XDefiant Season 1 is Now Live, Patch Notes Reveal Balance Changes

Ubisoft San Francisco’s first season of XDefiant is now available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. It adds a new Faction, GSK from Rainbow Six, which utilizes electric razorwire, a Flashshield and ADS to shoot down incoming explosives.

The season marks the arrival of a new map, Clubhouse, with two more, Rockefeller and Daytona, arriving sometime later. Three new weapons are also available – the LVOA-C, a Sawed-off Shotgun and an unknown sniper rifle. Of course, the season also marks several changes, like the timing on Boosters only ticking down during matches, Battle Pass tiers having less XP thresholds and double XP from completing matches.

Echelon’s Intel Suit also has a longer cooldown alongside the Phantoms’ Mag Barrier, the latter also seeing a health reduction from 500 to 400. Meanwhile, Libertad’s BioVida Boost has a shorter cooldown from 25 to 20 seconds. Check out the other changes to Factions like DedSec below and full patch notes here.

XDefiant Y1S1.0 Patch Notes

Gameplay

• Changed the expiration timing of activated Boosters so their lifespan counts down only during match time, when you’re actually playing, rather than all the time, like when you’re folding laundry or whatever.
• Lowered the XP threshold for each Battle Pass tier to give Battle Pass progression a little more pep.
• Tuned Match Bonus XP rewards: MVP and Victory went from 2,000 to 1,000 XP. Draw went from 1,000 to 500. Completion doubled from 2,000 to 4,000 to encourage player stick-to-itiveness.
• Answered a community ask to add a headshot icon to the Killfeed because it feels good to rub it in.

Factions

• Added the GSK faction and their no-nonsense announcer: HQ.
  – These elite Team Rainbow operators from Germany’s Border Protection Command specialize in crowd control and securing territory. They can deploy electrified barbed wire for area denial, counter incoming enemy devices with their Active Defense System, and dazzle multiple foes with flash charges mounted on their G52-Tactical Shield ultra. Call them Grenzschutzkommando because it’s fun and also accurate.
• Increased the cooldown of Echelon’s Intel Suit from 30 to 40 seconds.
• Tuned the cooldown of the Phantoms’ Mag Barrier from 30 to 40 seconds. Mag Barrier hit points were also reduced from 500 to 400.
• The Phantoms’ AEGIS now takes damage from EMP grenades (lob six to put it out of commission).
• DedSec Hijack cooldown decreased from 28 seconds (plus the remaining duration of the hacked skill) to 20 seconds (plus the remaining duration of the hacked skill).
  – For example, let’s say a Mag Barrier has 7 seconds left and gets hacked: The cooldown becomes 20 plus 7 seconds. Failed Hijack cooldown, meanwhile, decreases from 8 to 5 seconds.
• DedSec’s Spiderbot cooldown increased from 25 to 40 seconds.
• Adjusted Spiderbot behavior so multiple Spiderbots won’t attempt to hug the same face, nor will Spiderbots continue to ignore faces they’ve hugged multiple recent times. Some give and take from the Spiderbot kingdom.
• Decreased the cooldown of Libertad’s BioVida Boost from 25 to 20 seconds.
• Fixed Libertad’s Medico Supremo so it will no longer disappear after the deploying player respawns as a different faction.

Maps

• Added the new Clubhouse map, a two-story hangout popular with international operators. Ideal for firefights in the short- to mid-range. Home to game modes Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot, and the new CTF.

Game Modes

• Added Capture the Flag, hereafter referred to as CTF. For the uninitiated: You take the enemy’s flag from their base and bring it back to your own, while protecting your team’s flag. CTF is available on a variety of maps.