XDefiant Season 2 Patch Notes: Introduction of Highwaymen Faction, New Maps, Weapons, and Additional Features

For the complete XDefiant Season 2 patch notes, please refer to the information below.

XDefiant Season 2 Patch Notes

Here are all the updates included in the XDefiant Season 2 release:

Gameplay

Resolved an issue that prevented some players from sliding after jumping when using the Hold option for Crouch and Sprint in the Settings menu.
Fixed a control issue that stopped players from sprinting after firing while quickly switching to ADS during a mid-sprint.
Victims of melee strikes now experience a temporary movement penalty, reducing speed to half for 0.25 seconds, allowing for a quick reaction.
Updated the six Preset loadouts in the Loadout menu to include complete sets of attachments for both primary and secondary weapons, as well as supportive devices tailored to each Preset’s primary weapon. This change aims to enhance each weapon’s strengths and allow players to experiment with various attachments and devices.
Tuned Major and Daily Challenges for a better gameplay experience.
When you complete a Major Challenge, the subsequent challenge is now automatically activated, eliminating the need for manual selection.
Fixed a weapons-progression bug that failed to award weapon XP points for kill assists.

Factions

Highwaymen
Originating from Hope County 2035, the Highwaymen are ruthless survivors characterized by their aggressive combat style. They focus on maximizing damage in minimal time, utilizing deployable assault turrets, fast reloads, and improvised weaponry like saw-blade launchers, all while disregarding safety precautions. Fighting alongside their leaders, Mickey and Lou, Highwaymen are ready for glorious, high-octane confrontation.
GS command
Adjustments have been made to GS-Kommando’s Active Defense System, making it easier to deploy in tight areas.
Players can now cancel their Active Defense System after deploying it, similar to the Libertad’s El Remedio ability. Additionally, a bug that allowed the Active Defense System to fire through soft cover has been fixed.
Resolved a glitch that inhibited the Active Defense System from countering enemy proximity mines.
Fixed a camera-glitch that occurred when colliding with GS-Kommando’s Shock Wire.
DedSec
Spiderbot deployment is no longer interrupted if the DedSec player immediately activates their ultra ability. Moreover, the sounds made by Spiderbots have been adjusted to increase their audibility, ensuring players can hear them approaching. This includes a volume increase for footstep sounds and a larger audible range.
Reduced the duration of DedSec’s Lockout ultra from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
Death will no longer cancel the effects of DedSec’s Lockout ultra. Now, enemies who die and respawn during this period will still be affected.
Fixed an issue that disabled DedSec’s Hijack ability when used on moving devices like the Incinerator Drone or Spiderbot.
Phantoms
Eliminated an exploit that allowed some Phantom players to respawn with invincibility after triggering the AEGIS ultra just before dying.
Corrected the Phantoms’ Mag Barrier, ensuring it is no longer immune to the AEGIS’s electro-scattergun unless hit directly in the center.
Restored controller force feedback when using the Blitz Shield, and added new sound effects to indicate when the Blitz Shield absorbs damage.
Freedom
Enhanced the effective range of Libertad’s BioVida Boost to match its visual representation.
Adjusted Médico Supremo’s healing mist to prevent it from dissipating prematurely if deployed while the player is descending from a height.
Fixed a bug that caused Libertad players to become zoomed in while deploying Médico Supremo under ADS.
In an update regarding Médico Supremo, enemies will no longer earn Ultra Cancel points for eliminating the deploying player if they manage to complete deployment as their final act.
Fixed issues with the Cleaners’ Incinerator Drone and Phantoms’ Mag Barrier deploying in incorrect orientations when network conditions are poor.

Maps

Waterfront
Engage in close-quarters combat and vie for the high ground in the new Arena map, Waterfront. Players can traverse this post-storm seaside skatepark, taking down enemies or scaling rooftops for tactical advantages.
Mayday
The Mayday map has been removed from the CTF Unranked mode playlists due to balance issues.
Addressed multiple map-geometry glitches allowing players to exploit the game, including floating in midair or spotting enemies through walls. Affected maps consist of Attica Heights, Clubhouse, Emporium, and Pueblito.
Adjusted objects in the Emporium and Times Square maps to ensure functionality for GS-Kommando’s Active Defense System.

Game Modes

Bomb!
This high-stakes, fan-requested new game mode features two bombs and zero respawns. Attackers must plant a Detonator on one of the two Bombs located on the map and keep it active until it detonates, while defenders must either prevent the plant or defuse the Detonator. Success for attackers or failure for defenders leads to explosive outcomes.
Escort
Fixed a visual glitch affecting the Package path on inclines, causing the Package icon to flicker when viewed through walls.
Team Death Match
Overtime in Team Death Match has been removed, as it was never intended to be part of the mode.
Introduced a Daily Challenge specific to Team Death Match mode.
Capture The Flag
Participating in a CTF session now contributes towards the Grand Tour achievement.
XPs for completing Escort and Zone Control tasks have been doubled.
Fixed an issue where Cleanse points were not awarded for eliminating the last enemy in Domination, Occupy, or Zone Control modes.
Similarly, Checkpoint-assist points now correctly count towards aiding in the Escort mode.
To encourage match completion, Medal Challenges have been added for finishing Arena or Linear modes (both tagged as “Complete Game”). These new medals increase Battle Pass progression through a lump-sum XP reward at match end.

Ranked

Season 2 introduces Ranked Loadouts, a new category with 10 slots allowing players to create custom loadouts utilizing all launch weapons, attachments, and devices even if they haven’t unlocked them yet. The tradeoff is that any weapon not yet unlocked will not grant XP progression, while owned weapons will progress normally. This system excludes skins, faction characters, or any post-launch weapons/attachments/devices that players haven’t unlocked.
Fixed an issue in Ranked mode preventing PC players from confirming their pre-selected Abilities if a teammate had the same faction selected.
Ranked mode will now use the party’s average Ranked level to match players, with an emphasis on the highest-level player in the party.

Weapons

New for Season 2
PP-19: Known for its heavy hitting capabilities, this SMG delivers lethal strikes despite having a lower fire rate.
SPAS-12: A semi-automatic shotgun with a slow handling time, but it inflicts substantial damage in close range.
L86: This quick-reloader is among the lightest of LMGs, thanks to its bullpup design (with the magazine situated behind the trigger), though its per-shot damage is relatively low.
Added the Extended Mag Tube, a shotgun-specific attachment that increases ammo capacity.
Weapon Adjustments
M44: Players can no longer aim down sights before the M44 sniper rifle’s reload animation is completed.
686 Magnum: The half-second delay for weapon sway has been removed when switching to ADS after triggering the jump/crouch penalty.
M870: Corrected a timing issue so that spent shell casings are ejected when the slide is racked back, rather than upon firing; this is a cosmetic fix but adds to the realism.
MDR: Overcoming aiming obstructions when using the Skeletonized cosmetic skin, several mechanical animations have been adjusted to align with the real weapon, preventing the charging handle from reciprocating and ensuring spent casings eject to the front.
Slightly reduced the sniper hit-flinch penalty from 0.7 seconds to 0.5 seconds for M44, L115, and TAC-50.

Optimized several barrel and muzzle attachments for balance. The changes include:

Muzzle Booster
Short/medium range penalty adjusted to 12.5 percent.
Removed 10 percent horizontal/vertical recoil penalty.
Added 7.5 percent ADS speed penalty.
Rapid Fire Barrel
25 percent penalty added for short/medium range.
Removed 20 percent horizontal/vertical recoil penalty.
15 percent ADS speed penalty introduced.
Lightweight Barrel
10 percent short/medium range penalty applied.
10 percent horizontal/vertical recoil penalty removed.
Reduced shakiness and visual distortion while using a scope when crouching or rapidly toggling crouch in designated crouch-only areas since the XDefiant Season 2 patch update.
A new Mastery skin, Pyroclastic, has been added and can be unlocked at Weapon Level 500, provided several other weapons reach Level 400.
Reflex and Holographic optics now correctly display enemy outlines as intended after the XDefiant Season 2 update.
Addressed a slight aiming wobble when jumping while in ADS mode.
Fixed a complicated exploit that allowed damage from a high-recoil, low fire rate weapon (like a sniper) to be transferred to a low-recoil, high-rate-of-fire secondary weapon when swapped right before being ambushed by a Spiderbot. Kudos if you figured that one out, but it’s now eliminated.

Devices

Fixed a glitch where EMP grenades would disable standard grenades (like Frag and Sticky) when those grenades were deployed just as the EMP activated following the XDefiant Season 2 patch update.
Sticky grenades now inflict damage to enemies when thrown onto ceilings after the XDefiant Season 2 update.

Netcode

Improved a scenario where players who died while firing their last shots at an enemy were not registering damage to that enemy, despite auditory cues and confirmation through the crosshair.

Social

The new Quick Chat feature is now available, allowing players to select from predefined messages through an icon-based menu (e.g., “group up”or “Attacking A”) for quick communications with teammates post-XDefiant Season 2 update.

Audio

Major enhancements have been made to footstep and clothing sound effects in response to community feedback, including…
Balancing audio levels for enemy and ally footsteps during sprinting, running (standard movement), and walking (while ADS). Crouch-walking remains silent.
Enhancing the distances from which these sounds can be heard and ensuring more natural fading in and out with distance after the XDefiant Season 2 update.
Improving SFX quality generally, including footstep sounds that vary with movement speed and sound muffled when heard from different floors or rooms.
The player’s footsteps and clothing sound volume have been reduced. (For reference, any friendly players located 180 degrees behind are muted.)
Activated text-to-speech functionality in voice chat on Xbox platforms while rectifying volume settings across all platforms post-XDefiant Season 2 update.
Adjusted the cooldown conditions triggering a “deathstreak”VO line (dying multiple times without eliminating an enemy) from a threshold of three deaths within 30 seconds to four deaths within 60 seconds.
Fixed an issue that led to low game volume when Windows Spatial Sound was enabled.
Additional audio fixes have been implemented.

Miscellaneous

Players can now skip intro videos when launching the game post-XDefiant Season 2 patch update.
Added custom framerate limit options for various features (gameplay, menus, out-of-focus settings) to the Settings menu after the XDefiant Season 2 patch update.
Addressed visual and interface anomalies that occurred when PC players adjusted their window size while in Windowed mode after the XDefiant Season 2 patch update.
Ensured that graphics in 120Hz mode persist after reloading the game.
Fixed a bug that caused crashes when Sticky grenades were thrown near the Phantoms’ AEGIS shield post-XDefiant Season 2 patch update.
Various other crash fixes have been applied.

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