The Battle Royale's Niche Movement Mechanics Are Going Mainstream During This Update
Respawn Entertainment has an exciting surprise prepared for the popular battle royale gamers, arriving just in time for the holidays. Enthusiasts of the battle royale's highly fluid movement can rejoice to discover that a new movement mechanic will be introduced when Season 27: Amped goes live on November 4th.
Introducing The Mantle Boost
Named "Mantle Boosting" by Respawn, this ability provides gamers a burst of forward momentum when scaling obstacles. According to key developer Eric Canavese, this technique has unofficially been a feature of Apex Legends for some time, often called as "mantle jumping." However it's no easy feat for casual gamers, and is mainly used by competitive players in Ranked Mode or esports competitions. This season, the team simplifies the process for everyone to execute these advanced movement boosts.
"Mantle Boosts existed in the game for a while, but executing it requires skill to perform and a player might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," the designer explains. "Now including a visual cue so players can clearly identify when and how to activate the high-octane movement ability, making accessible the feature and adding fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."
The Reasoning Behind Opening Up Advanced Mechanics
What's the reason for making a once niche movement quirk available to everyone? Principal designer Josh Mohan explains developers aims for players to feel powerful — including ones who are inexperienced.
"[The playerbase] is doing advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, observed what our players are doing, and we said, 'How can we extend these capabilities to more players?'" the designer explains. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are somewhat awkward to use — you need to remap your keybinds and hit one-frame windows. We proposed, 'How about we make a polished version?'"
The Amped Update Movement Focus
Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with Legends the gravity mage, Rampart, and Valkyrie receiving buffs to help keep them mobile. The cooldown period on Horizon's Gravity Lift is shorter, and the Gravity Lift will propel players into the air much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover feature overhead protection and capability to grant movement bonuses to those nearby. However it's aerial this Legend who's getting the most attention this season, with multiple tweaks implemented to enhance her as more potent, faster, and deadlier.
"In my opinion many agree that her moment has arrived," says character developer the designer. "Certainly that she's been dominant in the past, but with the introduction of other characters, movement[-based] passives, and Evac Towers, it seemed like she fell behind in current the game. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and sort of restore her to former prominence."
Valkyrie's Upgrades
To reclaim her competitive status in the game's meta, Holstead says Respawn assessed all her skills and introduced some powerful modifications. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and this equipment regenerates 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 enemies who are hit from it. Her squad redeploy skill — which launches teammates skyward for repositioning or escape — now takes reduced delay to fire up. Additionally, she gains some new perk choices that players can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or accelerate her Skyward Dive activation.
"Her jet pack now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he says.
Olympus Improvements
Even the game's only floating arena, Olympus, is getting a movement-friendly overhaul, with major changes that expands bottlenecks and makes securing elevated positions more manageable. Respawn state the game this update is all about providing gamers the tools required to keep up with matches.
"Really, we were looking at the game's core identity as a fast-paced FPS," explains lead Legend designer the lead.
Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases November 4th at the specified times.
