Wattson is one of two characters in Apex Legends that excels at area denial, alongside Caustic. That being said, they each accomplish this in pretty different ways; when it comes down to it, they play drastically different from each other. Wattson is much less able to accomplish a sneaky setup, as her electric fences are quite loud and very visible. That said, she can cover an absolutely huge area with her fences, and if they're well-placed, they can be really difficult for enemies to get rid of.
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Let's take a look at some tips to keep in mind when using Wattson, and some interesting team compositions that she's a part of:
10 PROXIMITY ALARM
One great and pretty easy use of Wattson is to use her electric fences as proximity alarms. There are plenty of times in Apex where you and your entire team are going to be moving through a pretty narrow lane, and it only takes a couple of seconds for Wattson to set up a fence across the small gap to let her know if enemies pass through it or destroy it. Most enemies are going to make some sort of effort to destroy the fence, but if you're paying attention, it's pretty easy to tell that the fence is gone.
9 PERFECT PLACEMENT
These fences need to be placed pretty well in order to have a chance at not being immediately destroyed. These can be a bit trickier to place perfectly compared to Caustic's Gas Canisters, considering that in order for the fences to link, they need a clear line of sight to each other. That said, most doorways can be covered pretty easily with Wattson's fences, and that going to be the usual, and most beneficial, location for them. Other locations, especially those in the open air, are going to require a bit more creativity.
8 SPIDERWEB
In those interior environments, it's pretty easy to utterly blanket an area in crisscrossing fences that make traversing through a room a complete and utter hell for an enemy. This does require a little bit of time to prepare as a Wattson, as she'll need to keep allowing her fences to recharge in order to get them all down. But, if you've got the time, it's a great deterrent for an engagement.
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And, while it might seem like it'd be pretty easy for one well-placed grenade to ruin the whole thing, Wattson's ultimate ability can pretty easily swallow that grenade, and it's pretty easy to place that ultimate ability in a place where it's difficult for an enemy to get a line of sight on.
7 ULTIMATE COUNTER
Speaking of that ultimate ability, it doesn't just counter throwables; it can keep you safe from both Bangalore's and Gibraltar's ultimate abilities, as well. This will require some pretty quick reflexes, especially when it comes to Bangalore's ultimate because unless you see that flare go out, it can be difficult to know that her ultimate is coming down until it's too late.
6 ONE ULTIMATE ACCELERANT
One interesting note about Wattson's ultimate is that it can be fully recharged with a single ultimate accelerant. Because of this, you make pretty heavy use of the ability, especially if you've got room in your backpack to carry one or two extra accelerants.
5 ULTIMATE RECHARGESÂ FENCE
When a Wattson is in close proximity to her ultimate ability, her electric fences are going to recharge at a super-fast rate. This makes it much easier to completely prep a building in a short amount of time, and since she can entirely recharge her ultimate with a single accelerant, it's worth planting that thing down just to get all of your fences down in short order.
4 NOTÂ STEALTHY
Wattson is not nearly as stealthy as her Caustic counterpart. With Wattson, it's much less about setting up an ambush and surprising an enemy as it is about prepping an area to make it difficult for enemies to push you out despite them knowing about your presence.
This requires a much different approach for the entire team. With Caustic, your team can pretty easily stay quiet and let an enemy team run into some gas before you pounce. With Wattson, it's likely a better idea to engage as soon as someone has some good shots because enemies probably already know you're there.
3 CLOSE-RANGE PLAYSTYLE
Wattson is usually going to have trouble in those big, open locations where her abilities aren't going to come into play. Her abilities necessitate a close-range playstyle that punishes enemies especially hard when they press into her fences.
If a close-range style isn't your thing, the only other real way to get anything out of her is to use her fences as a deterrent to a close-range fight, and to keep enemies at bay with that longer-range weapon.
2 CAUSTIC, LIFELINE, WATTSON
One pretty cool team composition including Wattson also makes use of Caustic and Lifeline. This team is going to really benefit from sticking to urban scenarios as much as possible, with both Caustic and Wattson making it possible to entirely lock down one or two entire buildings with their fences/gas canisters. Plus, Lifeline's job is made a bit easier when it comes to healing teammates with that D.O.C. drone in an interior environment.
1 GIBRALTAR, REVENANT, WATTSON
An interesting niche lineup that has some potential but is going to require a very specific playstyle brings along a Gibraltar and Revenant, along with Wattson. The idea here is Gibraltar tossing down his dome-shield, with Wattson lining the interior edge of the shield with her fences. Very few enemies are going to dare press that shield with the fence there, and this allows Revenant to place his totem in the middle of the shield. If a teammate dies, they respawn inside the shield/fence, and they'll likely have an opportunity to heal in plain sight.