Apex Legends players discover trick to deal damage with Newcastle’s tactical

Andrew Highton
newcastle holding shield in apex legends

Newcastle has certainly shaken things up a bit since his arrival in Apex Legends Season 13. Players have been selecting him and seeing how he performs in the game, but many haven’t actually realized that he’s capable of landing some extra damage with his Tactical.

One of the many appealing charms of Apex Legends is how updates can tinker with Legends, add new ones, and ultimately shake up the game’s pick rates and meta. Each season a new Legend is introduced into the fray with Newcastle being the latest recruit to the roster.

The Defensive Legend has a great Mobile Shield that’s incredibly effective during a game of Battle Royale, but some digging has found that the useful ability actually possesses offensive properties as well.

demonstration of newcastle's mobile shield in apex legends
His Mobile Shield is one of Newcastle’s greatest traits.

Newcastle’s Mobile Shield Tactical dishes out damage

A Reddit post titled “Might be common knowledge, but TIL [today I learned] you can deal damage with Newcastle’s tactical if you hit enemies directly,” has surprised quite a few players and questioned its power compared to other Legends’ abilities.

The OP for the thread shared a video of the Tactical Ability in action, and with some precise aiming, you can indeed launch the shield as a projectile and damage an opponent for 20 HP if you hit them.

Some players had absolutely no idea you could do such a thing: “Well it’s not common knowledge to me. Thanks op,” one player said, to which the OP replied by saying they accidentally stumbled across this “during a hectic fight right off of a hot drop.”

A few players commented on how ridiculous it is that Newcastle’s small Shield throwable can cause 20 damage, whereas Mad Maggie’s drill does nothing: “A blunt drone the size of a dinner plate thrown by hand: 20 damage. A f**king drill designed to pierce/dig into surfaces and spew fire launched by a handheld machine designed to propel it long distances and pierce objects: bounces off.”

All these factors are usually considered before a Legend is released into the game, so Respawn must have reasoning behind the decision to make Newcastle’s Tactical inflict damage.