XDefiant Reveals Patch Notes for Season 1 Update

In advance of the season 1 arrival on July 2, XDefiant reveals the full patch notes and content coming to the game. Following what was a lengthier than expected development period, Ubisoft’s online arena style shooter XDefiant launched in May to massive numbers. During the past month, players were able to check out all that the game had to offer during its constantly evolving preseason period.

As a live-service title, XDefiant aims to constantly remain fresh with new content and updates which continue to fix issues and keep the gameplay feeling smooth. The developers continue to keep the community of players informed regarding potential issues as well as when they can expect to see requested content like a weapon inspection feature or certain game modes. Ubisoft gave fans their best look at a ton of new content coming to XDefiant during the Ubisoft Forward event on June 10. The reveals included a new faction, maps, game modes, and plenty more arriving on July 2 when Season 1 begins in full.

The biggest part of this update for many XDefiant players is the inclusion of a brand-new faction: the GSK from Rainbow Six Siege. Stay true to their roots, the GSK bring plenty of familiar gadgets from Siege including dropping shock wire, Jaeger’s automated defense system gadget to destroy enemy explosives, or utilizing Blitz’s tactical flash shield as the team’s ultimate ability. Considering each member is wearing a helmet, they’re able to better resist headshots for better survivability. Alongside the GSK, Season 1 is finally adding Capture the Flag, new weapons like the LVOA-C Assault Rifle, and Clubhouse, the first of 3 maps coming this season.

However, Season 1 is bringing more than just content to XDefiant. The Season 1 patch notes also confirm a number of changes being made to the experience, including lowering the amount of XP needed to advance each Battle Pass tier, which should make the progression feel a bit faster. Match XP bonuses have also been changed with completion XP being doubled to hopefully encourage players to keep going. The killfeed now indicates headshots, and XP boosters will only activate during matches, so they will no longer expire while in the menus. Current XDefiant factions have also seen a few adjustments, with the Phantoms’ and Echelon’s Mag Barrier and Intel Suit getting nerfed, Libertad’s healing getting a reduced cooldown, and DedSec being able to use Hijack a bit more often than before.

With the game being free to play, Season 1 looks to continue the strong launch for Ubisoft’s shooter. In fact, XDefiant has already passed massive player milestones, with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirming that the game has already attracted 11 million players. Guillemot believes this number could further increase following the launch of Season 1 and again in the future as more updates and content continues to arrive.

XDefiant Year 1 Season 1 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.

Weapons

• Improved the hit flinch penalty incurred when being shot with a sniper rifle equipped. These changes are intended to refine the behavior of hit flinch, prevent instances where the camera would move off the target with the first hit and back onto the target with the second, and improve the experience for players sensitive to wild camera movements. Here’s the nitty-gritty:
  • The speed of the hit flinch camera transition has been increased by 25 percent.
  • The camera will now always kick upward rather than up or down at random.
  • The amount the camera will kick left or right has been increased by 3 times.
• Added the L115 sniper rifle, which is not quite as heavy as the TAC-50 and has faster handling, although it deals slightly less damage and is not as effective at penetrating cover.
• Added the LVOA-C, a snazzy customized rifle similar to the M4A1. It has a much faster rate of fire than the M4A1, but with that comes more recoil and less range. It also has slightly longer reload and equip times.
• Added the Sawed Off secondary weapon. This close-range version of the double-barreled shotgun packs a big boom for its size. Imagine carrying a primary weapon in your secondary slot and that’s this.
• Added new Mastery skins: Titanium Violet (unlocked at Weapon Level 300), Titanium Azure (unlocked at 350), and Titanium Prisma (unlocked at 400).
• Fixed weapons and optics shake in first-person view while using ADS.

Devices

• Added a new and improved visual effect for the flash grenade (replacing the previous effect, which was…intense). The new effect is less retina-searing but still appropriately disorientating.
• Removed an exploit where players could respawn with multiple devices after fiddling with the “Copy Loadout” option in the lobby, so nice try.

Social

• Added the Creator Code program, which allows players to choose a creator to receive commissions from their XCoin purchases at no additional cost. Choose “Support a Creator” from the store to see a list of eligible creators.
• Players were able to create a party with enemy players and voice chat during matches despite being on opposing teams, which seemed shady so that’s fixed.
• Disabled whispers in text chat.

Audio

• Tweaked the mix of in-game voices and sound effects for volume and clarity.

Miscellaneous

• Players who participated in the Closed Beta were supposed to keep Kersey’s Dungaree skin. They didn’t but now they do.
• Fixed Challenge-tracking issues with Ubisoft Connect.
• Graphical and audio fixes, various.
• Additional crash fixes.