The Battle Royale's Niche Movement Mechanics Are Going Mainstream This Season

Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's super-slick movement can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it requires skill to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and introducing new ways to compete for more players."

Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

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

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community execute, and we said, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. So we said, 'How about we make a more official version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel players into the air faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and the ability to grant speed boosts to those nearby. However the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving significant improvements now, with various adjustments applied to make her stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer says the team assessed all her skills and implemented significant changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to spend more time in the air. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches teammates into the air for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn state the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.

"Really, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer the lead.

Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at the specified times.