Apex Legends' Niche Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible This Season
Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale players, arriving just in time for festive season. Fans of this game's super-slick movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.
Introducing Mantle Boosting
Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. According to lead battle royale designer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.
"Mantle Boosts existed 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 explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to activate the high-octane movement ability, opening up the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for more players."
Why Opening Up Advanced Mechanics
Why make a once niche movement quirk accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for players to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.
"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, observed what our players are doing, and we said, 'What if we provide some of this power to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to change controls and hit precise timings. So we said, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"
The Amped Update Emphasis on Mobility
Mobility is largely the central theme in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost players into the air faster than before. Her defensive walls now include a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. However the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as more potent, quicker, and more lethal.
"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt she was dominant in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she's not very relevant in current Apex. It was an ideal chance for the team to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to her glory days."
Enhancements to the Aerial Legend
To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, the developer says the team assessed each of her abilities and implemented significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, boosting velocity during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, allowing her to remain longer in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches teammates into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added perk choices that users can choose to reduce fuel consumption, expand the spread of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate takeoff time.
"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.
Olympus Improvements
Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that expands choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says the game Season 27 is all about giving players the resources they need to compete in matches.
"Really, we were looking at the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.
Apex Legends the Amped season launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.
