Apex Legends' Specialized Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible During This Update
The game developers have an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for festive season. Enthusiasts of this game's highly fluid movement can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when Season 27: Amped launches on Nov. 4.
Unveiling Mantle Boosting
Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this feature gives players a burst of propulsion when climbing over obstacles. According to key developer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for the average player, and typically employed by competitive players in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.
"This technique existed in Apex for some time, but the movement requires skill to pull off and a player would never know it's possible without outside knowledge," the designer explains. "Now including a visual cue so users can easily see when and how to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and adding new ways to play for a much wider base."
Why Make It Accessible
What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk accessible to everyone? Lead Legend designer the development lead says developers aims for gamers to feel powerful — even those who are new.
"[The playerbase] is doing other crazy stuff like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at other games, observed what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we extend these capabilities to more players?'" Mohan explains. "Because right now, some of these techniques are somewhat awkward to access — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we create a polished version?'"
Season 27 Movement Focus
Mobility is largely the name of the game in this season, with characters Horizon, Rampart, and Valkyrie all getting buffs to maintain them mobile. Recovery time on Horizon's Gravity Lift has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward faster than before. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to grant speed boosts to allies in range. But the spotlight is on the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention now, with multiple tweaks applied to make her stronger, quicker, and more lethal.
"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time is here," states Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been top-tier previously, but with the introduction of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented an ideal chance for the team to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially restore her to former prominence."
Enhancements to the Aerial Legend
To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead notes the team evaluated all her skills and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity during flight, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing her to remain longer aloft. She can no longer be harmed from her ultimate ability, which has also been upgraded to mark opponents who take damage from it. Her Skyward Dive skill — which lifts her entire squad into the air for repositioning or escape — requires reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that users can choose to conserve resources, expand the spread of her rockets, or further speed up her Skyward Dive activation.
"Her jet pack fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead says.
Olympus Improvements
Even the game's lone airborne map, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with major changes that opens up choke points and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn state the game Season 27 focuses on giving players the tools they need to compete in the competition.
"Really, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a fast-paced FPS," says principal designer Josh Mohan.
Apex Legends the Amped season launches November 4th at the specified times.
