Apex Legends' Niche Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream This Season

The game developers has an exciting surprise prepared for Apex Legends gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of this game's highly fluid traversal can rejoice to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.

Introducing Mantle Boosting

Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. According to key developer Eric Canavese, Mantle Boosting has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.

"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but executing it requires skill to pull off and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," Canavese states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and adding new ways to compete for more players."

Why Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a previously obscure technique available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says the team wants players to experience empowerment — even those who are inexperienced.

"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at other games, observed what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'How can we extend these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Since right now, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Mobility is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will boost players upward much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature a roof and the ability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. However it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to make her more potent, quicker, and deadlier.

"I think there's quite a consensus that her moment is here," says Legend designer the designer. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant in the past, but with the introduction of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in current the game. This presented an ideal chance for us to revisit multiple elements [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 the team assessed all her skills and implemented significant changes. Her jetpack have been upgraded, increasing velocity during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge much quicker, allowing the player to spend more time in the air. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy skill — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or retreat — now takes much less time to fire up. Additionally, she gains recently added Legend Upgrades that players can select to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.

"Her jet pack now delivers on the pilot experience," he says.

Olympus Improvements

Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, is getting a mobility-focused facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and renders claiming the high ground more manageable. The developers says Apex Legends this update focuses on providing gamers the tools they need to keep up with matches.

"Really, we examined Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

Apex Legends the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at the specified times.

David Gonzalez
David Gonzalez

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