Caustic

“

Yes, I've heard about criminals posing as Legends, and they're as derivative as they are pathetic. Take this prison break. I admit there are similarities to my modus operandi, but the cloud formations... that's where they went wrong. My gas wafts through the air as if dancing with death. Not like the spray of some hick fireman's two-decade-old extinguisher, as shown here. Anybody with a tenth of my brainpower can see this for what it is: amateurs playing dress-up in a desperate attempt to gain notoriety. But considering your banal, lackluster brand which you dare call 'journalism'? A tenth of my intellect is giving you far too much credit. Do you have any more questions that might illuminate your ignorance? Very well. Enjoy your day.

Caustic
Toxic Trapper
Details
Real Name	Dr. Alexander Maxwell Nox
Alias	Dr. Mikhail Caustic
Gender	Male
Age	48
Date of Birth	Feb 25, 2685
Home World	Gaea
Gameplay
Legend Type	Defensive
Tactical Ability	Nox Gas Trap
Passive Ability	Nox Vision
Ultimate Ability	Nox Gas Grenade
Passive Perk	Fortified
Real-world Info
Voice Actor	JB Blanc

Caustic is a Legend that is locked from the base game. He can be unlocked by using digital currency: either 12,000 or 750, or by buying the Champion Edition.

Caustic is a Defensive Legend with a slower playstyle, as he excels in holding a position and breaking down enemy attacks. His Nox Gas Traps and Nox Gas Grenades damage and slow enemies while highlighting them for him with his Nox Vision, giving him and his squad opportunities to wipe them out in the ensuing chaos.

Biography

Alexander Maxwell Nox was born to Arthur Rutherford Nox and Katerina Ticacek Nox on February 25, 2685. He worked as a research scientist for Humbert Labs on his homeworld Gaea, the Frontier's leading manufacturer of pesticide gases. With a glut of pesticides needed to protect the growing Frontier colonies’ crops, Humbert Labs was constantly on the hunt for better and stronger formulas. Nox was one of their brightest scientists and worked day and night developing new gases. But to make sure they worked, he needed to test them on more than just inert tissue: he needed something living.

As he toiled in secret, Nox began to see the beauty in his creations and their ability to destroy anything they touched. But the head of Humbert Labs, Dr. Franklin Humbert, soon discovered his gruesome experiments, and their confrontation ended with the lab in flames and its chief dead. Today, Nox is missing and presumed deceased, his supposed body found and identified by his mother, charred and beyond recognition. 10 years later, Caustic now finds new test subjects in the Apex Games, where he puts his gaseous creations to work and observes their effects with great interest.

Abilities

Nox Gas Trap

	Tactical	Q//
	Nox Gas Trap
	Description	Place up to 6 canisters that release deadly Nox gas when shot or triggered by enemies.
	Cooldown	25 seconds

• You can hold up to three charges of this ability, and gain one charge every 25 seconds. Up to six traps can be active on the map at once, and you're able to pick up unactivated traps to regain a charge.
• When an enemy gets close to a trap, it releases a cloud of gas that deals 5 Health damage per second to enemies caught within, ignoring shields.
  • Bullets striking the top of a trap will also cause it to go off. However, shooting the base will destroy it without releasing gas.
  • Enemies will be slowed inside the gas and are unable to sprint. Squadmates aren't affected by this.
  • If one trap affects an enemy it will deal 5 damage per second. Nox Gas Grenades and any other traps affecting the same enemy will only deal 1 additional damage e.g. if three are activated at the same time they will do 5-7 damage per second.
• The traps can be destroyed while midair or before they're fully inflated.
• The traps can float away when thrown in moving water.

• Wattson's Interception Pylons can shoot down traps in mid-air if they would have landed inside the range of the pylon.
• Wattson's Interception Pylons cannot destroy traps that are already fully inflated on the ground.
• The gas can damage both Wattson's Pylons and Perimeter Security nodes.
• Mirage's decoys can trigger the traps to reveal Caustic's location to his squad.
• Lifeline's D.O.C. Heal Drone will malfunction while inside of the gas and will not be able to heal anyone.
• Crypto's Surveillance Drone can be damaged by the gas.
• Rampart's Amped barriers can be damaged by the gas.

• Shooting the base of the trap before it activates will destroy it without releasing the gas.
• It's good to throw a trap in a smokescreen generated by a Bangalore's Smoke Launcher, especially if enemies are hiding in it. This will also highlight enemies in green due to Nox Vision, and allow you an unfettered view of the enemies.
• When outnumbered or in a sticky situation, throw multiple traps around you. The enemy's bullets will hit your traps, setting them off, and allowing you to escape or heal to stay in the fight.
• When going through Wraith's Dimensional Rift portals, throw a trap at the end to catch enemies off guard trying to get your squad from behind and reveal their position due to your passive.
• Throwing a trap in front of a door prevents it from opening to that side. You can use this to block doors and protect yourself, or to trap enemies inside an enclosed room. If they break down the door, the trap will activate and you’ll be informed of their location.
• You can use your traps as smoke bombs, to throw some cover for sniper fire or general confusion.
• You can also use your traps offensively when an enemy squad is inside a building, and they are extremely weak. They can be thrown inside through doorways and be very deadly if they are in a small space.
• A squad that manages to get their Caustic to end game (such as Round 6 as it is almost done shrinking) will have the advantage over other squads that don't have a Caustic. Caustic's abilities increase in utility as the play area shrinks. Furthermore, Caustic can prevent scenarios of Heal Off Victories from happening as it's harder to heal in the gas and ring damage.

• If you throw the trap underneath you, you'll be in its textures, works with teammates too.
• Throwing the trap under Lifeline's Care Package before it lands will cause the trap to slowly fly away.
• Occasionally if you or a teammate touch a recently placed trap, It will begin to slide away.
• Placing a gas trap right next to a closed-door when the player is right next to the door or when a trap is deploying next to a closed-door that is propped open causes the player located where the trap was deployed to be crushed.

Nox Vision

	Passive
	Nox Vision
	Description	You gain threat vision on enemies moving though your gas.
	Cooldown	?

• Caustic is immune to the effects of Nox Gas whether it belongs to him or an enemy Caustic.
• Enemies inside the gas created from your Nox Gas Traps and Nox Gas Grenades abilities are highlighted green, similar to Digital Threat Optics. This vision is obstructed by walls or other obstacles.

• Your squadmates do not share this vision, so be sure to communicate to them the locations of enemies you can see.
• Your threat vision doesn't work against other Caustics, forcing you to prioritize them, as they are immune to all Nox Gas effects and they can see your allies even if they are in your gas.

Nox Gas Grenade

	Ultimate	Z/+/+
	Nox Gas Grenade
	Description	Blankets a large area in Nox gas.
	Charge time	3.5 minutes

• Deals 5 damage per second spent in the gas.
• Other than the wider area of effect, the gas's function is identical to that of Nox Gas Traps.

• The grenade can be shot down by Wattson's Interception Pylon. However, if the grenade has already detonated, the pylon can't block any of the gas, and will even take damage from it.

• Do not use Nox Gas Grenades and expect them to kill an entire squad. Similar to Bangalore's Rolling Thunder, its main utility comes in the fact that enemies are forced to either evacuate the area or suffer the consequences of damage, the inability to sprint, and being highlighted by Nox Vision.
  • Since gas deals damage and slows enemies, use Nox Vision to hunt down and kill them while they are weakened. If you have Grenades, throw them into your gas when an enemy is caught-- this combo has the capability of wiping out full squads if enough players are caught in your gas.
• Using this ability in large, open areas is often a waste. Try to save it for when enemies are occupying a building, a small area, or are hiding behind a cover too dangerous to bypass.

Use this to 

• • You can also use this ability to block chokepoints or cover/punish revives.
• Try saving this for the last few rounds as his abilities increase in utility as the safe area shrinks. Furthermore, he can prevent scenarios of Heal Off Victories from happening as it's harder to heal in the gas and ring damage.

Fortified

	Perk
	Fortified
	Description	Incoming damage reduced by 15%. Not slowed by bullets.
	Cooldown	?

• Take 15% less damage from every attack.
• Immunity to slow effects from weapon fire.

• Don't overestimate this ability, 15% less generally translates to surviving 1 more shot.

Cosmetic Items

Skins

There are a total of 65 Legend skins for Caustic; 18 Legendary, 8 Epic, 23 Rare and 16 Common.

• 

  Sixth Sense
  1,200

• 

  Divine Right
  1,200

• 

  Philosopher's Stone
  1,200

• 

  Blackheart
  1,200

• 

  Third Emperor
  1,200

• 

  The Trophy Hunter
  10,500
  Needs Blackheart

• 

  Dark Cloud
  10,500
  Needs Divine Right

• 

  Prince of Darkness
  Level 25

• 

  The Last Laugh

• 

  Claustic

• 

  Waste Management
  10,500
  Needs Philosopher's Stone

• 

  Necrosis

• 

  Gasbuster

• 

  Bloodthirsty
  6,500
  Needs Sixth Sense

• 

  Killing Joke

• 

  Sweet Dreams
  4,000

• 

  Mad King

• 

  Deputy of Death

• 

  Fiber Optics
  400

• 

  Daemon Hunter
  400

• 

  Illegal Operation
  400

• 

  Heat Sync
  400

• 

  Neural Net
  400

• 

  Tiger Blood
  1,000

• 

  Barrel of Laughs

• 

  Grave Robber

• 

  Vicious Cycle
  60

• 

  Interdimensional
  60

• 

  Prehistoric
  60

• 

  Sizzle Reel
  60

• 

  Snakeskin
  60

• 

  Volcanic
  60

• 

  Unholy Alliance
  60

• 

  Green Screen
  60

• 

  Hypnotic
  60

• 

  Collider
  60

• 

  Desert Scorpion
  60

• 

  Absolution
  60

• 

  Dark Web
  60

• 

  Wishbone
  60

• 

  Bloodline
  60

• 

  Bloodshot
  August 2019

• 

  Freezer Burn
  Level 37

• 

  Chemical Compound
  October 2019

• 

  Geometric Anomaly
  January 2020

• 

  Cyber Sludge
  Level 60

• 

  Future's Past
  500

• 

  Cold Blooded
  April 2021

• Chilled Out - February 2021

• 

  Original
  Default

• 

  Midnight
  30

• 

  Cardinal
  30

• 

  Arctic
  30

• 

  Mandarin
  30

• 

  Orchid
  30

• 

  Flamingo
  30

• 

  Clearwater
  30

• 

  Vino
  30

• 

  Evergreen
  30

• 

  Limelight
  30

• 

  Yellowjacket
  30

• 

  Skyward
  30

• 

  Hydro
  30

• 

  Rage
  30

• 

  Sahara
  30

Finishers

Main article: Finisher

• Parting Gift
  Default

• Last Breath
  1,200

• Strike Three
  1,200

Heirloom Set

Main article: Heirloom

Caustic's Heirloom Set

The set contains:

• A Banner Pose: Hammer Time
• A Melee weapon skin: Death Hammer - A hammer with a skull at the back equipped with Nox gas.
• An Intro Quip: "I look forward to getting my hands on you."

Badges

See: Caustic/Badges

Skydive Emotes

Main article: Skydive Emote

Feel the Power Level 30

Knox Powered Level 30

Chemtrails Level 92

Holo-Sprays

Main article: Holo-Spray

• 

  Join My Experiment
  1,200

• 

  Breathe It In
  400

• 

  A Man Of Science
  400

• 

  The True Test
  400

• 

  You Are The Nail
  400

• 

  Evil Laugh
  400

• 

  One More
  Level 74

Music Packs

Main article: Music Pack

• 

  Caustic Music Pack
  Level 85

Loading Screens

Main article: Loading Screen

• 

  Blackheart's Rage
  Level 34

Voice lines

See: Caustic/Voice lines

History

Patch notes

March 09, 2021 Patch

• Nox Gas Grenade: Increased cooldown from 2.5 minutes to 3.5 minutes.
• Gas damage is now a flat 5 rather than 6-12.
• Fixed a bug that was causing the gas to flicker for some players affected by it.
• (Undocumented) Reduced the amount of particles from the gas, effectively providing less cover from the outside.

February 04, 2021 Patch

• Nox Gas Grenade: Fixed an edge case where the gas would persist even after his squad was eliminated.

February 02, 2021 Patch

• All gas now dissipates as soon as Caustic's team is wiped.
• Nox Vision: Sonar abilities no longer stop Caustic's highlight vision.

November 04, 2020 Patch

• Nox Gas Trap/ Nox Gas Grenade: Nox Gas no longer causes a blur effect. Damage increased from 4–10 to 6–12.

October 06, 2020 Patch

• Fixed Caustic barrels from being placed at an angle on shipping crates.

September 03, 2020 Patch

• Removed an inappropriate Caustic voice line.
• Fixed an issue where Crypto’s Surveillance Drone in Caustic gas would play to the whole server.

August 18, 2020 Patch

• Fixed an issue with Nox Gas Traps clipping to Mobile Respawn Beacons.
• Fixed an issue with Pathfinder and Revenant taking less damage from Nox gas.

June 23, 2020 Patch

• Nox Gas Trap:
  • Can now be destroyed by shooting the bottom before it fully inflates.
  • Teammates can now ping a friendly trap.

May 12, 2020 Patch

• Nox Gas Trap:
  • Friendly gas no longer slows teammates.
  • Traps no longer triggered from the other side of a door.

July 02, 2019 Patch

• Fortified:
  • Damage reduction increased from 10% to 15%.
  • Now immune to slow effects from weapon fire.
• Nox Gas Grenade: The magnitude of the slow is reduced by 50% when affecting teammates.

June 04, 2019 Patch

• Nox Gas Trap:
  • Caustic barrels can now be triggered or disabled by friendly teammates.
  • Fixed a rare issue with using consumables while having a Caustic gas canister out.

May 20, 2019 Patch

• Fortified: Fixed issue where damage would be taken through shields.

April 16, 2019 Patch

• Fortified Passive Perk added which reduces damage taken by 10%.
• Gas Damage per tick increased from 1 to 4
• Nox Gas Grenade: Throw distance increased from 28 meters to 33 meters.

March 19, 2019 Patch

• Adjusted hitbox to better align with shape.
• Nox Gas Trap:
  • Reduced cooldown of Traps from 30 to 25 seconds.
  • Increased radius and proximity radius by about 10%.
  • Removed a 1-second delay on the smoke dealing damage to players.
• Nox Gas Grenade: Reduced cooldown from 2:30 to 2:00 minutes. (This change was listed in the patch notes but never shipped.)
• Fixed ADS view being blocked when using Caustic legendary skins with certain weapon/ optic combos

Trivia

• His global identification number on Gaea is: ARN0-225P-ER9.
• When he registered in the Apex Games as a competitor, he utilized the name "Dr. Mikhail Caustic".
  • His alias' bio stated he was born in 2690, educated and graduated in 2715, received his PhD in 2720, and won the Heinrich Hammond Award for Excellence in Science on Psamathe in 2725, before doing a sabbatical in Solace.
• The case file on Gaea indicated Caustic are diagnosed by multiple medical practitioners as a confirmed psychopath.
• Caustic may have a life-threatening disease, as in a voice line he says he has faced his death, right before going into a hacking fit. Some speculate he could have Cystic Fibrosis, though many diseases are possibilities.
• Although not visible due to his gloves, Caustic is likely missing at least two fingers. On his death record, the examiner states that two severed fingers were found near to the left hand of the corpse and matched Nox's DNA.
• For some reason, Caustic's eyes appear to glow in the dark. It is currently unknown why but could have to do with his Nox Vision passive ability.
• In the discussion getting Revenant into the Apex Games, Caustic was discussed as having gone soft since some girl joined the games, most likely Wattson.
• As explained by writer Tom Casiello, the Nox Gas is a corrosive gas, that eats through clothes, skin, and metal, unless countered by a chemical compound only he possesses so it doesn't affect him, which explains why the gas still affects Pathfinder, Bloodhound, and Revenant. Because that is the case, it is unknown why he needs his gas mask, though it is likely to hide his identity as he is presumed dead. [1]
• According to Manny Hagopian, Caustic's name was originally supposed to be "Alexander Gaskins" based on the serial killer Donald Henry Gaskins. It was changed to "Nox" after it was pointed out that "Gaskin" has the word "gas" in it and Manny agreed it felt weird.
• An inappropriate voice line between Caustic and Crypto was removed in the September 03, 2020 Patch; where Caustic says as a thanks to Crypto, “You’ll regret the day you crossed me, gutter rat,” due to the word “rat” being a racial slur towards Asians.

Gallery

Videos

Images

• 

  Caustic killing Dr. Franklin Humbert.

• 

  Death report for Alexander Nox. of Caustic.

• 

  Early concept art of Caustic.

• 

  Concept art of Caustic.

• 

  Model of Caustic's head, showing his face.

• 

  Concept art of the Nox Gas Traps.

Merchandise

• 

  A Funko Pop of Caustic released on November 2019.