Apex Legends, Season 13 – Heroes: Newcastle, the new Legend of battle royale

We’re a few days away from the start of Season 13 of Apex Legends, and we’re back to bring you news, as we promised, in this special episode dedicated to the advancements in Heroes (Italian name Saviors). In particular, we will focus on the secret identity of the upcoming Legend, Newcastle, Jackson Williams.

We’re talking about a character who cuts the line of legends from attack and recon, because Newcastle is a pure defender but also different from the defenders we know from the Respawn Entertainment team.

Follow us on this Preview of Season 13’s new Legend of Newcastle – Apex Legends Heroes.

Newcastle formation and history

The trailer for “Frontier Stories – Hero” introduces us to the character of Newcastle: who is he and why did he join the Apex games? Newcastle is the hero and mascot of Harris Valley, a quiet place. Jackson WilliamsBrother from Bangalore rebuilt his life. Returning from the war and leaving IMC, Jackson now lives the quiet life of a father of a family; His kids love Newcastle, like all of Harris Valley, but things are very different from what they seem. In fact, Newcastle has betrayed the trust of the citizens by getting involved in the dark business of the Forgotten Families, the mysterious crime syndicates that control the entire city. The only way to free them from the yoke of evil would be to make enough money from the Apex games that Newcastle has always rejected. Jackson learns this bitter truth about the hero precisely because he witnessed his murder: after trying in vain to save him, he makes a deal with the leader of the Forgotten Families and promises him that he will replace the masked hero. He will pay the debt instead.

This is happening sooner than seen in the new season trailer because of course Jackson isn’t very involved. apex games but he deceives everyone about his true identity. No one knows he’s not the real Newcastle, everyone except his sister Anita, aka Bangalore, who recognizes the bottle cap bracelet her brother wears. It’s also clear from the trailer, which is the sea monster, that Bangalore is ready to leave the Apex games: The triangle between him, Loba, and Valkyrie hasn’t worked out well, and the desire to fight in Apex games seems to have come to an end. … until Newcastle / Jackson became an Apex Legend.

Speaking of Newscastle, we found their intervention. Ify Nwadiwe and Cristina Ferez, Narrative Writer and Lead Concept Artist, respectively. Nwadiwe admitted that she was very excited while working on the character she had always imagined to be a “cool dad.” character design. Jackson is a born protector: first a soldier and now a father of a family, he truly is the hero of the situation. He says that Ferez’s armor is thought to be that of a knight, almost a medieval knight, so much so that the tower’s symbol returns in the form of both his coat of arms and his ultimate shield (we’ll talk about that). suddenly).

But the armor didn’t quite suit Jackson, for the real Newcastle has always been someone else; so the idea to work on dimensions of the luminairemakes some elements seemingly a bit tight for Jackson’s build. The purpose here was twofold: as well as describing the exchange of identity under the guise of the hero, it was intended to show the public a different, older Jackson with the physique of a middle-aged man, but given memory muscle. with years of military training. He may not be as fit as he was when he was in the army, but as Newcastle, Jackson is definitely going back to being the soldier he once was.

Newcastle Skill Kit

Of course, the really fun part of the conversation with the developers came when Senior Game Designer Devan McGuire took the floor to tell us about the game. Newcastle skill set. Etiquette requires confronting the character’s three abilities, starting with the passive, but to fully understand the new Legend, we find it more helpful to start with it. final. By activating Fortress, Newcastle uses her shield as a massive defensive barrier: slamming the shield to the ground after a jump (included in the final animation) activates the massive shield. Slamming will hit enemies without harming them, while those that come too close to the castle will continue to be electrified and slow down accordingly. Before accomplishing the ultimate goal, Newcastle can target one of their allies and direct their attention to him: when this happens, the jump height and range are expanded to allow Newcastle to intervene sooner and better to protect their team. Castle so it’s the skill that perhaps most follows the tradition of defensive legends, possibly alongside Rampart’s cover, but considering quick response to the team.

its less traditional tactical skill, Mobile Shield. We’re always talking about a drone-operated hatch that, no matter how mobile this time, will project an energy shield in front of Newcastle, deflecting ammo and some of the other legends’ skills like Mad Maggie’s wrecking ball. The shield can be moved by pressing the tactical skill button again, and it is divided into two parts, upper and lower, both can be broken by enemy shots, passing allied fire will not damage it. Here the attackers have to make a choice: destroy the top and force Newcastle to crawl, or blow up the bottom hatch by hitting the legs; we are talking about very little damage but still there is a small defect on the cover.

But thispassive ability It’s Newcastle that really impressed us and represents, for us, truly a revolution in Apex Legends’ defensive philosophy. lifeline, while automatically activating a defensive shield, Newcastle respawns with its mate on the ground, similar to what happened to Lifeline in the first season of battle royale, but there’s more to it. Newcastle can move slowly while reviving teammates on the ground, allowing the injured to move slowly towards the trench; The duration of the auto shield depends on the KO shield Newcastle has, so the higher the item level, the better the protection will last.

Game strategies

“Sometimes, the best offense is a good defense”, a phrase we’ve heard many times but can say with some composure in Apex Legends and three years later has never worked. The tendency for gamers to fight for the need to incite conflict, try increasingly risky rotations, and produce content on Twitch-only taught a hard lesson to even the most collaborative: at war if an ally. If it falls, resurrecting it is always the worst choice. And that’s a big shame because, first of all, Apex Legends is a team game where synergy beats effective skill by far (then, if you can shoot much better, ed.). make the phenomena however, it always pays much more than looking for something. more tactical and collaborative approach and the long series of Attack and Recon Legends has only made the loneliest players play even more so over time, despite the existence of a trio. The increase in points-per-kill rank took care of the rest.

The arrival of Newcastle may overturn this rule a bit and show that one can be aggressive without being completely self-destructive. In fact, that of the new legend, we would describe it as a ‘.breakthrough defense“With firefighters that keep pushing the line constantly, but without having to give up protection. McGuire said during the roundtable that Newcastle is a Legend. over-recovery, to throw himself into the fight and save the comrades who will be doomed by a different combination of the trio. It took Newcastle a long time to find its way in Legends of Apex: Mcguire tells us the skill kit has been in development for some time, but only works when taken individually due to its initial shape. “selfish”, without providing any real support to the team. It was the narrative team that provided the right line for the legend, making it a direct competitor, but also an integral part of Bangalore. Anita is a soldier: she attacks, throws herself over enemy lines with a smoke grenade, and advances with a carpet grenade, while Newcastle is the group’s guardian angel, rescuing what is on the ground and protecting the group without giving up on protecting it. good dose of lead.

Respawn doesn’t appear to be concerned about Newcastle’s defensive/healing nature, and there’s no overlap with Lifeline or Gibraltar, according to McGuire. Lifeline has always been a team rescue character and it must be said that many Lifeline-Main players are anything but selfish; But at the same time, we’re talking about a doctor who doesn’t have huge resources to defend his comrades if he doesn’t provide cover fire while his groundmate is being revived by the drone. Gibraltar, on the other hand, can be used as a support Legend responsible for rescuing the fallen, but its dome creates very different situations on the battlefield from Newcastle’s defenses that can still be bypassed. Because of this, all Legends with throwing abilities can become complicated to manage: the Bangalore and Gibraltar bombings, the poisonous Caustic cloud or Fuse bombs are prime examples. More risky, but always possible on paper, is to bypass defenses, for example Octane’s trampoline, Loba’s teleport, or Ash’s phase jump; All excellent strategies to surprise the team that barricaded themselves behind Newcastle’s defence.