Apex Legends' Niche Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream This Season
Respawn Entertainment have a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.
Introducing The Mantle Boost
Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature provides gamers a burst of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of the game for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky speed-boosts.
"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but executing it requires skill to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese explains. "We're adding a visual cue so players can easily see when and how to trigger the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."
The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics
Why make a once niche movement quirk accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead explains developers aims for gamers to feel powerful — including ones who are new.
"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, certain techniques are kind of janky to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"
Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility
Mobility is primarily the central theme in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost users into the air faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include overhead protection and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. However it's aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements this season, with various adjustments implemented to make her more potent, faster, and deadlier.
"I think many agree that her moment has arrived," says character developer the designer. "There's no doubt she was top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. It was a really great opportunity for the team to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially bring her back to her glory days."
Valkyrie's Upgrades
To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer notes Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, enabling her to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.
"Her jet pack fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead comments.
Map Changes
Additionally, the lone airborne map, Olympus, receives a mobility-focused overhaul, with major changes that expands choke points and makes claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers state Apex Legends Season 27 is all about giving players the resources required to keep up with the competition.
"Essentially, we examined Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains principal designer Josh Mohan.
The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at the specified times.