The Battle Royale's Niche Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream This Season

The game developers have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on November 4th.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, the team is making it easier for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.

"This technique existed in the game for a while, but the movement requires skill to pull off and a player might not realize it's possible without external guides," Canavese states. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and adding new ways to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Principal designer the development lead says the team wants players to feel powerful — including ones who are new.

"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" the designer explains. "Because currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update 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 it used to. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and the ability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. But it's aerial this Legend receiving significant improvements this season, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as stronger, faster, and more lethal.

"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly she was dominant in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in today's the game. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To restore her competitive status in the game's meta, the developer says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, enabling her to remain longer in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

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

Map Changes

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the tools they need to compete in the competition.

"Really, we examined Apex's core identity as a movement shooter," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.