Hey everyone! Today, I’m going to discuss Newcastle, the new Apex Legends hero added in season 13.
He is a fortified defender legend with an interesting kit and tactical ability. Newcastle is easily one of the best characters to play in Apex Legends, and this Ultimate Guide will have you terrorizing squads in no time.
Newcastle is viable at any level of play. He can be useful to your squad, low-rank lobbies, predator lobbies, and even commonly used in the competitive Apex scene; that is how good Newcastle is.
Newcastle’s kit truly sets him apart from the other defensive Legends. In Apex, where movement and positioning are vital to success, defensive Legends commonly play the anchor role, meaning they back up the team and are last into the fight.
Newcastle Overview
Newcastle also known as Jackson Williams is the brother of Bangalore. He’s 40 and he hails from the planet Gridiron. He’s the first defensive Legend to be added to the game in a very long time. He’s also known as the mobile guardian.
Newcastle has been in the Apex universe since season 4, but he’s always been a background character. To protect his hometown, Harris Valley, he enters the Apex games to pay off debts and keep his home safe. His kit provides excellent defensive utility, making him a powerful Legend.
Passive Ability (Retrieve The Wounded)
If you are an old OG Apex player, you may remember the days of Lifeline hopping on our teammate to activate that revive shield while she picks them up. Now, you have Newcastle, who can also hop on his teammates to revive them with the shield, but this time, you can also drag them around to get them out of cover and better protect them with a shield.
The shield also shares a rarity with your knockdown, which means that the best knockdown shield should prioritize Newcastle. The protection it provides is slightly different than when you are knocked down. If the knockdown takes damage, then you, as Newcastle, will get knocked down, and your knockdown will have less of a charge.
If the knockdown shield does get broken while you are reviving someone then you cannot hop off and then back on to recharge the shield so be warned you and your teammate will be left revealed.
Tips for Passive Ability
- The big thing with this Revive shield is to be aware of the enemy’s locations and not be afraid to leap on your squad to pull them out of tough situations. You can cancel the revive by manually pressing the on-screen prompt and this can be useful if you want to return fire or if you want to frag your teammate a little bit further behind cover before getting them up in the open where they may just be re-knocked.
- The shield is pretty decent at blocking damage if any enemy is outside of close range but if someone is close up and personal then it probably is not going to turn out too great.
- When you are using his passive ability and if the fight is complete then you should carry your teammate while you are reviving them to the death boxes nearby so your teammates can get a quick armor swap so they are healthy for any third parties.
- Make sure that you are moving your mobile shield while you are reviving as well. Another point that took me a bit to realize is you do not need to hold down the revive key or button while you are reviving with Newcastle so this allows you to keep your right thumb on the right thumb stick so you can easily turn to block shots while you are reviving and to reposition your teammate safely.
- Another unique way that you can use this passive ability is to switch the game to the third person. While you are reviving you switch to a third-person perspective. So, you can see around corners, you can even Bait enemies that see you starting to revive and watch enemies around corners and as they push then you can see exactly where they are coming from and you can either cancel the revive or finish the revive and know the exact location that enemy is pushing.
- You can’t revive once you hit an Octane pad or horizon lift or Gravity cannon as the animation will discontinue and it will kick you off the revive.
Tactical ability (Mobile Shield)
Newcastle’s tactical ability the mobile shield has a bunch of things for it and it’s a little more complex than it seems at first glance. The basic aspect of this ability is that it’s a throwable and moveable shield with an upper and lower section where each portion has about 350 total health.
The distance it can be thrown is around 20 meters although you can’t direct it to go much further than that 20 meters and this is just the in-air distance it will travel. Controlling the shield is simple more or less point-click but the big thing to know is that the shield will not turn around and do a 180 physical turn of the shield while you are behind the drone.
If you want to make the drone turn 180 then you will need to step outside of the rear portion of the shield or at least finesse and turn the shield in small increments like 45 degrees. If you want a basic way to be sure that the shield is pointing in the direction you are looking then the ideal way to do this is to line the drone part in the direction you want to go while also staying within a couple of meters of the shield.
This will more or less always turn the shield in the direction you want. If you want to go 180 then you will need to walk through and turn around before redirecting and if you want a sure way not to have to worry about the rotating shield then try to have the shield thrown in place down the right way on its initial use.
Tips for Newcastle’s Tactical Ability
- When utilizing Newcastle’s mobile ability shield then try playing around it correctly and utilizing weapons that complement your abilities. A peacekeeper is Newcastle’s best friend or other poke weapons like the wingman or G7 scouts. These weapons allow you to play around both your ultimate wall and your mobile shield very effectively. You can take a quick shot and then immediately get back to your cover. If an enemy is using your cover, then you can always move it and direct it in a different direction.
- Newcastle can pull off some Niche grenades and plays with the Arc Star with his shield. You can attach an arc star to the mobile shield on the front and then proceed to move the shield into a room or even better if someone is holding your location indoors then the shield can pass through objects such as walls and fences. So, try sticking an arc star to the shield and then pass it into the room for free-entry damage.
- Another trick that you can do with grenades with his shield is tossing Arc Star at your feet with the wall directly in front of you and then you back up the mobile shield closer to you and back it up so that you won’t take any damage and then the enemies in front of you will be stunned for easy kills since your wall is protecting you and not protecting them from that Arc star.
- It’s a pretty common tactic in Apex to block doors when you are trying to get off a healing item. Commonly enemies can kick down your doors and two kicks to get in as soon as possible. You can try throwing down your mobile shield and if you can position it correctly then the enemy will not be able to kick down your door because your shield will be blocking the door. That way you have just enough time to get off a healing item and get back into a fight.
- Another effective way to use Newcastle’s Mobile shield is the retreat shield tactic. If you need to turn your back to an enemy and run away then throw down your shield in front of the enemy then you turn 180 degrees and run as you redirect your shield to cover you from behind.
Ultimate Ability (Castle Wall)
Newcastle’s Ultimate the castle wall is going to be where he shines and while this ability does seem like the defensive ability to rule all defensive abilities. Truly the support capabilities of this in conjunction with his other abilities is going to be where excels. This Ultimate is a complete fortress wall that Newcastle can leap into the air to place down up to 35 meters away on his own or even attach and lock onto teammates up to a massive 70 meters away.
Each portion of the wall, the lower sections, and the three larger sections do have 750 health. Upon the initial placement of the castle wall, it even gets an electrified charge to stun and damage enemies who try to climb through it or just get too close to the wall. This charge does last for 30 seconds. The wall will also knock back any enemy that it lands close to.
A portion of the wall will not be constructed if you are on extremely unlevel ground or if you are near a drop off so take care of your landing location. Newcastle can remove portions of the wall with an on-screen prompt and the big counter for these walls will be the fact that enemies can simply punch the walls twice to break portions of them.
Tips for Newcastle’s Ultimate Ability
- When you are leaving through the air in the ultimate and right before you are about to come in contact with the ground then you can turn and look around to better place the wall in the direction you want to place it. The bread and butter for this ultimate is going to capability to hop to your squad mates and this is where Newcastle’s support capabilities start to come in handy. If the enemy gets knocked then you can jump right to them, place the wall down, and fortify up while also using either the tactical shield or passive revive to start reviving.
- Jump is arguably more important than the shield it puts down and uses this ability to reposition, escape an Impossible gunfight, or gain access to hard-to-reach places. You can even use this mobility to grab banners and then quickly jump away for safety. When utilizing the castle wall then you’re able to turn mid-leap so you can direct the wall to deflect incoming fire.
- If you and your teammates need to bunker down for heals then remember that the castle wall can be placed without a leap and it can be used to block doors and entrances. This can give your team approximately 30 seconds or more to heal and plan an attack.
- Control the engagements and gain superior positioning because you do leap into the air. This does give a lot of capability to rapidly gain high ground or rooftop to control and apply pressure to your enemies.
- Use this ability while being indoors and closer to areas. Using this Ultimate inside will allow you to separate rooms and better fortify the building. Remember that the wall is initially electrified so really no one can climb over it without more or less getting lasered and the wall itself is a great tool to share a building with players in an endgame situation if needed. A smart and quick placement can also pretty much block doors completely almost like a Rampart Wall.
Newcastle Playstyle
There are so many cases for Ultimate and this makes it very interesting when you look at Newcastle’s playstyle. Since Newcastle is a fortified Legend, he will more easily be beamed to target but he can also actually act as a team scout if he does get in trouble then you can lean back to your squad.
Just take note that much like Wraith’s tactical, there is a brief charge up of the ultimate and it will leave him slightly revealed and slowed. When he is using the Ult combo the tactical wall shield and his ultimate can be a great way to use it with some safety without getting beamed while it’s activating.
Other Newcastle Facts (Fortified)
Newcastle also has the fortified Passive and this is the first Legend to be added to the game since Caustic to have that ability. Previously the fortified was nerfed to not mitigate damage to the head. This means that Newcastle will be able to take a little bit more damage as the fortified passive reduces it by 15%. This will make running out to grab your teammate, build some castle walls, or place a mobile shield that little bit easier.
He doesn’t have a huge hitbox so it should be pretty sturdy in open spaces if you play around his abilities. If you’re looking to unlock Newcastle to put these abilities into action, he’ll set you back about 12,000 Legend tokens or about 750 apex coins. You can also unlock him in the launch bundle in the in-game store.
Legend Combos
Legend combos and teammates are also a pretty big deal. This is not going to be the case so much in trios because you will leave your third behind. But another possible use in something like duo’s is to have your movement Legend squad mate scout around to a safe area and then Newcastle can leap to them to bypass movement in the open.
This could be the Legend Like Wraith queuing across the open or someone like Pathfinder grappling to hype. Other great combos you need to consider are Wattson or Caustic, which will better fortify the wall with fences and gas traps, and a Wattson gen, which will stop ordinances from coming in. Every other Legend will have some useful cases with Newcastle. Revenant Ultimate from height and Valkyrie Ultimate to height and then fortify more walls with Rampart or even Loba where you are Looting behind the fortified area will be very helpful for Newcastle to dominate the map.
Bloodhound is also the best pairing with Newcastle as you can use their recon abilities to scan for nearby enemies. Bloodhound can then use this information to advise Newcastle where to place shields, allowing your team to be prepared ahead of a battle.
Ranking Newcastle in Meta
Newcastle in today’s meta is a tough one so ranking him is pretty difficult. In my opinion, he is not better than a Legend like Gibraltar. He is still very useful and this does put him in the upper tier of Legends and Apex somewhere between the top seven to top nine Legends. If you’re playing ranked you probably will not play a lot of Maggie’s at a higher level, and even in pubs, he’s the best Legend you can play.
Newcastle’s kit makes him stunning while playing in maps like Storm Point and Broken Moon, but he’s an anchor or support type so all the hot droppers and run and gun and die types don’t enjoy him as used effectively his skills protect teammates instead of ramping up engagements.
Key Points to Success on Newcastle
There are 12 key points that you can follow to get victory in every fight or match in Apex Legends.
· Keep Ultimate Accelerants
· Destroy a wall of your ult
· You can see people through the smoke
· Blocking doorways with your ultimate
· Newcastle’s ultimate stuns
· Select the best weapons that pair with his abilities
· Proper use of his tactical
· When in a 1v1 situation, bait a rez
· Take angles, Newcastle is not a static defender
· Movement while reviving
· Newcastle is also an offensive legend
· Understand his role
To make a huge difference, don’t forget to always carry Ultimate Accelerants in your inventory.
How to Counter Newcastle in Apex Legends
A lot of players ask a common question how to counter Newcastle and What would you do if you were heading up against another Newcastle? There is a way to fight Newcastle and kill him before he causes more problems in a match. You have to save the Newcastle alts and then Ult him right back because what it does is, it destroys the Ult instantly and it pushes them back. So, it forces them to be caught out unopened. All it leads them to do is to push your ult and usually, it’s just a free win for your team.
Another way is if Newcastle is Rez’ing then don’t be afraid to push. If it’s Newcastle then you should be scared because you instantly cancel Rez, bait the Rez, and get a free 1 clip. But when Newcastle is Rez’ing just full-on push Newcastle is slow turning when he is rezing with the red shield. You can also shoot the tactical, his body will be exposed, and he will just catch out in the open.
Gameplay Tips
Newcastle is highly mobile but should be played as a defender. Let your teammates start engagements and flanks and then react to the situations with your abilities as needed. Rushing into a firefight and getting down immediately will not grant your team any of the advantages of Newcastle.
He is at his best when he is supporting and providing utility to his teammates. Make sure that Newcastle has the best knockdown shield out of the team. His passive deploys his knockdown shield to cover the teammate he is reviving or dragging and then always makes sure you are always moving with Newcastle. Most defenders like to stay in one spot forcing the enemy teams to come towards you but Newcastle is best used to react to enemy pushes.
A well-timed, mobile shield or castle wall can stop an enemy in its track and it can allow your teammate to help fall back or to get stronger positions or even a flank to win that fight.
Summary
Thank you for reading my guide. I hope you will dominate every game with Newcastle! You can check out our Apex Legends badge boosts service, where we can unlock any badge for you with Newcastle.