The game developers have an exciting surprise in store for the popular battle royale gamers, perfectly timed for festive season. Fans of the battle royale's super-slick traversal will be pleased to learn that a new movement mechanic is being implemented when the Amped season goes live on Nov. 4.
Dubbed "Momentum Boosting" by the developers, this feature gives players a burst of propulsion when scaling obstacles. According to key developer the design lead, Mantle Boosting was previously existed of the game for quite a while, often called as "mantle jumping." But it's challenging for casual gamers, and is mainly used by pro gamers in competitive play or tournaments. In this update, Respawn simplifies the process for everyone to execute these tricky movement boosts.
"This technique existed in Apex for some time, but the movement isn't easy to perform and gamers might not realize it [is in the game] without external guides," Canavese explains. "Now including a Mantle Boost indicator so players can clearly identify the timing to activate the fast-paced movement ability, opening up the feature and introducing fresh strategies to play for a much wider base."
Why make a once niche movement quirk available to all players? Principal designer Josh Mohan says developers aims for players to experience empowerment — including ones who are inexperienced.
"Our community is doing advanced techniques like super-gliding and tap-strafing, and we looked around at our competition, looked at what the community execute, and we wondered, 'What if we provide these capabilities to a broader audience?'" Mohan clarifies. "Since right now, certain advanced [movement] mechanics are kind of janky to use — you need to change controls and execute within one-frame windows. So we said, 'How about we make a polished version?'"
Mobility is largely the central theme in this season, with Legends Horizon, the defensive specialist, and the aerial combatant receiving buffs to maintain them mobile. The cooldown period on her tactical ability is shorter, and this skill will boost players into the air much quicker than it used to. Rampart's Amped Cover now include a roof and the ability to provide speed boosts to those nearby. However it's the high-flying this Legend receiving the most attention this season, with various adjustments implemented to make her stronger, quicker, and deadlier.
"I think there's quite a consensus that Valkyrie's time has arrived," says Legend designer the designer. "Certainly that she's been top-tier in the past, but due to the addition of new Legends, mobility perks, and redeployment tools, it felt like she's not very relevant in current Apex. This presented a really great opportunity for us to revisit multiple elements [of her kit] and essentially bring her back to former prominence."
To restore her competitive status in current strategies, Holstead says the team assessed all her skills and introduced significant changes. Her jetpack received improvements, boosting velocity while airborne, and the jets themselves now recharge three times faster, enabling the player to remain longer in the air. Now she won't take damage from her own Missile Swarm, which was enhanced to mark enemies who take damage from the missiles. Her Skyward Dive ability — which lifts teammates skyward for redeployment or retreat — requires reduced delay to fire up. She's also getting recently added perk choices that users can select to reduce fuel consumption, widen the area of her Missile Swarm, or further speed up her ultimate activation.
"Her jet pack now delivers on that jet-fighter fantasy," he comments.
Additionally, the only floating arena, this location, is getting a mobility-focused overhaul, with an extensive redesign that expands bottlenecks and makes claiming the high ground a bit less daunting. Respawn state the game Season 27 is all about giving players the resources required to compete in the competition.
"Really, we were looking at Apex's fundamental nature as a movement shooter," explains lead Legend designer Josh Mohan.
Apex Legends Season 27: Amped releases Nov. 4 at the specified times.
A seasoned software engineer with a passion for open-source projects and tech education.
