Apex Legends' Niche Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream During This Update

The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.

Unveiling The Mantle Boost

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over 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." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn is making it easier for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in the game for a while, but the movement requires skill to perform and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "Now including a visual cue so users can clearly identify when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and introducing new ways to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk accessible to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for players to feel powerful — even those who are new.

"Our community is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, observed what the community are doing, and we said, 'How can we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Since currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished version?'"

Season 27 Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the central theme in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will boost players upward much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and capability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. But it's the high-flying Valkyrie who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt she was dominant previously, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she's not very relevant in today's Apex. It was a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements in her abilities and sort of restore her to her glory days."

Enhancements to the Aerial Legend

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead notes the team evaluated all her skills and introduced significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity during flight, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, allowing her to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches her entire squad into the air for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," Holstead says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, receives a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends Season 27 is all about giving players the tools they need to compete in the competition.

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

Apex Legends the Amped season releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.