XDefiant is more competitive than ever!
XDefiant is already pretty cutthroat, but the new ranked mode will pose a unique challenge for uber-competitive players. Before you press play, though, it’s worth taking a look at how XDefiant’s ranked mode actually works.
Since its release, XDefiant has not had a ranked mode, but that hasn’t stopped players from playing hard in the casual game modes.
It’s safe to say that XDefiant is an extremely competitive game by nature, and now Ubisoft has added a new element to the mix with Ranked, a game mode specifically aimed at serious players looking to earn RP (Ranked Points).
Thankfully, it works similarly to the competitive queues in other popular shooters, but here’s a breakdown of XDefiant’s ranked mode to refresh your memory.
How does XDefiant ranked mode work?
In the XDefiant Ranked mode, two teams of four players play, matched together based on their skills. This means that you will be queued against those who fall within your MMR (MatchMaking Rating). If you win, you will get RP, and vice versa.
To keep things fair, the ranked system will match you with players within 15 levels above or below your current rank in XDefiant. You can also call this your hidden MMR pool. While advancement is purely based on winning and losing, your personal performance will be taken into consideration when distributing RP.
For example, if you bot-fragged in a game that your team won, you will get less RP compared to the top scorer of your team. Points you earn by contributing to the goal will also be counted.
This approach will help individual players not to bear the brunt of a loss due to bad teammates. In other words, if you are the top scorer and your team loses, you will lose less RP compared to other players.
All XDefiant Ranks and RP Explained
There are a total of seven rank divisions in XDefiant, each consisting of ten tiers, except for the highest rank, Legends. Each tier equates to 100 RP.
Here are all the ranks with their names:
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Ruby
- Emerald
- Diamond
- Legends
In XDefiant ranked mode, you need a total of 100 points to advance to the next level. For example, if you are Bronze, you need 100 RP to become Bronze 2, and so on until you reach Silver. Losing RP will of course slow down your progress.
If you want to play 4-stack, you need to find players who fall within your MMR pool, meaning somewhere below or above 15 levels of your current rank.
For example, if you are Gold 1, you can only queue with players above Bronze 5 and below Ruby 5. This restriction applies to ranks above Diamond, where you can only play as duos.
Rank reset will happen every new season. By default the reset rank for all players will be Silver, unless you are Bronze. In that case you will start at the same level as the previous season
New players will be happy to hear that they can practice in ranked mode without losing their precious RP. Ubisoft has called it the Ranked Practice Period, which will last a week before the start of each season.
XDefiant Ranked Rewards
At the end of each season, all players will receive some sort of reward that reflects their ranked performance. A list of the top 500 players in XDefiant will be published on the game’s official blog. These players will also receive an exclusive reward, starting with Season 2.
The reward for the top 500 players teased in the trailer is a bright orange M4A1 skin. For Season 2, Ubisoft has announced an LVOA-C skin for top players, which is a newly announced weapon.
XDefiant Ranked Game Modes
Ubisoft has announced four different game modes for XDefiant Ranked, with Capture The Flag coming soon. The familiar game modes will work slightly differently in competitive queues:
- Occupied: In Occupy, teams of four compete to capture a moving point that rotates in a predetermined order. Therefore, aiming is not enough, but a team with a better understanding of the rotating order can gain an advantage.
- Domination: Each team has five minutes to play on one side of the map. The 10-minute mode is divided into two halves.
- Zone control: Teams alternate as attackers and defenders, but there is a twist. The defending team can reduce the attacking team’s capture progress by standing in a zone.
- Accompanist: This game mode plays out the same way as the casual mode.
Here’s everything you need to know about XDefiant’s ranked mode before diving into the competitive madness of Season 1.
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