The Battle Royale's Specialized Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible This Season
Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of this game's super-slick traversal can rejoice to discover that an innovative traversal feature will be introduced when the Amped season goes live on November 4th.
Unveiling Mantle Boosting
Named "Mantle Boosting" by the developers, this ability gives players a surge of forward momentum when climbing over ledges and walls. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, Mantle Boosting has unofficially existed of the game for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's challenging for the average player, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or tournaments. This season, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.
"This technique existed in the game for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and a player might not realize it's possible without external guides," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so users can easily see the timing to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding new ways to play for more players."
The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible
Why make a previously obscure movement quirk accessible to all players? Principal designer the development lead explains the team wants gamers to experience empowerment — even those who are new.
"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide some of this power to more players?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since currently, certain techniques are kind of janky to access — you need to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we make a polished implementation?'"
Season 27 Movement Focus
Mobility is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost users into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls now include overhead protection and the ability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. But it's the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as more potent, faster, and deadlier.
"In my opinion there's quite a consensus that her moment 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 current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to reexamine multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."
Enhancements to the Aerial Legend
To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead notes Respawn assessed each of her abilities and introduced some powerful modifications. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, boosting her speed while airborne, and this equipment now recharge three times faster, allowing her to remain longer aloft. Now she won't be harmed from her own Missile Swarm, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who are hit from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts teammates skyward for redeployment or escape — requires reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting some new Legend Upgrades that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive takeoff time.
"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," he comments.
Map Changes
Even the game's only floating arena, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn says the game this update is all about giving players the resources required to compete in the competition.
"Really, we were looking at Apex's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer the lead.
The battle royale the Amped season launches November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.
