XDefiant: All 5 Classes Explained | Which One Is For You?

It’s been almost a week since the pre-season release of XDefiant, and plenty of players have been enjoying it ever since. The new FPS from Ubisoft is a mashing-together of other games from the massive developer, bringing different fans together beneath a banner of battle.

Similarly to other games in the genre, you can play as a chosen class, or Faction, each with its own specialities and abilities. Here, we’ll explain each of the five possibilities and their unique skills. Find out which one is right for you before playing XDefiant!

All 5 Classes Explained

It’s always important to remember to choose a class which suits your personal play style. Not everybody plays a game in the same way! Whether your speciality is defence, offence, or healing, XDefiant gives you five different factions to choose from:

• Libertad
• Phantoms
• Echelon
• Cleaners
• DedSec

Don’t worry if the names themselves don’t give anything away; we’ll be the ones doing the explaining here!

Libertad

These revolutionaries take inspiration from the rebels of Far Cry 6, fighting to free their Caribbean home of Yara. As the game’s medics, their abilities revolve around healing themselves and their teammates, and so are indispensable.

Libertad skills are:

• ULTRA – Médico Supremo: a backpack providing a large health and healing boost for a limited time
• PASSIVE – Espíritu de Libertad: slowly heals you and any teammates nearby
• ABILITY – El Remedio: a gas canister which heals allies until it’s either destroyed or cancelled.
• ABILITY – BioVida Boost: a wave that boosts total health and regen for you and any teammates nearby

Phantoms

Ex-Ghosts from Ghost Recon, this faction is perfect if you’re a fan of defence and tanks. Also known as Shadow Team, Phantoms are hard to kill and great at keeping control in the middle of battle.

Phantoms skills are:

• ULTRA – Aegis: a plasma shield combined with an electro-scattergun for close-range attack
• PASSIVE – Hardened Health – increased base health
• ABILITY – Mag Barrier – an electromagnetic barrier which blocks incoming gunfire and grenades
• ABILITY – Blitz Shield – a tactical shield which blocks gunfire and allows a melee attack: shield bash

Echelon

These expert spies from Splinter Cell are perfect for those who prefer stealth. By being able to surprise and confuse enemies, they offer a huge advantage to their teammates and can go practically undetected by their opponents.

Echelon skills are:

• ULTRA – Sonar Goggles: you reveal the location of enemies and can hunt them down with the Third Echelon 5.7 pistol
• PASSIVE – Low Profile: you don’t show up on the enemies’ minimaps
• ABILITY – Digital Ghillie Suit: turns you almost invisible, but movement and aiming will reduce the effect
• ABILITY – Intel Suit: shares the location of any nearby enemies with your team

Cleaners

Inspired by the cleaners from The Division, this class is highly offensive and perfect for the budding pyromaniac. Dealing lots of damage with fire and bombs, Cleaners are very handy to have on a team – just try not to get singed!

Cleaners skills are:

• ULTRA – The Purifier: a flamethrower for incinerating any enemies that come too close
• PASSIVE – Incendiary Rounds: ammo which inflicts additional burn damage at the cost of reducing weapon range
• ABILITY – Incinerator Drone: a napalm drone for deployment which burns everything in its path
• ABILITY – Firebomb: a Molotov cocktail that, on throwing, deals explosive damage and incinerates the area where it lands

DedSec

Based on the expert hackers of Watch Dogs 2, these technological marvels are perfect for disrupting enemy teams and turning the tide of a match. By hijacking and dismantling, DedSec can take an opponent’s advantage and make it their own.

DedSec skills are:

• ULTRA – Lockout: disables enemies’ HUD, minimap, and abilities in an affected area
• PASSIVE – Fabricator: after deploying a device, a new one is immediately created
• ABILITY – Hijack: hacks enemy abilities and makes them yours to use
• ABILITY – Spiderbot: a face-hugging SpiderBot which can target and stun nearby enemies

Which One Is For You?

When wondering which class is best, there is no one answer. The obvious choice for one player may be another’s worst nightmare. If you’re a seasoned FPS-er, you’ll probably know which style suits you most, whether it’s your favorite or the one you’re best at.

If you don’t know, or this is your first time playing a game like this, don’t worry! Take time to play around with each faction and find where you’re most comfortable. Don’t forget that, even if your favorite class isn’t your best, having fun is more important than winning!

Wanting to get started but having problems with matchmaking? Check out our guide to Fixing Finding a Match and Matchmaking Issues!