The Battle Royale's Specialized Traversal Techniques Are Going Mainstream This Season

Respawn Entertainment have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Fans of the battle royale's highly fluid movement will be pleased to discover that an innovative traversal feature is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.

Unveiling Mantle Boosting

Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a surge of propulsion when scaling obstacles. As explained lead battle royale designer the design lead, this technique has unofficially existed of the game for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, the team is making it easier for players of all skill levels to execute these tricky speed-boosts.

"This technique have been in Apex for a while, but executing it isn't easy to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese states. "We're adding a Mantle Boost indicator so users can clearly identify the timing to activate the fast-paced traversal skill, opening up the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete for a much wider base."

The Reasoning Behind Make It Accessible

What's the reason for making a once niche technique available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for players to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.

"Our community performs advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what our players are doing, and we said, 'How can we extend some of this power to a broader audience?'" Mohan explains. "Because currently, some of these techniques are kind of janky to use — it requires to remap your keybinds and execute within precise timings. We proposed, 'What if we create a more official implementation?'"

The Amped Update Movement Focus

Movement is primarily the name of the game in Season 27, with Legends Horizon, Rampart, and the aerial combatant all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will boost users into the air much quicker than before. Her defensive walls feature a roof and the ability to provide movement bonuses to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial this Legend receiving significant improvements now, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as more potent, faster, and more lethal.

"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been dominant 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 current the game. This presented an ideal chance for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to her glory days."

Valkyrie's Upgrades

To reclaim Valkyrie's relevance in the game's meta, the developer notes the team assessed all her skills and implemented some powerful changes. Her VTOL Jets received improvements, increasing her speed while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing her to spend more time in the air. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to tag enemies who take damage from it. Her squad redeploy ability — which lifts her entire squad skyward for redeployment or retreat — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that users can choose to conserve resources, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.

"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," he comments.

Map Changes

Even the game's lone airborne map, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and renders claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn says the game this update focuses on providing gamers the resources required to keep up with matches.

"Essentially, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," says lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.

The battle royale the Amped season releases November 4th at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST.