Apex Legends' Specialized Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible During This Update
Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when the Amped season launches on November 4th.
Unveiling The Mantle Boost
Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a surge of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of the game for quite a while, usually referred to as "ledge boosting." However it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. In this update, the team simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.
"Mantle Boosts existed in Apex for a while, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," Canavese explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the mechanic and adding new ways to compete for more players."
The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible
What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Lead Legend designer Josh Mohan says developers wants gamers to feel powerful — even those who are new.
"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, looked at what our players are doing, and we said, 'How can we extend some of this power to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished implementation?'"
Season 27 Movement Focus
Movement is largely the name of the game in this season, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel players upward much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However the spotlight is on the high-flying Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her more potent, faster, and more lethal.
"I think many agree that Valkyrie's time is here," says character developer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant previously, but with the introduction of other characters, mobility perks, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to former prominence."
Valkyrie's Upgrades
To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says Respawn assessed all her skills and implemented significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing her speed while airborne, and this equipment regenerates much quicker, allowing her to spend more time in the air. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to tag enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — now takes reduced delay to activate. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.
"Her jet pack fulfills that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.
Olympus Improvements
Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, receives a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn state Apex Legends this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with the competition.
"Really, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains principal designer the lead.
Apex Legends Season 27: Amped launches Nov. 4 at the specified times.