How to Use Newcastle in Apex Legends: 10 Tips & Tricks

10 Tips & Tricks For Newcastle in Apex Legends

Image: Electronic Arts, Respawn Entertainment via HGG

Human Made

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 live-service game that’s constantly being updated with new content. Whether it’s a new gun, some re-balancing, or even a new map, every season has something new to enjoy. As of the time of his article, the most recent season saw the release of a new defensive Legend named Newcastle!

While we’ve seen other defensive Legends before, we’ve never seen one quite like Newcastle. Want to learn how to use Newcastle in Apex? His abilities open a lot of possibilities for unique plays and outsmarting your opponents. In today’s article, we’ll be going over the top ten tips and tricks for Newcastle.

Let’s get started!

Apex Legends Newcastle Overview

Before we get into our tips and tricks for Newcastle, let’s first go over his backstory and find out what it is that makes this character so unique and interesting.

The real name of Newcastle is Jackson Williams. You may recognize that he shares his last name with another character in the game — Bangalore! That’s right, Newcastle is Bangalore’s infamous long-lost brother! Newcastle is forty years old and has spent much of the last years of his life hiding from the rest of the world, raising a family of his own without his sister’s knowledge.

The man once fought for the IMC alongside his sister. You may recognize this faction from Titanfall and Titanfall 2. During a battle later in the war, Newcastle realized that there was no point in fighting and that his side was going to use. After a ship crashed and landed in an explosion, Newcastle faked his death and abandoned the IMC to live a new life, leaving his sister behind as well.

He acquired his armor (as well as the nickname “Newcastle”) after picking them up from his hometown’s former sheriff. The sheriff had made a deal with some bad men and gotten the town into trouble. After being killed due to a debt he had yet to pay off, Newcastle picked up his armor and became the town’s new protector in his place.

He later joined the Apex Games as a way to make some money to pay off the debt that was now the town’s problem. Newcastle continues to do battle inside the arena, alongside — and sometimes against — his sister Bangalore.

Want to learn more about this heroic defender? Much of the information from this section was sourced from here and here. You can follow the links to learn more about him.

Abilities & Playstyle

As previously mentioned, Newcastle is a defensive-type Legend. This means that his kit is geared around holding down an area and defending his squad from harm’s way. His abilities are all geared towards rushing toward a friend in need and quickly getting them out of their troubling situation.

Passive Ability: Retrieve the Wounded

When reviving your teammates, you have the ability to drag them along with you, allowing you to move them towards cover. Additionally, they will be protected by an energy shield as you move them along the ground and towards safety.

Tactical Ability: Mobile Shield

Press your tactical button to throw down an energy shield to protect yourself and your friends. You can move the shield by pointing at a location and pressing the tactical button again. This shield will stay up for a maximum time of twenty seconds.

Ultimate Ability: Castle Wall

Newcastle jumps up into the air before falling back down onto a targeted location. Once he lands, he will instantly construct a series of cover/structures in order to shield him and his squadmates from enemy fire.

Additionally, Newcastle also has a larger hitbox, which means he’s more likely to be hit by enemies when shot at. In order to compensate for this, Newcastle also has the passive perk Fortified. This perk reduces all damage he receives by a total of 15%. For more information on Newcastle, please follow the link here to read from his Apex Legends Wiki page.

How to Use Newcastle in Apex: 10 Tips & Tricks

And now, let’s get right into this article about how to use Newcastle in Apex Legends. These tips and tricks should set you up for success!

1. Stay Behind Your Teammates

Given that Newcastle is a defensive Legend, it shouldn’t be a surprise then that he shouldn’t be played aggressively. His abilities are all centered around rushing toward your team when they are down and/or in need of assistance. His ultimate allows him to quickly jump forwards to a new position on the frontlines, and his passive allows him to grab teammates and move them towards cover.

Because of this, the best position that Newcastle should be in is behind his squadmates. This is so he can let them take the bulk of the action, and when they get downed or need help, Newcastle can rush in to save the day. He is best played by supporting his teammates from behind and rushing in to shield them from the front when the time is right. Knowing where to keep him is very important.

2. Watch Your Flank

While Newcastle’s abilities are great for protecting the front, he has little utility for protecting all sides at once. His ultimate ability only shields part of one direction, and his tactical is a front-facing shield and not a bubble dome like Gibraltar. Due to all of these limitations, you need to be actively aware of them and know how to protect all sides. Or at the very least, you need to be watching all sides.

There are many Legends in the game who can re-position themselves quickly in a firefight and get behind enemy lines to flank. Some of them — such as Pathfinder and Octane — are very popular and are common sights on the field. This is why you should always be looking over your shoulder and making sure no one is approaching you from behind, especially when you have your castle walls set up.

3. Use The Right Loadout

Newcastle is a good Legend for defending an area and providing support fire to your teammates. Because of this, I advise you take an LMG as your primary weapon. LMGs feature a large magazine size, which is great for laying down suppressing fire, and holding off multiple enemies at once. A good LMG to use would be the Rampage, which has a slow-fire rate but high damage, perfect for using from cover.

A good secondary weapon to use will be either a sniper rifle or a shotgun. Sniper rifles are really good for supporting your teammates from far away and while your teammates are in front of you. The Longbow DMR is my personal recommendation. And shotguns making a good high-damage secondary weapon for when enemies get a little too close. The EVA-8 is a great shotgun due to its fire rate.

4. Move Your Mobile Shield Around Often

How to Use Newcastle in Apex Move Your Mobile Shield Around Often — *Image: Electronic Arts, Respawn Entertainment via HGG*

The unique benefit to using Newcastle’s Mobile Shield over say, Rampart’s Amped Cover is the fact it can be moved around on the fly. When you aim at a new location, just press the tactical button again. This will cause it to move to that location. You’ll want to take advantage of this as much as you can. If you are in a fight and you move out of cover, order the shield to move in front of you again.

You’ll want to maximize your protection from enemy fire by constantly keeping the shield in arm’s reach. The fewer shots that hit you, the better your odds are at winning the firefight. I’ve often forgotten to keep moving my shield in front of me, which has led to me and my team taking more damage than needed. The more you can use it, the better!

5. Deploy Newcastle’s Tactical Before Reviving

Speaking of his tactical ability, you should always deploy it before you revive a teammate (if you can). When you revive someone, you can drag them to cover and use your knockdown shield to protect them. However, dropping down your Mobile Shield gives you an added layer of protection! This minimizes your chances of getting shot at and knocked down yourself by enemies.

Depending on the location and situation, you could even get them back up behind the cover. You won’t have to drag them to a better position, you could just get them back up right then and there and they’d be ready to get back into the fight! Obviously your tactical won’t always be available to use. But when you can deploy it, be sure to do so before you go to revive your teammate.

6. Use His Ultimate to Re-Position Yourself

A really good benefit of Newcastle’s ultimate ability is that he can quickly move across the battlefield to help out a struggling teammate. Even if you don’t intend on deploying your cover to whoever you are going, getting there faster is always useful. If you find yourself in a bad spot and are overwhelmed, you can use his ultimate to make a quick getaway! Sure it will waste the cover, but you’ll be alive.

The only downside to this is that you can’t take your teammates with you. The ultimate only moves Newcastle himself, not any of his squadmates, to a new location. There are some circumstances in which it will be better to stay with your squad and fight. But if one or more of your team is down and things are looking grim, don’t feel bad about retreating to fight another day.

7. Let Newcastle Have The Best Knockdown Shield

The amount of protection that Newcastle’s passive provides is directly related to the level of the knockdown shield that he possesses. This means that with a Level 3 knockdown shield, his passive will protect more and have more health then if he has a Level 1 knockdown shield. It’s important then that Newcastle players prioritize getting their hands on a strong knockdown shield as soon as they can.

If you’re playing with a Newcastle player on your squad, you should always leave the Level 3 and 4 knockdown shields for him to pick up. Make sure to ping it and inform your squad that the stronger shield is for Newcastle only. It’s in your best interest to let him have it so he can protect you more when he revives you. Doing this may seem like a small thing, but it can really be helpful later on.

8. Use His Tactical to Get Across Gaps Without Cover

If you happen to be moving across a wide open area with no cover, chances are you’ll be shot at by enemies. This is why it’s important to deploy his Mobile Shield when moving across wide stretches of land. You should also order it to move as you and your squad move across the gap. This reduces your chances of taking damage and getting knocked down and ensures your team have adequate protection.

Ordering your Mobile Shield to move forwards as your team advances are also great when pushing. If you happen to knock down an enemy and want to move forward, deploy your shield. And as you and your team move toward the enemy, you can order your shield to move upwards with you. The shield does move slower than your running speed, but it’s usually worth it for the increased protection.

9. Pair With Caustic, Wraith, or Pathfinder

There are quite a few different Legends that can be paired up with Newcastle. Because of this, there’s a lot of flexibility with how you want to compose your squad. Caustic is a good choice if you want to buckle down on the defensive aspect of the team. He can drop his gas traps behind Newcastle’s ultimate ability, which discourages enemies from pushing over the castle walls.

Wraith is a good choice, as she can drop down her ultimate portal near a downed enemy as you’re reviving him. You can drag him towards the portal and finish reviving him on the other side. Pathfinder is also a good legend to use due to Newcastle’s limited mobility. He can deploy a zip line that allows Newcastle to quickly move around the map on the fly. There are lots of options, so choose wisely!

10. Use His Ultimate to Close Up Spaces

Now for our last tip on our list of tips and tricks for Newcastle in Apex Legends. If you want to hold down a chokepoint for whatever reason, using Newcastle’s ultimate is the best way to do so. He can deploy it in between canyon walls and most other tightly enclosed spaces. When his castle walls deploy, they adapt to whatever space they are inside of. This means that it’s a very versatile ability that can protect you in almost any area!

If you deploy his ultimate down inside one of these choke points, it gives your squad an advantage. It allows you and the team to hold down an area more easily, which gives you a big advantage in most firefights. And if you combine Newcastle with one of the Caustic — more information in the last tip —you can really double down on your defenses and ensure no enemy squads can get past you!

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Happy gaming!

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