XDefiant Preseason Patch Notes Confirms the Return of Echelon, DedSec’s Spiderbot

Free-to-play shooter XDefiant is available later today, with Ubisoft providing various tips, outlining its monetization approach and showcasing the preseason battle pass. The patch notes are now available, detailing all of the changes, and there’s good news for Splinter Cell fans. Echelon is back as a faction, and the issue affecting their invisibility is fixed.

The Spiderbot ability for DedSec is also available once more, and a netcode error that allowed players to continue moving on the map after dying has been patched. Grenades will drop at your feet less upon respawning when used immediately, but there’s still a chance. A fix is still in the works, so stay tuned.

Check out the full patch notes below for more details, though expect hotfixes and other updates after the game is live. XDefiant will launch for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. It features five game modes, five playable factions, 24 weapons and 14 maps.

Preseason Patch Notes

Gameplay

Factions

• The Echelon faction is back. We fixed the issue with agents turning invisible in a bad way versus the good and intended way (using the Digital Ghillie Suit ability).
• DedSec’s Spiderbot ability has returned. Prepare your face for hugging.

Devices

• Devices (aka grenades) are less likely to fall at your feet if used immediately after respawning, but it can still happen. We’re working on it! Grenades are inherently risky.

Netcode

• Occasionally after you died, you could still run around in the world for a few seconds. Now when you die you stay fully dead, as your opponent intended.
• Reduced the range between the highest ping and lowest ping in matchmaking, so now you’ll be grouped with players who have a more similar ping to your own.

Audio

• Fixed an issue with killstreak VO lines playing at the beginning of every match and when you died, which was particularly insulting. Turn the announcer volume back up in the Settings menu (Dialogue Volume)!
• Audio improvements, many.

Social

• Xbox Series X/S players now see their Xbox friends list as the primary friends list in game.
• Fixed an Xbox-specific issue where if you suspended the game, then accessed the in-game Social menu and selected “Invite to Party” or “View Party Invites”, Ubisoft Connect wouldn’t open properly.
• Fixed an issue on Xbox where if you got an error message while trying to join a full party, key UI elements would disappear.

Localization

• On consoles, if you accessed the Ubisoft Connect overlay via the Social menu, the text wasn’t localized for any non-English languages. It is now.

Miscellaneous

• Fixed a crash that could occur when accessing the Loadout menu tab.
• Updated the word list the Chat Language Filter uses.
• Fixed issues with misaligned HUD elements on PlayStation 5.