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The game developers has an exciting surprise in store for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of the game for some time, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"This technique existed in Apex for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it's possible without external guides," the designer explains. "Now including a visual cue so players can clearly identify when and how to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique accessible to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains the team aims for players to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, observed what our players are doing, and we said, 'What if we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer explains. "Because right now, certain techniques are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is largely the central theme in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users 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 it's aerial this Legend receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her more potent, quicker, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," states character developer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was top-tier in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in today's Apex. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially bring her back to former prominence."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead notes Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, enabling her to spend more time in the air. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches teammates into the air for repositioning or escape — now takes reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting recently added perk choices that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

"Her jet pack fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead comments.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that expands choke points and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn says Apex Legends this update focuses on giving players the tools required to compete in matches.

"Essentially, we examined the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer the lead.

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