'Apex Legends' Season 2: Wattson Abilities, Skills, Guide for the New Hero

Apex Legends gets a 10th playable character with the start of Season 2 on July 2, and she goes by Wattson. She’s labeled as a “Static Defender” and seems primed to shake up the Apex Legends meta in dynamic ways.

Respawn Entertainment already has a full character profile for Wattson on the official Apex Legends website, outlining her backstory and full toolkit of abilities.

A distracted but brilliant mind, Natalie “Wattson” Paquette is the daughter of the lead electrical engineer behind the Apex Games. In an animated video released in June, it’s revealed that she “cracked the equations necessary to power the force field” used in the Apex Games and mastered “quantum laser mechanics” by the time she was 22. So when the Ring starts closing in at the end of a match, you have Wattson to thank.

In combat, she uses her technological expertise to manipulate the battlefield in a way that’s much more defensive than what any other Legend can do.

Wattson’s primary tactical ability is Perimeter Security, allowing her to place down a series of nodes that automatically connect to form electrified fencing. This creates a sort of force field by slowing and damaging any enemies that walk through.

Interception Pylon, her ultimate ability, deploys an electrified pylon that destroys incoming ordnance while also repairing damaged shields as long as it stands.

Her passive ability, Spark of Genius, instantly recharges Wattson’s ultimate ability with the use of a single Ultimate Accelerant, an item that normally lets the player charge up 20 percent of their ultimate ability meter. Furthermore, whenever she stands near an Interception Pylon (her ultimate), her tactical ability recharges faster.

These abilities stack in a very interesting way, allowing Wattson to lock down defensible positions and protect her teammates — and the longer she holds it down the more effective she becomes.

In practice, her primary job is to keep laying down electrified fences until she can summon an Interception Pylon. With that, she’ll be able to deploy fence nodes more rapidly. Because of how her ultimate works, players should always give Wattson their Ultimate Accelerants in the middle of a game.

Wattson’s finisher moves feel almost like something out of an older Mortal Kombat game when the Fatalities were less gruesome but equally as badass. Wattson’s electrified barrier suspends enemies in the air, and with a single touch from her hand, they evaporate into pure energy.

It’s about time we got abilities that felt closer to the supernatural. Fans are bound to obsess over Wattson once she’s finally made playable, and it’ll take some time before the game’s meta stabilizes to a point where we know how she stacks up against the game’s other heroes. For the time being, however, expect to deal with electric fences quite a bit in Apex Legends.

Wattson will be released along with Apex Legends Season 2 on July 2.