Newcastle is so busted in Apex Legends that he forced big pro play rule change

Newcastle has become so broken in Apex Legends that he has actually forced a big rule change in pro play, and some players believe it’s a test for the wider game. 

Like with most games, there has been a disconnect at times between Apex Legends’ casual and professional scenes. Professional players want their skills to be rewarded more, while casual players are happy to have a bit of luck and randomness. 

At times, we’ve seen pros advocate for changes to be made in the professional scene before they hit casual players. This included nerfs to Seer when the scan meta dominated things, as well as addressing some bugs with the Tridents that caused some flukey moments on Storm Point. 

As Newcastle has become a must-have pick in Apex, both scenes have been figuring out how to deal with his increased power. 

Apex Legends removes gold knockdown from pro play

Now, Respawn has made a change to competitive play that could indicate a wider shift. As per former TSM coach Elias ‘raven’ Ghribi, gold knockdown shields have been taken out of competitive lobbies. 

“NO MORE GOLD KNOCKDOWN SHIELDS IN COMP CONFIRMED!!!” he tweeted on November 26.

Josh Medina, a senior producer at Repsawn, also chimed in on Raven’s tweets to seemingly confirm the change as well.

Naturally, players were quick to make further assumptions off the back of that. “Probably just comp only to test the waters,” one said. “As long as it doesn’t affect normal game,” another added.

The gold knockdown shield, as anyone who plays Apex knows, grants a free revive. And players have typically used to restart their revive before having a healer complete the rest of the bar. 

Combined with Newcastle’s ‘Retrieve the Wounded’ ability, this has become an issue in the late game of pro play, with players just constantly reviving. 

Hopefully, that will become less of an issue.