Apex Legends Caustic: 10 Tips & Tricks

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Penned by Gibson Vasela

My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.

Reviewed by Benjamin Barr

Apex Legends is a battle royale FPS that provides players with a vast, diverse roster of characters to play as. Each of these characters offers their own unique abilities and playstyles, allowing nearly every type of player to play the game the way they want. While most Legends are meant for an aggressive playstyle, there are a few exceptions.

Defensive characters like Wattson and Rampart provide unique ways to defend themselves and their squad from enemy fire. One of the best and most enjoyable defensive classes is the Toxic Trapper Caustic! Today, we’ll be going over the top ten tips and tricks for using Caustic in Apex Legends.

Let’s get started!

Apex Legends Caustic: Character Overview

We’ll start with a brief history of Caustic and how he made it to the Apex Games. Caustic’s real name is Alexander Nox, and he was once a scientist at Humbert Labs. His primary purpose these were to develop anti-insect pesticides to protect crops from harm. While he worked hard on this task, he felt limited by the subjects he was able to test. He needed something bigger….

Caustic soon began to test on human subjects in secret during his time at Humbert Labs. While he was able to get away with this for some time, he was eventually caught by his superiors. The facility in which he works mysteriously went up in flames soon after, and it was long believed that Caustic had died in the fire. But as we all know, that simply wasn’t true.

The mad scientist made his way to the Apex Games, where he used his toxic gadgets to wreak havoc on the participants of the arena. He continues to fight in the Games, still testing his various toxins, and studying their results for future experiments.

The above information was sourced from the Apex Legends Wiki. For more information on Caustic and his backstory, you can click here to read more for yourself.

Abilities & Playstyle

Let’s briefly go over Caustic and his abilities before we dive into how you can make the most out of them. As previously mentioned, Caustic is a defensive Legend. This means that he’s best at holding down a location from enemies and protecting his squad. Despite this, Caustic can also be used aggressively, and I personally consider him a defensive/offensive hybrid. His abilities are:

• Passive — Nox Vision: This passive ability makes Caustic completely immune to the slowing and damaging effects of nox gas traps. This includes gas traps that were placed by an enemy Caustic player. Additionally, enemies that walk through Caustic’s gas are highlighted, making them easier to spot.
• Tactical — Nox Gas Trap: The nox gas trap is a small barrel-like container that can quickly be deployed in almost any location. When it is shot or an enemy player walks next to it, the gas trap will activate and spray out deadly gas which slows and damages enemies, while also clouding their vision. There is a cooldown of twenty seconds.
• Ultimate — Nox Grenade: This is a special grenade that can only be thrown by Caustic. When it is tossed, it will spray out a huge area in nox gas, causing all of the negative effects that the gas traps do. Very effective in close-quarter combat and similar tight spaces.

In addition to these three abilities, Caustic is also blessed with the Fortified perk. This perk negates 15% of all incoming damage to you, and it means you are immune to being slowed by bullets. Caustic uses this perk to compensate for his larger, and easier-to-hit hitbox.

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Apex Legends Caustic: 10 Tips & Tricks for Playing

So what are we waiting for? Let’s get right into the tips and tricks!

1. Carry a Few Ultimate Accelerants at All Times

First and foremost, one thing that I don’t see very many people doing when they play as Caustic is carrying around ultimate accelerants. These are handy consumable items that, when activated, will charge up your ultimate ability. This allows you to use your ult again much sooner than normal. It is a great item to have for most Legends with a long charge-up time for their ult. And Caustic is no different!

If you use your nox grenade often, you can pop in an ultimate accelerant to quickly get it charged back up and ready to use for the next fight. I like to use my ultimate very liberally when playing as Caustic. Throwing a nox grenade and then popping an ultimate accelerate immediately afterward has saved my hide more times than I can count.

2. You Can Have Six Traps Out at Once

Caustic mains will know that you can deploy up to three gas traps in rapid succession when your tactical ability is fully charged. What some people don’t know is that you can have a total of six canisters on the battlefield at once! This is important information to remember if you are camping out in an area. You can cover up to six areas at once, giving you a wide range for crowd control.

Do note that if you throw down a seventh gas trap, the trap that’s been deployed on the field the longest will disappear. Remember the order you placed gas traps in! You don’t want to accidentally cause a canister to despawn at an area you need to protect. You can always pick up a trap that you don’t need anymore by walking up to it and pressing the interact button.

3. Use Traps to Block Doors

Next on our list for the top ten tips and tricks for Caustic in Apex Legends is that his nox gas traps can be used to block doors. This is a pretty well-known trick throughout the Apex Legends community, but it bears repeating. Gas traps are great for locking enemies out of buildings, as you can throw one down in front of a door and force enemies to kick it down if they want to enter.

When this happens, you can ready your gun to get the first few shots off, which is a huge advantage in a firefight. Not to mention that once the enemy manages to break the door down, they’ll get a whiff of that nox gas and be slowed while taking damage.

You can also place nox traps right next to doors and out of sight. This means that any enemy who unsuspectingly walks into the roof will suffer a surprise attack from the nox gas. This can be even more useful than just blocking doors if they don’t know where you are and you want to catch them off guard.

4. Use The Right Weapons For His Playstyle

Given Caustic’s ability to hold down an area, and his playstyle’s preference for close-quarters-combat, it is best that you pick weapons that reflect these traits. The best weapons for Caustic are shotguns and SMGs. I personally love to use the CAR SMG due to its rapid rate of fire, but the Prowler SMG is a good alternative with a very high DPS. The mastiff shotgun is very fun to use, but the EVA-8 has better DPS.

Alternatively, if you’d like to use a more defensive gun, you can run an LMG in one of your weapon slots. LMGs feature very high magazines, and that makes them great for holding down positions. In my experience, their DPS isn’t as good as some shotguns or SMGs. This puts LMGs at a disadvantage in some circumstances. I recommend that if you carry an LMG, you also use a shotgun or SMG.

5. Use Your Nox Grenade Like a Smoke Grenade

One great use for Caustic’s nox grenade is as an alternative to Bangalore’s smoke grenades. They can blanket an area in gas. This ability makes it harder for enemies to aim at you, especially at very long distances. Now, don’t get me wrong, hers definitely make better smoke grenades, but nox grenade’s can be handy in certain situations.

If you need to get across a wide-open area and are being shot at by snipers, or you are being chased and need to blanket your escape, you can drop a nox grenade at your feet and move around in a sporadic fashion to confuse the enemy. I really like to throw down a nox grenade when reviving a fallen teammate. This minimizes our chances of getting shot, as it makes it harder for the enemy to aim at us.

6. Save His Nox Grenade for the Final Rounds

Caustic’s ultimate ability is a great tool for pushing the enemy team and blanketing an area in gas quickly. While you should definitely use this as often as you can to get the most out of it, if you’re getting close to the final round, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to save it for something special.

When the last ring closes and all the enemy squads are close together, it’s the perfect opportunity to blanket the whole area in gas. This will deal heavy damage and cloud your opponent’s vision. It gives you and your team the advantage needed to survive the final round, and gives you better odds at winning the game!

This is a strategy that has been used before with regular grenades. I’ve often seen other players saving them so they can be spammed during the final ring, which is an effective (albeit very annoying) way to dispatch your enemies and win the game.

7. Place Gas Traps Behind You to Stop Enemies from Following You

If you and the team are falling back from a fight — or are just exploring a new area — it’s usually a good idea to leave a trail of gas traps behind you. This is because if an enemy activates it, not only will they be slowed down, but you will be able to tell that someone is behind you. Your crosshair will signify that you are dealing damage. That is when you can warn your squad about the danger behind you.

It is a good idea to hide these gas canisters in difficult-to-see areas. I like to put them right around corners and in bushes. This minimizes the chance that the enemy tailing you will see them. If they are spotted, it gives enemies the opportunity to shoot out your traps. Even if you don’t plan on fighting the enemy, it is still a great way to slow them down. It will give you a long time to escape successfully.

8. Take Out Enemy Caustics First

There aren’t that many Legends who can counter Caustic’s abilities, aside from another Caustic! Caustic’s passive ability allows him to be completely immune from the debuffs and damaging effects of all nox gas. This means that if you come face to face with a Caustic from another team, both of you will be unable to use his abilities on each other.

If you run into an enemy squad and you notice that they have a Caustic with them, it’s definitely a good idea to prioritize taking him down first and foremost. If they have a Lifeline on their team, she always takes priority due to her ability to auto-revive teammates. But aside from her, you’ll need to knock down the enemy Caustic as soon as possible in order for your traps to remain useful.

9. Use Gas Traps to Counter Enemy Abilities

Throughout the arena, you’ll encounter a wide variety of different Legend types and enemies. One great way to counter some of these Legends is to use your gas traps against their abilities. For example, if you see a Wraith portal deployed, you can leave behind a nox gas trap in front of it to deal damage to enemies! This also works for Revenant’s Death Totem.

When enemies fall back through a portal or respawn at a Death Totem, they will often be low on health. The gas traps ensure a high probability that they will be knocked down, giving you and the team the opportunity to take out the rest of the enemy squad.

Additionally, gas traps can be used to destroy certain structures placed by enemies. Wattson’s fences and Rampart’s amped cover are good examples. If you are unable to shoot an enemy fence, simply throw down a gas trap and shoot to activate it and it will destroy the fences, allowing you entry into a previously locked-off interior.

10. Use His Gas Traps as Cover

Now for one of the best and most important tips for Caustic — something I’ve been using for many seasons now to great success. If you drop a nox gas trap at your feet, you can get behind it and use it as a source of cover! This is great if you are exposed and in the open. It allows you to easily drop something to get behind. You can even use it in the middle of a close-quarters engagement!

This tip isn’t as effective now as it was in the past due to Caustic recently being nerfed. His traps now have a limited number of health and can be destroyed if shot at long enough. Regardless, this is still a very useful tip, as it will often catch your enemies by surprise. It is more useful at longer ranges where it’s harder to destroy your traps.

But be warned, if your gas trap isn’t activated, enemies can shoot the bottom of it and it will be instantly destroyed. If you shoot the trap and activate it, however, it can no longer be instantly disabled. Once activated, enemies will have to deal at least 200 damage in order to destroy the barrel.

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Happy gaming!

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