Apex Legends' Niche Movement Mechanics Become Widely Accessible During This Update
The game developers have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale players, perfectly timed for the holidays. Fans of this game's highly fluid traversal will be pleased to learn that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped launches on November 4th.
Introducing Mantle Boosting
Dubbed "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability gives players a surge of propulsion when scaling ledges and walls. As explained key developer Eric Canavese, this technique was previously existed of Apex Legends for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for the average player, and typically employed by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for players of all skill levels to successfully perform these tricky movement boosts.
"Mantle Boosts have been in the game for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and a player would never know it [is in the game] without outside knowledge," the designer states. "We're adding a visual cue so users can clearly identify the timing to trigger the fast-paced movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to compete 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 developers aims for players to feel powerful — even those who are inexperienced.
"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-glides and tap-strafes, and we examined at our competition, looked at what the community are doing, and we wondered, 'What if we extend these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Because right now, some of these advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — it requires to change controls and hit one-frame windows. So we said, 'What if we create a polished implementation?'"
The Amped Update Movement Focus
Movement is largely the name of the game in Season 27, with characters the gravity mage, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant all getting enhancements to maintain them in motion. Recovery time on her tactical ability has been decreased, and the Gravity Lift will propel users upward faster than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. But the spotlight is on aerial this Legend receiving the most attention now, with various adjustments applied to enhance her as stronger, quicker, and deadlier.
"In my opinion many agree that Valkyrie's time has arrived," states Legend designer Ian Holstead. "There's no doubt that she's been top-tier previously, but due to the addition of new Legends, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it felt like she fell behind in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit a bunch of aspects [of her kit] and sort of bring her back to her glory days."
Valkyrie's Upgrades
To restore Valkyrie's relevance in current strategies, Holstead says the team assessed each of her abilities and introduced significant modifications. Her VTOL Jets have been upgraded, increasing velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, allowing her to spend more time aloft. She can no longer take damage from her ultimate ability, which was enhanced to mark opponents who take damage from the missiles. Her squad redeploy ability — which launches her entire squad skyward for redeployment or escape — requires reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new Legend Upgrades that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her rockets, or further speed up her ultimate takeoff time.
"Valkyrie's equipment fulfills the pilot experience," Holstead says.
Map Changes
Even the game's only floating arena, this location, receives a movement-friendly facelift, with an extensive redesign that expands choke points and renders securing elevated positions a bit less daunting. Respawn says the game Season 27 focuses on providing gamers the resources they need to compete in the competition.
"Really, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," says principal designer Josh Mohan.
The battle royale the Amped season releases Nov. 4 at the specified times.
