Summary
The fun of a class-based shooter comes from experimenting with all the available characters; each has its own abilities and unique gameplay quirks, so it’s imperative to find the right class for you. Even if you aren’t topping the scoreboard with your kill-to-death ratio, you can be an asset to your team through the tactical use of character abilities.
Of course, not all classes are created equal, andXDefiant’s do fall into a pretty clear hierarchy, ranging from situationally useful to downright busted. It’s not that any of them are completely unusable, but you’ll definitely notice yourself performing better if you select certain factions.
Take out a flamethrower and burn enemies to a crisp.
Firebomb
Normal
Throw a Molotov cocktail on the ground, engulfing the surrounding area in flames.
Incendiary Rounds
Passive
The Cleaners gunshots deal a small amount of damage over time.
When you start playing as a Cleaner, it’s immediately obvious what the developers designed them for: capturing objectives inmodes like Occupy or Domination. Their abilities focus on map control, making areas dangerous for opponents to traverse or just killing them outright. Shots from Cleaners are also a bit more deadlythan other factionssince their passive skill enhances their bullets with a burn effect, dealing a small amount of damage over time.
The problem with Cleaners is that outside of certain modes, there are not many ways for them to be useful. Being able to control space effectively isn’t necessarily a concern in Hot Shot or Escort, and their slight damage buff isn’t enough to warrant you selecting them anyway. The fact of the matter is that every other class has more utility in their abilities than the Cleaners do, making them better choices in every game mode. Still, they are quite effective when it comes to securing capture points, which makes them a viable choice in a few situations.
Nullify enemy abilities and ultras.
Take over enemy abilities and make them yours.
DedSec slowly regenerates devices after using one.
Consideringthe massive grind you have to endure to unlock DedSec, they must be a super useful faction, right? Well, unfortunately, that’s just not the case. DedSec characters have the option to deploy spider drones, which slow enemies down and can hack abilities used by the other team to use them themselves. Perhaps the most useful part of their kit is their ultra ability, which can completely disable opponents' abilities, even their ultras.
The problem is that these abilities are not immediately as useful as those carried by other factions. The spider drone is cool, but it only affects one enemy at a time. Even worse, there aren’t a ton of abilities DedSec can actually hack, making their two main abilities hard to get excited about. They edge out the Cleaners simply because they possess a bit more utility. This faction isn’t awful, but they aren’t nearly as useful as those ranked higher than them, which is extremely disappointing when you take into account the amount of time you have to spend playing the game to unlock them.
Médico Supremo
Ultra
Take out a backpack that will restore teammates' health within a given area.
Libertad and nearby allies are always regenerating their health.
The Libertad from Far Cry 6 is this game’s answer to a healer class. Both their regular abilities and ultra focus on healing themselves and the surrounding team, so you’ll be playing a support role throughout the match. Staying close to teammates is imperative since it will ensure the maximum number of people will reap the rewards of your healing, not to mention earn you some experience points.
It’s at this point in the list that the top half of factions start to separate themselves from the bottom half. Healing is an incredibly important, instantly understandable job in any game, especially one as fast as XDefiant. Libertad players will be able to swing the result of firefights, keeping their team alive as they gun down foes. If that wasn’t enough, their passive ability has them constantly healing themselves, so you’ll be able to run away often without fear of dying. They might have had an argument for the best faction in the game if the last two on the list weren’t so powerful.
AEGIS
Deploy a spherical shield and walk around with a powerful scattergun.
Blitz Shield
Pull out a shield that blocks all damage from the front.
Phantoms have 120 health instead of the normal 100.
The Phantoms are probably the most beginner-friendly faction in the game. Their game plan revolves around creating an impenetrable defense for themselves and their team. One of their abilities lets them pull out a shield, negating any gunfire they take from the front, but the real prize is the Mag Barrier, which constructs a translucent energy wall, letting anyone hide behind it, avoid damage, and return fire.
On top of this, Phantoms have a larger health pool than all other characters, with their total set at 120 instead of the standard 100. If you and an enemy start shooting at one another at the same time, you’ll win those firefights almost all the time. This, in combination with their multiple shield abilities, makes them the hardest characters in the game to kill. There’s no debate that the Phantoms are impressively powerful, yet they still pale in comparison to the final faction.
Sonar Suit
Shows all the enemies on screen and equips you with a powerful pistol.
Echelon does not appear on the minimap.
It’s hard to express how broken Echelon is. They come packing two ludicrously powerful abilities. The first allows a player to become partially invisible, letting them traverse the map safely and take enemies by surprise. The second, referred to as the Intel Suit, lets the user and their team briefly see opponents through walls. Knowing where the other team is located gives you a massive advantage, since you’ll be able to approach from any angle and take them by surprise. The Echelon ultra is an even more powerful variant of this ability, showing the player every enemy combatant and arming them with a pistol that can kill them in one hit.
Barring a complete redesign of Echelon, it’s hard to imagine how any other class will be able to compete with wallhacks, making Sam Fisher’s colleagues the best faction in the game.
