Author: Trafficblast

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Natalie “Wattson” Paquette has joined Apex Legends as the battle royale game’s tenth playable character. Added as part of Season 2, you’ll need to drop 750 Apex Coins or 12,000 Legend Tokens to unlock her. The electrifying defender is well worth the price though if you’re not the type of person who’s gung-ho to chase after enemy squads.

In the following guide, we go over all of Wattson’s skills, explain how you can get the best out of her character, and offer strategies for overcoming her weaknesses. If you haven’t grabbed Apex Legends yet, you should. The game is free and one of the best battle royales of 2019 so far. In GameSpot’s Apex Legends review, Phil Hornshaw wrote, “Apex Legends is a mix of smart shooter ideas that makes for a competitive, team-based game that gets at all the best parts of battle royale while addressing a lot of the weaknesses. Respawn’s intense focus on team play makes Apex more than just a worthy addition to the genre; it’s an indicator of where battle royale should go in the future.”

Other Character Guides

Wattson’s General Overview

If you listen to Wattson’s dialogue, you’ll hear that she’s not terribly excited about killing people with firearms, preferring to play electricity-based pranks and make lightning-based puns to annoy her opponents. All of Wattson’s skills reflect this mindset. Though she is a defender like Gibraltar and Caustic, Wattson possesses zero offensive-driven skills. She’s Apex Legends’ first true defender character, solely specializing in reinforcing her squad’s position and outlasting any who would dare try and attack.

As such, if you’re going to try and use Wattson offensively, you’re best bet is to stop thinking like a hunter and more like a trapper who sits and waits for their prey to come to you. Wattson is not for everyone, and given how offensive-focused Apex Legends has become since its launch, it also means she’s not a necessary character to own if your squad likes speed-based teams involving Octane, Pathfinder, and Wraith. That said, if you do master Wattson’s defensive skills, you’ll find plenty of new ways to counter the other Legends when you meet them in the arena.

Wattson’s Abilities

Passive Ability: Spark of Genius – Ultimate Accelerants fully charge your Ultimate Ability, and standing near interception pylons boosts your Tactical Ability recharge.

Move over Lifeline, there’s a new Ultimate Accelerant queen who now needs those items more than you. Wattson has a wonderful Ultimate Ability that can save a squad in a pinch once the perimeter ring starts getting pretty small. As such, Wattson should always have her Ult at the ready (you never know when you might need it) and a spare Ultimate Accelerant on hand just in case. After your team’s Wattson is loaded up, pass your remaining Ultimate Accelerants to Lifeline and the rest of the squad.

Tactical Ability: Perimeter Security – Connect nodes to create electrified fences that damage and slow enemies.

Wattson can set up four nodes the second the game begins, allowing you to immediately create a wall, angled wall, or (provided the final node is close enough to the first node) a triangle or quadrilateral. After placing a node, Wattson’s Tactical begins to recharge, allowing her to place up to 12 at one time.

The electrified fences that Wattson creates is the only ability she can use to damage people and it does not do much–only 10 damage per tick. However, Wattson is alerted when someone passes through one of her fences. Any enemy passing through her gate will also slow, even if sprinting.

This makes Perimeter Security, above all else, a deterrent and nothing more. Enemies either need to suffer minor damage and a speed decrease to go through them or waste ammo shooting the nodes. Either way, you’ll be alerted. Enemy squads know this so it’s in their best interest to avoid fences. With this in mind, you can create choke points or buy your team precious time to retreat from a firefight, heal, and regroup.

Ultimate Ability: Interception Pylon – Place an electrified pylon that destroys incoming ordnance and repairs damaged shields as long as it stands.

Interception Pylon is great for bunkering down, as it will heal your squad’s shields and vastly increase the recharge rate on Wattson’s tactical ability so she can put down more fences. The ability to knock out all incoming ordnance isn’t too bad a perk either, but be warned as it will affect friendly ordnance as well. Though Wattson’s Ultimate Ability can only place one pylon per charge, she can put down three of them at once.

Tips To Play As Wattson

Wattson is one of the few characters in Apex Legends whose utility exponentially increases as the game goes on and the perimeter ring shrinks. Granted, as stated before, Wattson is at her best while bunkering down. Use the early rings to grab Ultimate Accelerants and your favorite weapons and ordnance, engaging enemies as they find you.

Once the ring gets small enough, find a spot in the center to bunker down. If you have a Pathfinder with you, all the better, as they’ll be able to tell you where the following ring location will be to better set up. Don’t bother trying to hide. Just start constructing fences, and throw out an Interception Pylon or two so that you can put up a perimeter more quickly and not have to worry about incoming grenades. Remember to place your pylons in a way where they’re difficult to reach. You don’t want an enemy squad to easily destroy all your hard work.

After that, it’s just a matter of your team holding the position. Make sure everyone has plenty of healing items and at least one good close-range weapon like an EVA-8, Mastiff, Peacekeeper, or Wingman. You can either spread out Wattson’s three pylons to cover a wide area in anti-ordnance cover or put them closer together so your squad can quickly replenish shields without having to use items. Regardless, your strategy at that point is staying put and letting the enemy come to you. Again, Wattson is not an offensive defender. She is completely devoted to holding the line and scaring off other squads from rushing forward and overwhelming you and your teammates. It’s not a glorious role, but if you set up your fence and pylons just right, your team should be able to hold off more than one squad at a time through careful collaboration.

Unfortunately, until these final moments of the match, Wattson’s Abilities are essentially useless. She can deter enemy squads from easily following her or set up a cage to stop downed enemies from crawling away, but she doesn’t excel in the wide-open firefights that typically occur in the first few minutes of each round. If you or a teammate picks Wattson, it’s in your best interest to avoid fights at the start. Consider looting on the outskirts before carefully making your way to the center of the ring. You can use Pathfinder or Octane’s Ultimate Ability to make the trek a little faster.

How To Counter Wattson’s Weaknesses

Wattson’s fences can be grappled over via Pathfinder’s Grappling Hook or phased through via Wraith’s Into the Void. Mirage can get the drop on her by sending a decoy through her fence, alerting him to her location. Octane is the best counter to Wattson by far. Not only does the speedy Legend have no ordnance Abilities to be stopped by Wattson’s pylon, but Octane can use Stim to overcome the speed decrease from the fence, rely on Swift Mend to patch up any minor damage he takes from the fence, and use Launch Pad to leap over any chokepoints.

There’s very little Wattson can do to counter these Legends, as her defensive abilities rely on the enemy approaching from a horizontal plane. Your best bet is to play as the aforementioned Legends and learn how you use their abilities to overcome enemy Wattsons. Take that knowledge and apply it when you do eventually play as the static defender. If you know how an enemy might move to overcome your fences, then you know where you can wait and hide to shotgun them in the face the second they come back down to earth. Be sure to communicate this knowledge to your squad so that they can help you respond to any attacking Pathfinders, Wraiths, Mirages, or Octanes.

Final Fantasy XIV Online‘s new expansion, Shadowbringers, is out now–and it’s pretty great. If you’re thinking about getting into the MMO right now, also enjoy pizza, and live in Australia, Square Enix has rolled out a pretty unique offer.

Now until July 28, everyone who orders pizza from Domino’s can get a free copy of Final Fantasy XIV Online’s Complete Edition–which contains the base game, along with the Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers expansions. You must order the “Gaming bundle” that comes with three (traditional) pizzas, one order of garlic bread, and a 1.25 litre drink. It costs $60 AUD for delivery or $54 AUD for pick-up.

Mmmmh pizza

The Complete Edition is yours through a download code for PC. This offer is only available for the PC version of Final Fantasy XIV Online, not the PlayStation 4 edition.

Also remember that you need to add the following codes to your order to receive a free copy of Final Fantasy XIV Online Complete Edition with your pie order: For pick-up: 239495 For delivery: 741327

Additionally, Square Enix created a special-edition PS4 Pro with a snazzy Final Fantasy design and matching DualShock controller. Those who order the pizza gaming bundle from Domino’s and enter a code (see below) will be entered into a raffle to win the system and a digital copy of The Complete Edition for PS4.

Enter these codes at checkout to enter for a chance to win the Shadowbringers PS4:

• Pick-up: 584083
• Delivery: 210836

You can see the full T&Cs for the Domino’s promotion here.

Shadowbringers is out now for PS4 and PC. In GameSpot’s 9/10 review, Ginny Woo wrote, “Equal parts redemption, vengeance, cruelty, and sassy Elezen, Shadowbringers promises a hell of a lot when you take your first steps into Norvrandt and delivers a truly spectacular finish even if it stumbles a little along the way.”

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There’s another hidden Exotic weapon to chase in Destiny 2. Among the many new things today, the latest update to the game has added Bad Juju, another well-loved Destiny 1 weapon. Don’t expect it to be shoved right in your face; you’ll need to know where to go, and it all starts with a chest on Nessus. We’ve put together a guide on how to start the Bad Juju quest to help you understand how the process works.

Bad Juju’s existence in the game was revealed in the Moments of Triumph added to Destiny 2 with Update 2.5.1.1, which also added a fix to the Season of Opulence’s Menagerie activity. It’s listed in the “Exotic Arsenal” Triumph, alongside two other guns: Whisper of the Worm and Outbreak Perfected. Both of those guns were accessible only through hidden activities that players discovered in the game after an update like this one.

Whisper and Outbreak are updated versions of Destiny 1 weapons, so it seems likely Bad Juju will be slightly different from what players remember. The powerful pulse rifle had some pretty sick capabilities, though: kills with the weapon could charge your Super, increase Bad Juju’s damage, and reload part of the magazine, making it extremely effective.

Getting Bad Juju involves a new location called the Tribute Hall that was added with update 2.5.1.1. To get started, you’ll need to head to Nessus and visit Werner 99-40 and open the new treasure chest standing beside him, and then head to the Leviathan.

The second Pokemon Go Fest event of the summer took place this past weekend in Dortmund, Germany, and as usual, developer Niantic held a series of Global Challenges during the event that players around the world could participate in. As a reward for completing enough of these challenges, the studio has made some more bonuses available within the game for a limited time, and it’s bringing the Legendary Pokemon Entei back for a special Raid Day soon.

From now until 1 PM PT / 4 PM ET / 9 PM BST on July 16, all Pokemon Go players will receive triple the normal amount of XP for catching and hatching Pokemon. On top of that, you’ll earn twice as much XP from Raids as normal, and any Lucky Eggs you use will last for an hour rather than their usual 30-minute duration.

In addition to those bonuses, Entei, one of the three Legendary dogs from Pokemon Gold and Silver, will be making an encore appearance in Raid Battles this weekend. You’ll have another chance to battle the Legendary in five-star Raids from 4-7 PM local time on Sunday, July 14, and this time around, you may encounter its Shiny form. You’ll also be able to receive up to five free Raid Passes during that time, which you’ll need in order to participate in a Raid.

Entei is the second Legendary dog to return to Raids so far this summer; last month, Niantic held a special Raikou Raid Day as a reward for completing enough Global Challenges from Chicago’s Pokemon Go Fest event. One more Pokemon Go Fest is scheduled to take place in Yokohama, Japan, from August 6-12, and if players can likewise complete enough challenges during that event, the final Legendary dog, Suicune, will return to Raids.

In the meantime, Pokemon Go’s current Legendary, Groudon, is leaving Raid Battles on July 10 (although you’ll still have a chance to encounter it through July’s Field Research tasks). That same day, Armored Mewtwo will make its debut in the game, and it’ll be available through the end of the month. Another Pokemon Go Community Day is also taking place on July 21, and this one will feature the Gen 3 Water starter, Mudkip.

There are few genres so centered around individual movie releases as horror. The popularity of the different horror subgenres–whether zombies, slashers, possession films, killer dolls, or haunted houses–are almost always created by the huge success of a single film. From Night of the Living Dead and Halloween to The Exorcist and Scream, these genre classics inspired dozens and dozens of imitators over the following years, before their popularity waned and something else took their place.

Sometimes a horror wave isn’t a specific genre–the current popularity of Stephen King adaptations cover many different types of movies, but are all unified by the appeal of the iconic writer. The same was true of found footage in the 2000s. Found footage means nothing more than a movie comprised of footage “filmed” by its protagonists, and was used throughout the decade in everything from the cheapest films imaginable to mainstream blockbusters such as Matt Reeves and JJ Abrams’ Cloverfield. But it all started in one place.

The Blair Witch Project wasn’t the first found footage horror movie, just as Halloween wasn’t the first slasher movie. But it was the one that ushered the concept into the 21st Century and provided a filmmaking template for dozens of cash-strapped filmmakers. This was a film that cost a measly $60,000 to make and yet earned nearly $250 million worldwide. And while no subsequent filmmakers expected to recoup 4,000 times their production budget like Blair Witch did, the success showed that a few friends and a domestic grade camcorder was all you needed to be in with a shot at making a small profit.

But while this might be the reason why horror in the 2000s was defined by the sheer number of found footage movies, it doesn’t explain why The Blair Witch Project was such a phenomenon to start with. It’s crucial to remember that this was the late-1990s. The internet as a domestic service was in its infancy–while plenty of homes were online by this point, the possibilities of the internet as a commercial tool were still being explored by individuals and organisations. And even more importantly, there was no social media. Online discussions were conducted via bulletin boards, meaning a slower, more controlled spread of information as opposed to the constant, relentless, and instant information (and misinformation) dump we all experience today.

All of this played to Blair Witch’s advantage in terms of building buzz. The movie had already screened at the Sundance Film Festival six months before its release, but back in 1999, all this meant was a handful of reviews in industry trade publications. Mainstream magazines and websites rarely covered festival hits until they reached theaters. But even though directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez were only hoping for a TV sale, Artisan Entertainment saw the movie’s great commercial potential and bought the film for $1.1 million at Sundance. Artisan set up a wide July release, right in the middle of 1999’s blockbuster season, 20 years ago this week.

That’s where the fun began. The Blair Witch Project is widely credited as the first movie to use online “viral” promotion, and the filmmakers did it in a way that would be impossible today. The plot of the movie–three student documentary filmmakers go missing in the woods while investigating the spooky legend of a local witch–fed directly into the marketing campaign, to the extent that the campaign became a part of the movie’s narrative. Artisan and Haxan Films, Myrick and Sánchez’s production company, collaborated on creating content for the movie’s official website in the build-up to its release. The site featured mock police reports about the missing students and “interviews” with some of the residents who live near the woods where the Blair Witch reportedly lurked. In an era before every aspect of our online lives is constantly deconstructed and analysed, this was incredibly effective, causing confusion about whether these reports were real or not. It helped build buzz for the movie in a way that had never been seen before.

Artisan and Haxan’s publicity genius didn’t stop there. What remains so impressive is that they never broke cover–the campaign was consistent and focused on one thing: make people believe that The Blair Witch Project was a document of real events. There was never an “official” trailer, which is unheard of for a movie hitting thousands screens across the US in July. Instead, there were a pair of spooky and realistic short videos that gave no real clue that they were advertising a movie. The approach even went as far as changing the IMDB entries for the movie’s three stars to ‘missing, presumed dead,’ while missing person flyers were handed out at film festivals. In 2019, it would take just a few minutes on Google or Twitter for the entire conceit to come crashing down, but 20 years ago it worked brilliantly.

Of course, the idea that everyone who stepped into a theater to watch The Blair Witch Project on the weekend of July 14 thought they were about to watch something that actually happened is itself a myth. By that point, the hype machine was in full swing, reviews and articles about the movie’s production were everywhere, and audiences knew this was a fictional film, not some shockumentary. But it didn’t matter–the mystique of the movie had been set, making it an absolute must-see. And for that first viewing, with the backstory of the movie bleeding into the events that unfolded on-screen, it was a scary movie like few audiences had experienced for a long time.

The Blair Witch Project was released after a period where American horror had moved into a safe, mainstream place following the success of Scream in 1996. Wes Craven’s post-modern classic inspired a new wave of knowing slasher movies, but these were polished, commercial releases featuring casts of recognisable actors and little danger. Blair Witch was the complete opposite. It was raw, it was cheap, it was incredibly realistic, and it was damn scary. It broke conventions in terms of its structure and refused to bend to audience expectations.

I vividly remember watching The Blair Witch Project for the first time on its opening weekend in central London. While today the vast majority of movies open simultaneously in the US and UK, this wasn’t the case 20 years ago, and British film fans like myself had to wait a long three months for it to finally hit UK theaters. In a way, an October release made more sense–it is the month of horror after all. But it meant by this point, absolutely no one thought the film was anything but a work of fiction. But it didn’t matter. The immediacy of the film, the uncomfortable realism, and the naturalistic performances quickly removed the barrier that often lies between the viewer and the screen, and had me utterly gripped, fully immersed in Heather, Mike, and Josh’s nightmarish situation. I’ve seen hundreds of horror movies since, but the visceral effect that those final ten minutes had on me that first weekend remains a powerful memory to this day.

But while no horror movie is as effective the second time round when it comes to scares, this was especially true of Blair Witch. Despite the rave reviews, huge box office, and reports of absolutely terrified audiences, this is a film that is now remembered more for its influence on the genre than its power to scare. I rewatched it at home several months after my first viewing and it contained only a fraction of its power. It quickly became clear that not much really happens, and viewed on the small screen without a terrified audience around me, it was impossible to recapture that first experience. Even the movie’s ending, so utterly petrifying only a few months earlier, seemed a bit silly. So wait, he’s just standing in the corner?

Nevertheless, even if the film does not hold up to repeat viewings, the filmmakers did something remarkable with The Blair Witch Project. It was the perfect film for the era, one that simply couldn’t have built its reputation in the same way either five years earlier or five years later. Like many of the genre’s most influential classics, it was an independent film made far outside the Hollywood system, and for a brief moment, it truly reminded audiences how scary a horror movie can be. Happy birthday Blair Witch.