But, Newcastle is not Gibraltar. The concerns are understandable, but there’s no immediate and huge benefit to having Newcastle and Gibraltar on the team. On paper too, Newcastle and Gibraltar’s kit are vastly different—they both offer protection but are defensive nonetheless. It does remain to be seen how effective Newcastle is, or how effective Newcastle and Gibraltar are, when Apex Legends Season 13 launches, but as it stands, there’s no reason to be concerned over a broken new meta.
RELATED: Apex Legends Reveals Season 13 Ranked Changes, Including Demotions
Apex Legends: Newcastle vs. Gibraltar – Ability Breakdown
Passive vs. Passive: Gibraltar’s arm shield breaks after a certain amount of damage, but it can sustain a lot of damage at once because nothing passes through. In other words, Gibraltar can get hit by a Kraber head-on and remain standing, with no damage carry over. Meanwhile, this lets Gibraltar take the front in firefights, and it makes any 1v1 against him (with a turbocharger + devotion) worse because he can take more damage.
Meanwhile, Newcastle’s tactical is the ability to drag an ally out of that line of fire. He deploys a shield and drags them wherever he wants, which is a pretty standard FPS feature. It’ll have its uses, but it’s certainly circumstantial given that downed players can crawl anyway. The big part of the ability is the shield deploy when doing so, but that’s going signal to enemies what the Newcastle team is doing. In a 2v3, that’s not great. This ability also hinges on Newcastle’s knockdown shield, which early on may not result in much. Between the two, Gibraltar’s seems more reliable if more limited team-wise than Newcastle’s ability.
Tactical vs. Tactical: Gibraltar’s Dome Shield and Newcastle’s Mobile Shield are perhaps the most similar, if applicably different. Gibraltar’s Dome is about locking down, preventing hits, and resurrecting allies safely. It’s bunker down and heal 101 because it’s indestructible. Meanwhile, Newcastle’s Mobile Shield is about defensively moving, protecting a retreat or pushing defensively. Yet, the biggest difference between these two is the counterplay.
Gibraltar’s doesn’t have much. Players can poke a Gibraltar who is weaving in and out of a Dome Shield, or they can rush in and fight inside it. Maggie’s Drill can pierce it, but there are plenty of ways for Gibraltar and his team to deal with that because of the Shield’s size. Meanwhile, Newcastle can maneuver his shield, but it comes in parts that can be broken with enough damage. It’s going to be useful, but it’s not going to be as effective in all situations like the Dome Shield.
Ultimate vs. Ultimate: Their Ultimates are completely different. Newcastle’s Castle Wall is entirely defensive, letting him leap great distances to throw up defenses for himself and his allies. On paper, it seems it’ll be great when the party is split and a big firefight begins, but it’s only defensive. Meanwhile, Gibraltar’s ability is almost as good defensively as it is offensively. It can prevent pursuits, but it can also kill enemies. In the right circumstances, a Gibraltar makes sure his ult hits enemies (especially those running from the Ring) and take out enemies with it.
In short, Gibraltar bunkers down and hits hard; Newcastle saves and defends.
Apex Legends is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Mobile releases worldwide sometime this May.
MORE: Apex Legends’ Most Deadly Ultimates
