An Apex Legends player has conceived a serious overhaul for Wattson’s passive, and it would make the Static Defender far more viable in Season 9.
Opinions over Wattson in Apex Legends have been largely varied. Many maintain she needs a buff to be viable in Season 9 but Respawn have emphasised her high pick rate and relative strength.
While the Apex developers seem reluctant to strengthen Wattson, at least beyond fixing problems with her fences, some fans still want to see her abilities made more powerful.
One way would be to overhaul her passive. At the moment, Wattson has two passives: Spark of Genius, which fully charges her Ultimate with Ultimate Accelerants, and passive shield regeneration.
However, one player has devised a third passive ability for Wattson – one that would tie into her passive shield repair too.
Reddit user u/ryoiscreator suggested a new passive called ‘Charge’, which would allow players to carry extra Shield Cells and Shield Batteries.
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Specifically, it would give players the ability to carry an extra Shield Battery and two Shield Cells per inventory slot. While Wattson’s abilities currently focus on electricity and slowing enemies, this passive would enable her to carry considerably more healing equipment.
The post garnered lots of support, sitting at over 14,000 upvotes at the time of writing. The change would broaden Wattson’s role, also enabling her to supply her teammates with more healing equipment.
Whether Respawn envisage such a change as consistent with their plans for Wattson is another matter altogether, but it reiterates how many members of the community believe she needs a buff.
She’s not necessarily a bottom-tier operator in Season 9, but she certainly falls below a number of the game’s characters. We might have to wait until Season 10 and new characters for Wattson to come into her own.