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Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of this game's super-slick traversal will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.

Introducing The Mantle Boost

Named "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a burst of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of the game for some time, usually referred to as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or esports competitions. This season, Respawn is making it easier for everyone to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for more players."

The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics

Why make a previously obscure technique available to all players? Principal designer the development lead says developers aims for players to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, observed what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide some of this power to more players?'" the designer explains. "Because right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — you need to change controls and execute within precise timings. So we said, 'What if we make a more official version?'"

The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility

Mobility is primarily the central theme in this season, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will propel players into the air much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend who's getting the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. It was an ideal chance for us to revisit a bunch of aspects in her abilities and essentially restore her to former prominence."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim her competitive status in current strategies, the developer says the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, enabling the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark enemies who are hit from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts teammates skyward for repositioning or retreat — requires much less time to activate. She's also getting recently added perk choices that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. The developers says the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we examined the game's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer the lead.

The battle royale the Amped season launches November 4th at the specified times.