XDefiant: All Factions & Their Abilities

Factions are a huge part of XDefiant, with each one drastically switching up how you’ll play the game. Fortunately, there are plenty to choose from.

While XDefiant shares a lot of similarities to other popular first-person shooters, such as the Call of Duty franchise, it also has a number of unique features up its sleeve. One of these is the Faction mechanic, which sees players pick one of several factions from across Ubisoft’s varied franchises and gain abilities based on it. Below, we’ve explained exactly how Factions work, and listed all of the ones currently available.

What Are Factions in XDefiant

Factions are groups of characters based on other Ubisoft franchises, each with their own unique abilities and traits. There are five Factions in XDefiant, which are:

• Cleaners – The Division
• DedSec – Watch Dogs
• Echelon – Splinter Cell
• Libertad – Far Cry 6
• Phantoms – Ghost Recon

Every Faction in XDefiant has one Passive Trait, two Abilities, and one Ultra ability. Players will be able to choose their faction when they start XDefiant, and change at any point. Here’s everything you need to know about each Faction in XDefiant.

Cleaners – The Division

The Cleaners hail from The Division series and are comprised of ex-sanitation workers looking to cleanse New York of the virus that plagued the area. Equipped with flamethrowers and incendiary equipment, the Cleaners work best in Point Control and can easily lock areas down. The Cleaners have the following abilities:

Abilities

• Incendiary Rounds (Passive): Bullets from the player’s weapon cause burn damage at the sacrifice of weapon range.
• Firebomb (Ability): A Molotov is thrown that ignites an area and causes explosive damage.
• Incinerator Drone (Ability): A drone drops napalm in a short narrow line.
• The Purifier (Ultra): Players equip a flamethrower that causes massive damage.

DedSec – Watch Dogs

The infamous hacking group from the Watch Dogs series is the second Faction in XDefiant. The group is great at causing chaos and disruption for enemy teams. They can hack enemy abilities, mess with players’ sight, and even disable their HUDs. DedSec uses the following abilities:

Abilities

• Fabricator (Passive): After a gadget is used, the fabricator automatically makes a new one. This ensures DedSec operators have a constant supply of tools.
• Hijack (Ability): Players can hack an enemy-deployed ability, making it friendly and turning it against the opposition.
• Spiderbot (Ability): This shoots out a spider bot that seeks enemies and latches onto their faces, stunning and disrupting their view.
• Lockout (Ultra): Enemies’ HUD, mini-map, and abilities are disabled if caught in the ultra’s area of effect.

Echelon – Splinter Cell

The Echelon group is comprised of operators who work in the espionage field. The Faction comes from the Splinter Cell games, and players wanting to play as Echelon can look forward to specializing in stealth and flanking their opponents. The Faction uses these abilities:

Abilities

• Low Profile (Passive): Players do not appear on enemy mini-maps.
• Intel Suit (Ability): Enemy locations nearby are shared with members of your team.
• Digital Ghillie Suit (Ability): Players become nearly invisible but their movement and aiming lowers the ability time.
• Sonar Goggles (Ultra): Enemies are revealed and can be hunted with the iconic and powerful 5.7 pistol.

Libertad – Far Cry 6

Libertad is a group of Yaran freedom fighters derived from Far Cry 6. The Libertad is seen as the healer or support Faction that provides aid and ensures their team keeps fighting during the match. The Faction has these abilities at their disposal:

Abilities

• Espíritu de Libertad (Passive): Players are slowly healed, along with allies in their close vicinity.
• BioVida Boost (Ability): The health regeneration is boosted for the player and close allies.
• El Remedio (Ability): A device that is placed on the ground and heals those who stay close to it, it heals continuously until destroyed or the ability is canceled.
• Médico Supremo (Ultra): A massive healing regeneration and health boost are given for a limited amount of time.

Phantoms – Ghost Recon

The Phantoms are the operators from the Ghost Recon series and are the defensive Faction of XDefiant. This Faction is great for holding objectives thanks to its increased health and shield ability. Those looking to use the Phantoms will have these abilities to utilize:

Abilities

• Hardened (Passive): Players have an increased health pool.
• Blitz Shield (Ability): Phantom operators equip a tactical shield to block shots and melee enemies.
• Mag Barrier (Ability): A forcefield that blocks enemy gunfire and grenade damage.
• Aegis (Ultra): Players use an electric scattergun with a plasma shield.

XDefiant Future Factions

XDefiant is getting one additional Faction each Season. This will happen every three months, with the first new Faction, currently codenamed Ruby, dropping in Season 1. Here are all of the Factions coming in the next year (bear in mind these are just their codenames and not the official name of the Faction):

• Ruby – Season 1
• Buzz – Season 2
• Orchard – Season 3
• Horde – Season 4

Of course, we can only speculate which games these factions will come from. It’s possible we’ll get a Faction from the Assassin’s Creed series, such as the Templars, or potentially one from the Rainbow Six games. However, for now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

That’s everything you need to know about XDefiant’s Factions. For more guides just like this one, be sure to check out our Guide Hub.