Apex Legends' Niche Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream During This Update
The game developers has a special treat prepared for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season launches on November 4th.
Unveiling Mantle Boosting
Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a burst of forward momentum when scaling ledges and walls. As explained key developer the design lead, this technique has unofficially existed of the game for some time, often called as "ledge boosting." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn is making it easier for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky speed-boosts.
"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but executing it isn't easy to pull off and a player would never know it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can easily see when and how to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."
Why Make It Accessible
Why make a once niche technique accessible to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan says the team wants players to experience empowerment — including ones who are new.
"[The playerbase] performs other crazy stuff like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, observed what our players execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to access — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished version?'"
Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility
Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to help keep them mobile. Recovery time on her tactical ability is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will boost players into the air faster than it used to. Her defensive walls now include a roof and the ability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. But it's aerial Valkyrie who's getting significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.
"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant previously, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she fell behind in today's Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to reexamine a bunch of aspects in her abilities and sort of bring her back to former prominence."
Enhancements to the Aerial Legend
To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, Holstead says the team assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, boosting velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, allowing the player to spend more time in the air. Now she won't be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag enemies who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate activation.
"Valkyrie's equipment now delivers on the pilot experience," Holstead says.
Olympus Improvements
Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, receives a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that opens up bottlenecks and renders securing elevated positions more manageable. The developers state the game Season 27 is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.
"Really, we were looking at the game's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.
Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.
