time aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that players can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead says.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says 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 movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.