Apex Legends Season 22 accidentally nerfed Newcastle but barely anyone noticed

Connor Bennett
Newcastle soaring through the skies in Apex Legends

Apex Legends players are urging Respawn to make some changes to an underused legend as Season 22 has bugged one of his abilities in a big way. 

When Respawn Entertainment revealed the changes for Apex Legends Season 22, plenty of fans were excited. The new map, E-District, and the rework to Crypto’s drone were the most hyped changes, but the new season has created plenty of headaches too.

The new battle sense health bars are the biggest issue that players have. Mirage mains, especially, have been annoyed with how the health bars give away the actual character’s position amongst his decoys. 

However, it isn’t just Mirage that has been accidentally nerfed by the new update. Newcastle mains have also become upset. 

Apex Legends content creator Manuzz pointed out that the new season has bugged the speed of his Swift Shield upgrade. “The swift shield upgrade is bugged and has no effect on his tactical’s speed,” he said on Twitter before showcasing it in action.

“I need this fixed because this is the most important upgrade for the character for me,” he added. “It doesn’t work. It literally does nothing.”

Plenty of players expressed their sympathy to Newcastle mains, tagging Respawn on social media in the hope of a fix. “I have always picked thick shield so I never noticed,” one unaware Newcastle user said.

While some argued that it’s not going to be picked up because of how low his pick rate is with casuals, others noted that he’s started to be used in top-level play so that might change. 

“Seeing decent play in pros so they’ll probably get it fixed,” one chimed in. “I’ve seen a lot of teams in Pred running Newcastle, Crypto, Rev,” another added.

He and Mirage aren’t the only ones suffering this season, either. Caustic’s pick rate has bottomed out in high-level play too, with players urgings further changes there too.