Hey guys! Today I’m going to be talking about Wattson, the new Apex Legends hero that was added with Season 2.
She is a defensive legend with an interesting kit and a passive ability. Since I’m a professional Apex Legends player and a member of Apex Boost team here at Immortal Boost, I had to master her immediately so I could do my job perfectly just like before she was released.
Wattson might not be the most utilized Legend in the game due to her kind of niche kit, but her fences have a near-infinite number of possibilities when it comes to setting them up for engagements in both offensive and defensive situations.
Today we’ll look at a handful of different scenarios for when you use Wattson’s fences. There’s something so oddly satisfying about a good fence placement and it requires a different type of thought process compared to the majority of the other Legends out there
In this guide, I’ll be breaking down Wattson entirely as a character starting from the bottom up with her fundamentals and working up to more advanced techniques branching from her core concepts. So, you can be at any skill level with Wattson for this guide but you can also progress your Wattson gameplay. Let’s just dive right into the very first section of Wattson Ultimate Guide.
Wattson Playstyle
It’s important to note that Wattson has no movement abilities or passives whatsoever. So, she’s punished extra hard out in the open. Wattson’s hitbox is still pretty small compared to the rest of the cast but she still gets beamed if you’re caught lacking as she doesn’t have a button that gets her out of situations.
I recommend being familiar with your movement at least up to a certain level. The only thing you can rely on sometimes is that playing a character that doesn’t have a unique movement ability of any kind, Lifeline, Rampart, and Crypto can relate. Because of this, her playstyle is more suited to buildings and close quarters, which should also affect the type of weapons you’re picking up as well.
You can use whatever guns you like really but as a Wattson main, I find that her playstyle is more suited towards SMGs and Shotguns. Because of her playstyle, Wattson is more suited to mouse and key due to the high input surroundings like doors, death boxes, and her abilities.
Wattson’s Kit
Now, I’m going to get into the specifics of her kit and how to use her to her utmost potential. Wattson’s kit can be broken into three categories. Her tactical, security perimeter, her ultimate interception pylon, and her passive spark of genius. I’ll break down each of these and explain everything you need to ground up.
Spark of Genius
Staring with Wattson’s passive it is called static defender and it gives you a minimal amount of shield regeneration over time. It is similar to Octane’s health regen but not really as fast. All this means in terms of gameplay is you can usually not heal the last cell for armor and it will be back to full before your next fight or if you’re really in shambles then you can heal your and your teammate’s armor over time.
Similar in ranked if you had no loot and wanted to preserve cells. The big takeaway from this passive though is that her regen stacks with Wattson’s ultimate ability which is her interception pylon.
The passive ability allows her to hold two ultimate accelerants per inventory slot and each of these accelerants will fully recharge her ultimate ability. Additionally, she also has a passive shield regeneration of one shield point every two seconds.
Perimeter Security
Wattson’s tactical ability is perimeter security and there are fence nodes she places on the ground to create an electrified fence to damage, stun, and slow down advancing opponents who come into contact with her fences. She can have four node charges in reserve allowing her to rapidly set up fences in times of need. By default, these fence nodes do have a 15-second recharge per fence node and up to 12 total fence nodes can placed on the ground at once.
It should be said that the recharge rate of the fences can be dramatically reduced all the way down to 3 seconds per node if she is in range of her ultimate ability. Wattson can pick up her fence nodes to refund her charges but again she can only have four nodes in reserve.
Before diving into how to use her fences effectively it’s important to understand their possibilities and limitations so you can be as creative. Wattson’s fences have the highest skill cap out of any Legends ability in the game and the possibilities are almost endless with how you can use them to your advantage. Wattson can hold up to four nodes at a time which requires at least two to connect with a maximum of two connections per node to create each electrical current or fence.
She’ll get a node back every 15 seconds for a maximum of 12 being on the field at a time. However, standing within range of her Ult will replenish one node every three seconds. This makes a huge difference in the heat of the fight, although you’ve to be within a certain range to place a node, which was previously buffed and increased her placing range, the distance to which you can connect to an existing node is much larger as well after her buff.
Interception Pylon
Wattson’s ultimate ability is the interception pylon. This is an electrified pylon that destroys all incoming ordinances such as ultimate abilities like Gibraltar or Bangalore’s grenades and some tactical abilities that would land in its range like fuse’s knuckle clusters. In addition to this, the Pylon will recharge the shields of anyone who is in range of the pylon at a massive rate of 5 shields per second for a total of 250 shields per pylon.
Players can look at the base of the pylon to see the amount of remaining shield recharge. If the pool of 250 shields is completely used then the Pylon will remain active to block incoming ordnance. The pylon itself has a three-minute cooldown timer and it can take 150 damage before being destroyed. Pylon will also recharge Wattson’s tactical ability fence nodes much quicker and this is important to her kit.
Role in the squad
To make the most out of Wattson’s kit, you need to understand her overall play style and role in the squad. While Wattson can be used aggressively, she is more so defensive Legend and a great one at that.
She is one of the best in the game when it comes to posting up and holding down areas and in a lot of ways, she’s a bit of a between a defensive Legend and a zone control Legend. It’s worth noting that sensor pylon can regenerate the shields of the squad. She is also a pretty great team support legend with some healing.
Fence Techniques
The first tip to discuss is Wattson’s fundamentals. At a basic level, you can go up and place a few fences down and lock off an area but in reality, Wattson’s kit has a lot more to it than just that. Wattson is one of the only Legends in the game where all three of her abilities: Passive, tactical, and ultimate all work together.
Her passive allows her to get ultimate quicker with a single accelerant use. She can then place that ultimate down and because of this, she can then regenerate her fence nodes much quicker allowing her to set up and control large areas. This is one of the most important parts of Wattson’s kit. So, do not forget about it.
Double Node
The first fence technique is the most basic, simply put down two fence nodes in front of a doorway to prevent enemies from pushing in through that door. When placing fences down in this manner you want to place the bases of the nodes as far away from the door as possible and up against the wall as much as possible.
This will help you protect defense nodes from advancing players and the harder and longer it is for enemies to shoot the fence nodes to enter the room, the better it is for you because you can either slow them or you can shoot the player trying to destroy your fences.
Triple Nodes
The next technique is similar to the first one but is simply putting down three nodes to cover a doorway instead of two. This adds slightly more security and it forces players to either shoot an extra node to enter the area or navigate around defense after destroying one of the nodes. If they do choose to run right through, they will take the double amount of damage.
The big problem with using three nodes to cover a doorway or entryway is that it will reduce your overall coverage area since you’re adding an extra node just for one area. Just keep this in mind when you are controlling areas and try to plan, much like technique number two and technique number three are similar.
Quad Node
This time you’re putting down four nodes to cover a singular area and this will more or less give you the maximum amount of security. Simply place down the fence nodes in an X or Z type of pattern and you will be good to go. I don’t recommend doing this too often though as you’re going to be using a lot of fence nodes to cover one area and it’s a little bit of overkill.
Bunker Up
We have the indoor building technique and this is simply done by zigzagging fences over one another in a small or even larger building area. This helps you slow down enemies immensely and will give you a lot of extra security to advancing opponents.
The big thing to know about this is that is all about creating redundant layers of defense to give yourself backup defense layers. when you have a lot of fences down, like this, it kind of is all about optics, and even just giving the impression of being a team that has a lot of fences posted up will be a pretty big deterrent to teams trying to push you.
Perimeter Security
Another great place to fence is on top of buildings. Fencing off building perimeters is a great way to control high ground, it is nearly impossible for enemies to climb up onto you. The reason for this is that the fence nodes are above enemies and they will be unable to shoot or destroy fences because of this.
Choke Points
Fencing off choke points is pretty similar to the indoor method but again there should be a bigger emphasis on redundant fencing as you again want to slow down enemies trying to rotate through a choke area. In this scenario, you must be also near the choke area so you can damage enemies trying to destroy your nodes because nodes will be easier to destroy.
This is a great technique to utilize when the ring may be shrinking and enemies are sent into a panic, trying to rotate through your fences.
Open areas
Now, we’ve fenced up open areas. At first glance, this can seem ineffective as it is harder to do but it still can be viable. The big thing with fencing an area that is outside or open is all about the placement of the nodes and having high ground. Preferably, you want to have high ground so you can place nodes out of the enemy’s visual range but second of this is putting nodes in creative places.
Any node that can be placed behind a box, behind a small rock, a small edge, or even some taller grass or some bushes will be a huge headache for enemies to destroy. It’s something that you should try to take advantage of.
Zipline Fencing
The next tip is simply to utilize fences at the zipline. This is a great way to catch enemies off guard and for some damage and this is especially the case in zipline buildings like on World’s Edge.
Fence Trap
Our next tip is pretty situational but is something nice to have in your back pocket if the moment calls for it. This is the pre-fence or fence trap of the doorway as you can do this by placing a fence node outside of a building or beyond a door and then holding the second node in your hands while sitting on the doorway.
At this point, if the enemy goes up to the door, place that fence node down and then back- off hitting the door-camping enemy with your fence. It’s pretty hard to do and it’s also situational but it can be a real good time.
Gravity Cannons
The next fence technique is specific to Storm Point and this is just simply to put fences down at the end of gravity cannons. I like using an x formation on the landing pad and you do not need to overdo it here and you don’t need to place all your fences down on one gravity cannon but simply putting down an x formation will help out quite a bit.
Fence Cover
Another super rare offense technique is to use the actual vertical poles as cover. if you’re in a pinch then place the fences down tightly in a straight line and you’ll get a small amount of protection if you’re caught out in the open. If you’re playing with or against a wraith then a great thing to do with fences is to place a singular fence through a wraith portal. This will stun and damage any chasing or returning enemies.
Extra Wattson Tips
For a handful of rapid-fire tips that you will need to know for Wattson.
How to tackle Wattson’s Fences
For starters, you can attach friendly nodes to enemy Wattson nodes and will catch a ton of players off guard if the situation calls for it. In addition, Gibraltar’s dome shield can be used to cut off Wattson’s fences and it is a pretty viable way to push into a Wattson stronghold. So, be aware of enemy gibbous in those sweaty ranked or comp games.
There are major Legends to be concerned about as a Wattson player, the first is going to be Crypto. While Crypto is rare right now, an EMP from a crypto will destroy everything you have set up. Likewise, Caustic gas will also destroy fences and be weary of a gas grenade tossed from a caustic.
The best way to counter these Legends that will destroy Wattson’s fences is by always carrying an ultimate accelerant. This is the best way to get your ultimate back instantly and continue to post up fences again. She can carry two of these per inventory slot, so take advantage of it.
How to use Wattson efficiently
Another way to take advantage of this passive is to simply stock up on these accelerants and dish them out to teammates who may need an ultimate back. This is especially the case in ranked, where you may not be able to make a push out to get some loot and you might need those ultimate, to make a push or a rotation.
Pylon is a powerful tool to heal up the squad and get fences back faster. It’s also incredible just to have blocking the enemy’s ultimate abilities when you are caught out in the open. Don’t be afraid to rapidly place down a pylon to stop these and protect your team. Likewise, it can also be clutch to place down a Pylon to give yourself some physical cover when there may be none around. Similarly, the Pylon is also a great tool to use to block doors as it will prevent them from being opened.
Wattson’s passive shield regeneration is slow, it’s a nice thing to have but unless your shields are about 90% or so being maxed out, I would recommend using a shield cell, especially in fights.
Legend Combos
Let’s talk about some Legend combos for Wattson. There is not a ton of things to recommend but one to consider to pair up with Wattson is going to be Lifeline. The ability to combo Lifeline’s healing drone and Wattson’s ultimate shield regeneration makes for some nice quick healing after finishing a team or after your team just got revived.
Second, this is pairing Caustic up with Wattson as it’s nice to have some extra defensive measures behind Wattson’s fences. Just in case like Octane pads into your area or if another team is trying to make a push.
Another Legend that works well with Wattson is going to be Loba, it can again be very nice to have the ability to loot from inside your defensive area, especially in ranked games where it can be pretty dangerous to leave your place of superior positioning, especially in late game.
Finally, Wattson with any movement Legend is a plus for Wattson as she can be a pretty easy target when having to rotate in a sweatier match. However, there are some other legends that can pair well only if you know how to play with Ana, Mirage & Catalyst.
Wattson in Arena
A lot of people ask if is Wattson any good in the arena. Well, she is pretty decent I will say. There are better Legends but overall, her passive shield regeneration is nice to have as heels can be hard to come by or fences can be good to help control matches in your favor.
The Pylon is also very useful in the arena. She is a solid pick if you want to dive deep into Wattson and her main in everything Apex Legend has to offer.
Wattson in the Meta
Apex Legends favors movements and scanning Legends for pub play which makes her mid-tier if not a little bit lower in my opinion. It also depends on how you want to play with her, if you want to play slower more thoughtful games then she is higher than this.
She is also higher for general ranked play as she will help you get the placement but for the overall meta, she isn’t quite it even after all her buffs and I put her somewhere around the top 15 Legends as I discussed in my Ultimate Agent Tier List guide.
Wrapping it up
Thank you for reading my guide and I hope you have great success as Wattson! As the new season is around the corner! Check out our Apex Legends placement matches boosting where me and my colleagues will help you unlock new rank. You can simply select your last rank and checkout and relax! We will get it done for you.