The Battle Royale's Specialized Traversal Techniques Become Widely Accessible This Season
Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick traversal can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.
Unveiling Mantle Boosting
Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique was previously been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's no easy feat for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or esports competitions. In this update, the team simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.
"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for a while, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without external guides," the designer states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify the timing to activate the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the feature and introducing fresh strategies to compete for more players."
Why Make It Accessible
What's the reason for making a once niche technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.
"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"
Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility
Movement is primarily the name of the game in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to help keep them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and this skill will propel players into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and the ability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, faster, and deadlier.
"I think many agree that her moment has arrived," says character developer the designer. "Certainly that she's been top-tier previously, but due to the addition of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. It was an ideal chance for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."
Valkyrie's Upgrades
To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says the team assessed all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, enabling the player to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts teammates into the air for redeployment or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her ultimate activation.
"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.
Map Changes
Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the tools they need to compete in matches.
"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains principal designer Josh Mohan.
Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.
