The Battle Royale's Niche Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream This Season
The game developers have a special treat in store for Apex Legends gamers, perfectly timed for the holidays. Enthusiasts of this game's super-slick movement can rejoice to learn that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when the Amped season launches on November 4th.
Introducing Mantle Boosting
Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when climbing over obstacles. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially been a feature of the game for quite a while, often called as "ledge boosting." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. This season, Respawn is making it easier for players of all skill levels to execute these advanced speed-boosts.
"This technique have been in the game for a while, but the movement isn't easy to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese states. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify the timing to trigger the fast-paced traversal skill, making accessible the mechanic and adding fresh strategies to play for more players."
Why Make It Accessible
What's the reason for making a once niche technique accessible to all players? Lead Legend designer the development lead says the team wants players to feel powerful — even those who are new.
"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we examined at other games, observed what the community execute, and we said, 'How can we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" the designer explains. "Since right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we create a more official version?'"
Season 27 Emphasis on Mobility
Mobility is primarily the central theme in this season, with characters Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving enhancements to maintain them in motion. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and this skill will boost players upward much quicker than before. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and capability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However the spotlight is on aerial Valkyrie receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.
"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment has arrived," says Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in today's the game. It was a really great opportunity for us to reexamine a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to her glory days."
Valkyrie's Upgrades
To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead notes the team evaluated each of her abilities and introduced significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity during flight, and the jets themselves regenerates three times faster, allowing the player to spend more time aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark opponents who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches her entire squad skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes much less time to activate. She's also getting recently added Legend Upgrades that users can select to conserve resources, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive takeoff time.
"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," he says.
Olympus Improvements
Additionally, the only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. The developers state the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with the competition.
"Essentially, we were looking at the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.
The battle royale Season 27: Amped launches November 4th at the specified times.
