Apex Legends' Specialized Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible This Season
Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.
Unveiling The Mantle Boost
Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a surge of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously existed of the game for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced speed-boosts.
"Mantle Boosts have been in Apex for some time, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it's possible without external guides," the designer states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."
The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible
What's the reason for making a once niche technique accessible to all players? Principal designer the development lead says the team wants players to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.
"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we said, 'How can we provide some of this power to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished version?'"
The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility
Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost users into the air much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But it's aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to enhance her as stronger, faster, and deadlier.
"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," states character developer the designer. "Certainly she was dominant in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."
Valkyrie's Upgrades
To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead notes Respawn evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing the player 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 take damage from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or escape — requires much less time to activate. She's also getting recently added perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.
"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.
Olympus Improvements
Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers state Apex Legends this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with matches.
"Really, we were looking at Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.
The battle royale the Amped season releases November 4th at the specified times.
