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The game developers has a special treat prepared for Apex Legends players, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick movement can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, the team is making it easier for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but the movement requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the high-octane movement ability, opening up the feature and adding new ways to play for a much wider base."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

What's the reason for making a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to all players? Principal designer the development lead says the team aims for players to experience empowerment — even those who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what our players are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since currently, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished version?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel users upward much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting the most attention now, with various adjustments implemented to enhance her as more potent, faster, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "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 today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer says Respawn assessed each of her abilities and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts teammates into the air for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to fire up. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that players can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers state the game this update focuses on providing gamers the tools required to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we examined the game's core identity as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at the specified times.