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XDefiant, Ubisoft’s free-to-play shooter, delivers on an interesting premise: gathering the publisher’s biggest brands and tossing them into a no-holds-barred fight to the death. These factions (and players) compete across a variety of modes to prove their supremacy (and claim bragging rights, of course).
Given the game’s competitive nature, fans will always be looking to get a leg up on their opponents. While XDefiant clearly takes some nods from Call of Duty, it has its own difficulty curve, and not all your skills will be immediately transferable. Keep these tips and tricks in mind next time you boot up the game.
Turn On Auto Sprint
It can’t be understated how blisteringly fast XDefiant is.Characters move at a generous clip, getting from one end of a map to the other in just a few seconds.
In a game that prioritizes movement and speed as much as this one,there’s never any benefit to going slow, especially when you have opponents pushing you from all sides.
For that reason, we highly recommend that youturn on the auto-sprint featurein the game’s control settings.This will ensure that you’re always moving as fast as you can, not needing to worry about toggling your running speed. You’ll be able to reach objective sites quicker, and it shouldmake you more difficult to hit when evading enemy fire.
Do Not Use The Welcome Playlist
In most competitive games, welcome playlists are a fantastic idea, letting newbies get their feet wet in a space separate from the veterans who would otherwise stomp them.
However, Ubisoft made the bizarre choice ofimplementing skill-based matchmaking in their welcome playlist, while all other unranked modes do not have it. As a result,this playlist actually feels much more competitive than the game is supposed toand may discourage new players.
It’s a wild choice from a game that marketed itself so heavily onnotimplementing the controversial matchmaking system.
Needless to say,you’ll have a lot more casual fun hopping into the regular playlists straight awayand ignoring the supposedly new-player-friendly option.
Find Your Gun And Stick To It…
XDefiant’s guns areunlocked by completing challenges. The game gives you a goal you need to achieve, andonce you’ve met it, the weapon will be added for selectionin the loadout menu.
It’s understandable that you would want to try out a variety of weapons, andyou should play a little with each typeto figure out what you perform best with. However,once you find your favorite gun, commit to playing with it.
Not only will you become a better player, understanding its strengths and weaknesses, butyou’ll also begin to level it up.
…So You Can Craft The Perfect Weapon For You
Leveling guns up in XDefiant is extremely importantbecause it’s how you unlock attachments.
Each attachment will modify the base stats of your gun, some objectively improving it, while others offer trade-offs that better the weapon in some ways and nerf it in others.
As you play more of the game, you will begin to understand your own playstyle more. With this knowledge,you can further fine tune your gun build, creating the perfect loadout to dominate the competition.
Experiment With Factions
In contrast to the game’s guns,you should dabble in all the playable factions. Sure, XDefiant is a twitch shooter first and foremost, butyou can help your team in a variety of ways with character abilities.
In fact, these abilities will often be the difference between glorious victory and shocking defeat, soit’s important to familiarize yourself with all of them.
A lot of factions mirror roles you may be familiar with in other hero-based shooters;there are tanks, healers, and DPS, among other options.Finding the right fit for you will ensure that you’re always an asset to your squad, even if you aren’t lighting the scoreboard up with kills.
Make Sure Input-Based Matchmaking Is On
Although skill-based matchmaking has garnered quite a negative reputation, that doesn’t mean that any form of matchmaking should be thrown out the window.
Some help create a more balanced competitive environment, and that’s exactly what you want in a game like XDefiant.
Go to your settings andmake sure that input-based matchmaking is turned on. This takes into consideration what type of control method you’re using to play the game, and matches you with people using the same.
If you’re using a controller, you’ll only play against people using controllers, and the same goes for mouse and keyboard.
This setting ensures a level playing field, keeping certain groups of players from dominating just because of their setup.
Master Slide Canceling
In a game that moves as fast as XDefiant,using movement tech can take your opponents by surprise, letting you kill them instead of the other way around.One of these techniques is called slide canceling, and it’s relatively easy to perform.
to slide cancel,you’ll first need to be sprinting(which shouldn’t be an issue if you have auto sprint turned on). As you’re running,press the crouch button to begin a slide. Then,while you’re in the slide, press the jump button.
This willlaunch you forward and into the air, carrying your momentum andcanceling the end lag of the slide animation.
Not only will this help you traverse faster, butyour erratic movement will make it harder for enemies to kill you.
Complete Your Dailies
As is tradition for all games-as-a-service,XDefiant features daily challenges for you to undertake. These reward you with thousands of experience points, which can be incredibly useful.
Unlocking the fifth playable faction, DedSec, requires you togrind for 700,000 XP! Completing daily challenges can help you advance to your goal a lot faster, and ultimatelyearn you another playable character.
