Apex Legends' Specialized Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible This Season
The game developers has a special treat prepared for Apex Legends players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.
Introducing The Mantle Boost
Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, the team is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.
"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify the timing to trigger the high-octane traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and introducing new ways to compete for more players."
The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible
What's the reason for making a once niche technique available to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead says the team aims for gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.
"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, looked at what our players are doing, and we said, 'What if we provide these capabilities to more players?'" the designer clarifies. "Since currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to access — it requires to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we make a more official version?'"
Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility
Mobility is primarily the central theme in this season, with characters Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and this skill will propel users into the air faster than it used to. Her defensive walls feature overhead protection and the ability to provide speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie who's getting the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.
"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of other characters, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it seemed like she fell behind in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to former prominence."
Enhancements to the Aerial Legend
To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says Respawn evaluated all her skills and implemented some powerful modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting her speed during flight, and this equipment regenerates three times faster, enabling the player to remain longer in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag enemies who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which launches her entire squad into the air for repositioning or escape — now takes reduced delay to activate. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or accelerate her ultimate activation.
"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.
Map Changes
Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn state Apex Legends Season 27 focuses on giving players the tools they need to compete in the competition.
"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.
The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.
