Apex Legends just dropped Season 13, introducing changes to how players earn RP in Ranked, as well as a new point of interest for Storm Point and a range of balance tweaks. But the highlight of the new season is, of course, the new character: Newcastle. Enjoy him before he inevitably gets nerfed.
Newcastle shifts the entire dynamic of Apex Legends – particularly in the endgame, where a tight circle pushes players together and limits cover. He’s brilliant, but he seems a little too powerful at the moment. Before I dive into the why, here are his abilities, for context:
– Retrieve the Wounded [Passive]: Drag allies as you revive and protect them with your Revive Shield.
– Mobile Shield [Tactical]: Throw a controllable drone that creates a moving energy shield.
– Castle Wall [Ultimate]: Leap to an ally or target area and slam down, creating a fortified stronghold.
What makes him too powerful is how these abilities stack. Castle Wall allows you to jump around 70 meters, catching up to your teammates with a leap before placing down a near-impenetrable fortress wall (unless they climb over or flank around). Any enemies caught in the impact are stunned.
Mobile Shield fires out two energy shields stacked on top of each other, creating a barrier for bullets, but not for bodies. Enemies can push through this one.
Retrieve the Wounded allows you to drag allies away from combat (at quite a speed!) while protecting them with a knockdown shield.
Now, put those together.
If a teammate gets downed, you can jump straight to them, slam down a Castle Wall, immediately place down a mobile shield, then drag them away for a revive. That’s three layers of shields between you and the enemy. They have to climb over your Castle Wall and push through two more layers of energy shields to get the kill.
To make matters worse (or better, if you’re the person using Newscastle), his revive skill doesn’t produce the same audio as a standard revive or a self revive. That audio cue that tells you when to push to prevent a revive? Forget that – you need to learn another now. All that muscle memory needs tweaking. This is perhaps the most baffling decision.
Newcastle also dominates the game in the final zone. When there’s no cover and people are forced to push in from weird angles, Newscastle becomes the cover. This makes for more dynamic endzones with a little less RNG involved, but I can’t think of another hero that’s shaken up the meta in quite the same way.
As I say, he’s a great character to play, but he needs some work to make him less effective. Either that or other characters need a significant buff. Sure, Lifeline can pick up two allies at once, and fight while doing it, but Newcastle almost makes her obsolete – especially with the introduction of loot-stuffed IMC Armories making her care packages less useful.
If you’re loving playing as Newcastle in Apex Legends: Season 13, I’d mentally prepare for a big old nerf.
Written by Kirk McKeand on behalf of GLHF.
