Apex Legends is just hours away from kicking off its latest season, titled “Amped.” This new chapter will take players back into the skies with a reworked Olympus map, alongside a series of tweaked mechanics and balanced Legends. Valkyrie, Rampart, and Horizon are the three characters set to receive the most noteworthy changes, giving them a fresh lease on life for the season.
Legend Designer Ian Holstead, Lead Legend Designer Casey O’Brien, Lead Battle Royale Designer Eric Canavese, and Lead Ranked Designer Clement Bachellerie recently took time out of their schedules to discuss some of the bigger changes coming to Apex Legends this week.
**Big Changes to Valkyrie, Rampart, and Horizon**
*Shacknews:* Can you go over some of the bigger changes to Valkyrie, Rampart, and Horizon? I know they’re getting some big updates. How did you decide to approach them for this changing meta, and what can players expect?
*Ian Holstead, Legend Designer:* Valkyrie is definitely the primary focus. The big update she received is a revamped jetpack — her cooldowns have changed, and her speed is significantly higher. This adjustment makes her abilities feel a bit different to use but much more powerful overall. She’s also gained quality-of-life improvements and buffs to her Tactical ability, along with some exciting upgrades to her Ultimate. Valkyrie should feel pretty fresh to play this season.
For Rampart, we concentrated on upgrading her walls, making them much more usable in various situations. They’re meant to provide a greater sense of safety. Additionally, Rampart now has a cool new mechanic that grants a big speed boost when dealing damage around her walls, as well as some neat new upgrades.
Horizon received fun “movement-y” upgrades, giving her back some of the power that had been nerfed over time.
We chose to focus on these Legends because, for lack of a better term, they had been somewhat neglected. Their pick rates had dropped, and they clearly needed some love. Moreover, with the new season’s focus on velocity and speed, these Legends presented great opportunities to introduce exciting improvements.
**Introducing the Double Tap Hop-Up**
*Shacknews:* What can you tell me about the Double Tap hop-up? It sounds like you all are really excited about it.
*Casey O’Brien, Lead Legend Designer:* The Double Tap hop-up is being added to the Alternator this season. It’s a cool idea that we came up with, tying into Ian’s mention of many changes revolving around speed and velocity.
The hop-up makes the Alternator shoot from both barrels simultaneously, effectively doubling the bullets fired. This gives it a lot of close-range power, making it a stronger contender in close-quarters combat. The Alternator has always been a solid middle-of-the-pack SMG, and with Double Tap, it’s about to become even more potent.
Our hope is to gradually push the meta toward close-range engagements, moving away from the current long-range meta. Double Tap complements that vision perfectly by offering twice the bullets, twice the damage, and twice the fun. Players can look forward to shredding their opponents up close like never before.
**Shifting Towards a Close-Range Meta**
*Shacknews:* It’s interesting that you’re moving toward a close-range meta. Which Legends benefit most in this kind of environment?
*Ian Holstead:* Many Legends can thrive in a variety of situations, so it’s a bit challenging to single out specific ones. For example, Gibraltar naturally excels in shotgun metas. That said, most characters will benefit from the tweaks in some way or another during this season’s faster, closer-combat style.
**The Mantle Boost Update and Improving Movement**
*Shacknews:* Tell me about the Mantle Boost update and how the team is working to enhance movement and locomotion for all players.
*Clement Bachellerie, Lead Ranked Designer:* Apex is fundamentally a movement shooter, so continually evolving its movement mechanics is critical to maintaining its core identity.
We’ve observed players coming up with creative techniques like supergliding and tap-strafing, which inspired us to think: “How can we make these more official and accessible?” Currently, many of these advanced maneuvers require complicated keybind changes, perfect timing down to one frame, and sometimes specific hardware, which can be a barrier for many players.
Mantle Boost is our way of taking these popular player-driven techniques and making them an official movement option. By doing so, we hope to broaden the base of players who can enjoy and master Apex’s core, advanced movement.
**Balancing Legends and Weapons Based on Player Feedback**
*Shacknews:* How does recent player feedback factor into your decisions on balancing weapons and Legends?
*Clement Bachellerie:* You can already see from our patch notes that we’re starting to be more transparent about our reasoning. Whether based on player feedback or unusual pick rates, we explain why certain changes are made.
Looking ahead, we plan to dive even deeper into this decision-making process, potentially rolling out new tools or insights for players. We constantly monitor live data and player reactions, ready to implement balance changes even between patches if something seems to be getting out of hand.
**Impact on the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS)**
*Shacknews:* The ALGS is a huge part of Apex Legends. How do you expect the pro scene to receive these changes?
*Casey O’Brien:* On the weapons side, we’re nerfing marksman rifles and snipers, which have dominated ALGS for months. I expect to see a meta shift at the highest level, moving away from long-range combat toward more close-range engagements. Some pro players will be excited for the change; others might be a bit disappointed. It’s always a personal preference. Regardless, we fully expect the weapon meta in ALGS to evolve this season.
*Ian Holstead:* For the Legends, it’ll be interesting. The Legend bans have already changed how certain Legends are played and picked in ALGS.
The characters we’re updating have all been popular in the pro scene at some point, though Rampart has seen less play recently. I’m curious to see how they make a comeback and what that looks like.
Since bans keep the Legend pool diverse, the impact will be subtler compared to the more black-and-white shifts we sometimes see with weapons.
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With the Amped season just around the corner, players can look forward to a faster-paced, more dynamic experience with thrilling Legend updates, exciting new weapon mechanics, and refined movement options that enhance the core Apex Legends gameplay.
Stay tuned as the season unfolds and the meta evolves across all levels of play!
https://www.shacknews.com/article/146645/apex-legends-amped-interview