Apex Legends' Specialized Movement Mechanics Are Going Mainstream During This Update

Respawn Entertainment has a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of the game for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and typically employed by pro gamers in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and a player 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 activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

Why make a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says the team aims for players to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — you need to change controls and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'How about we make a polished version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will propel players into the air much quicker than it used to. Her defensive walls feature a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to allies in range. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments implemented to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states character developer the designer. "Certainly that she's been dominant previously, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, increasing velocity during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches her entire squad into the air for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting some new perk choices that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Olympus Improvements

Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers state Apex Legends this update focuses on giving players the tools they need to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains principal designer Josh Mohan.

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