today at ea play 2019, respawn gave the first official preview of upcoming legend wattson. from her background to her skill set, she is very different from everyone in the current apex legends roster. read on for our deep-dive first look at wattson!
wattson’s abilities
wattson’s tactical ability is perimeter security. when used, she places down up to 12 “nodes” connected by arching electricity. she can use this to create anything from complex grids to simple fences. enemies passing through are damaged and momentarily slowed, much like when hit by an arc stars. the ability is on a 21-second cooldown.
her ultimate ability, interception pylon, deploys a small, turret-like structure which remains on the map until destroyed. up to three pylons may be in play at any given moment. the pylon has two defensive functions. first, it rapidly charges the shields of near-by squad mates. it also destroys any incoming ordnance. that includes the missiles of gibraltar’s ultimate, all three types of grenades, and probably also bangalore and caustic’s ultimate abilities. in all likelihood, it will stop bangalore’s smoke canisters as well.
wattson’s passive, called spark of genius, ties all of her abilities together. when consuming an ultimate accelerant, it charges her ultimate ability instantly rather than by only 20 percent. furthermore, while standing close to her interception pylon, wattson’s tactical charges much faster.
the smartest woman in the frontier
the daughter of an electrical engineer, wattson – whose real name is natalie paquette – is a self-taught scientist and inventor. having grown up alongside the apex games, and even contributing to their creation, she knows everybody and is like “everyone’s little sister,” according to apex legends writer tom casiello. below is her official biography.
the static defender
apex legends game designer griffin dean stated in the presentation that their goal was to challenge the current third-party, high-aggression rush meta. with the introduction of wattson, they are doing just that.
nicknamed “the static defender,” wattson is a flexible, high skill-cap legend who can do a lot with the space around her. her tactical ability allows her to quickly close off flank routes and building entrances. the synergy between her passive and her ultimate allows her to instantly create a defensive fortress for her entire squad.
as a defensive measure, the electric fence seems like something that would work a lot better indoors. apex legends has enough vertical mobility options to make it less useful in the open. we don’t know yet if wattson will be able to place nodes on walls or other surfaces to create angled fences, but even then, perimeter security seems like an ability that penalizes enemy mistakes more than it rewards clever use.
her ultimate ability is a shake-and-bake bunker that can make engaging her squad at range extremely difficult. it automatically counters the currently popular tactic of raining a barrage of grenades on enemy squads hunkered behind cover and then either picking them off as they scatter, or rushing them. the interception pylon seems like the perfect defense against this method, especially considering that it charges wattson’s perimeter control ability faster.
again, this is more true indoors than out in the open. pathfinder, octane, and wraith all have abilities which can help both them and their squad get through the defenses. assuming the electrified fences don’t block wraith when she is phased-out, she can even breach wattson’s bunker indoors.
make sure to stay tuned to daily esport bookmakers australias for apex legends content as we find out more about wattson and the upcoming season 2!
