Everything You Need to Know About Apex Legends Newcomer, Newcastle

Apex Legends is about to introduce its 21st legend in the form of Newcastle. This has been a character rumoured for the longest time, and even included in a hefty leak some months ago. But now we are just days away from the launch of Season 13, Saviours, which hopes that Newcastle will slot in nicely while mixing up the meta.

But who is this heroic hero? And what are his abilities? We were invited to a press event courtesy of EA and Respawn Entertainment earlier last week to get the lowdown on the hopes, dreams, and abilities of the newest legend, Newcastle.

First things first, how is this latest legend slotting into the 20-plus roster of unique heroes? Well, Newcastle is the first defensive legend in over seven seasons — Rampart was the last — and Respawn is hoping that he can straddle the line between defence and support. This has been one of the more difficult balancing acts Respawn has struggled with, with legends like Rampart, Caustic, and Wattson often feeling too static for Apex’s on-the-fly gameplay.

So, what are Newcastle’s abilities?

As is expected, Newcastle comes with a passive, a tactical, and an ultimate abilities, all of which are centred around shields.

His passive ability, Retrieve the Wounded, is the best revive ability outside of Lifeline, where he can physically drag downed players, whilst both healing them and protecting them with his wrist-mounted shield. Finally incentivising the use of knockdown shields, the better the shield the stronger Newcastle revive abilities are. At this point, “stronger” seems to mean quicker, but we’d be keen to see if half-heal buffs would also be applied, like they are with legendary backpacks.

Having mentioned Lifeline, some long-time players may recognise Newcastle’s tactical ability, the Mobile Shield. This thing is a directional and moveable shield that Newcastle can throw down, and features a very similar look and function to Lifeline’s old revive shield. This one is split into two parts, so enemy squads can take out either the bottom or top of it if they get the flank. However, that may be difficult to do, as with the simple tap of L1, that shield will be turning around to deflect new forms of fire. It seems players can even use it to advance or retreat, making for a far more versatile form of defence.

Lastly, there is the ultimate, which is undoubtedly going to be the result of some awesome clutch plays. Leaping into the air, Newcastle will slam down his Castle Wall, a fortified defence, that knocks back and stuns enemies, as it forms a solid wall of cover for his team. With an electrical surge running through it, enemies won’t be leaping over it without some grief either, as it both damages and slows them. As an added side of cool, if you use this ultimate while locking on to a teammate that is far away, Newcastle can leap higher and farther to come in and save the day. We don’t know exactly what range this will have, but expect superhero jumps aplenty come the launch of Season 13.

On top of these life-saving plays, you can expect to hear some tense dialogue between Newcastle and Bangalore, the separated siblings, who now have a bit of a rivalry on the go within the Apex Games.

With these abilities there is the hope that the Apex community will finally have a defensive legend that could go toe-to-toe with current pro-favourite, Gibraltar. Let us know what you think of Newcastle. How do you think his pick rate will fair once he settles in? We’ll be back with more tips and tricks on Newcastle once we’ve spent a bit of time with him, so be sure to check back right here on Push Square after Saviours launches.