XDefiant July 31 update patch notes: Shotgun buffs, Ranked mode and Faction changes, more

An upcoming XDefiant update finally improves one of the weakest weapon classes, adds a new game mode to Ranked, and makes a few tweaks to Faction abilities.

On May 26, XDefiant players begged for a significant buff for “useless” shotguns, criticizing the weapons as too inaccurate and inconsistent bullet spread frequently resulted in missed shots.

While SMGs such as the MP7 shred through enemies up close and can also engage in some medium-range engagements, most shotguns can barely do anything past 10 meters. Ubisoft took those shortcomings into account and has responded accordingly across the board.

Meanwhile, XDefiant players have labeled Ranked mode as a “hilarious train wreck” due to the lack of a penalty for cheaters, games starting with full lobbies, and the absence of solo matchmaking. The development team addresses those concerns in the upcoming patch.

XDefiant July 31 full patch notes

Ubisoft

The full patch notes for XDefiant’s July 31 update can be found below:

Gameplay

XP Boosters will no longer count down when you’re killing time in the Practice Zone.

Increased vertical ADS sensitivity for controllers so that aiming up and down is more consistent with aiming left and right.

Game Modes

Tweaked the Ranked mode pre-game. Ranked matches now won’t start with less than 8 players. The Leave button has also been nixed from the map-voting screen to discourage players from dropping out (and Ranked matches will cancel if players manage to skedaddle during map voting).

CTF mode is now available in Ranked play.

Factions

Echelon’s Intel Suit now only reveals enemies through walls for the player wearing it. Allies will still see enemy locations on the minimap, though.

DedSec’s spiderbots were shocking target players before leaping on their faces, which wasn’t winning them fans. Now they only zap targets at the face-hugging stage of the relationship.

Weapons

The Rapid Fire Barrel and Muzzle Booster attachments were causing less recoil on some weapons (such as the ACR 6.8, and AK-47) when they were supposed to cause more recoil. That’s fixed.

Reduced the MP7’s magazine capacity from 35 to 30 and its rate of fire from 875 to 850 rounds per minute.  

Updated the old iron sights that were appearing on certain LVOA-C cosmetic skins.

It’s an extravaganza of shotgun balancing. Here’s the nitty-gritty of each weapon’s tuning:

• M870
  • Short range increased from 10m to 13m.
  • Medium range increased from 15m to 18m.
  • Sprint Out Time (sprint-to-shoot time) reduced from 250ms to 200ms.
  • Hipfire spread range reduced roughly 10 percent from 3.4-4.0 to 3.0-3.6 degrees.
  • Aim spread range reduced roughly 18 percent from 2.55-3.0 to 2.0-2.6 degrees.
  • Crouch hipfire spread range reduced from 2.89-3.4 to 2.7-3.2 degrees.
  • Crouch aim spread range reduced from 2.55-3.0 to 2.0-2.6 degrees.
  • Crouch slide, in air, and mantle hipfire spread reduced by 40 percent from 9.0-13.5 to 5.0-9.0 degrees.
  • Crouch slide, in air, and mantle aim spread range reduced from 3.4-3.4 to 2.5-3.0 degrees.
• AA-12
  • Short range increased from 7m to 10m.
  • Medium range increased from 10m to 13m.
  • Hipfire spread range reduced roughly 10 percent from 4.75-6.5 to 4.25-6.0 degrees.
  • Aim spread range reduced roughly 13 percent from 2.81-4.13 to 2.5-3.5 degrees.
  • Crouch hipfire spread range reduced from 4.04-5.53 to 3.5-5.0 degrees.
  • Crouch aim spread range reduced from 2.82-4.13 to 2.5-3.5 degrees.
  • Crouch slide, in air, and mantle hipfire spread reduced by 40 percent from 11.25-15.0 to 8.0-12.0 degrees.
  • Crouch slide, in air, and mantle aim spread range reduced from 3.75-3.75 to 3.0-3.5 degrees.  
• Double Barrel
  • Short range increased from 12m to 15m.
  • Medium range increased from 16m to 19m.
  • Reserve ammo increased from 12 to 16.
  • Crouch slide, in air, and mantle spread reduced by 40 percent from 11.13-15 to 7-11 degrees.
• Sawed-Off Shotgun
  • Reserve ammo increased from 6 to 10.
  • Sprint-to-shoot time reduced from 250ms to 150ms.
  • Crouch slide, in air, and mantle spread reduced by 40 percent, from 11.25-15.0 to 6.68-9.0 degrees.

The Pistol Grip and PEQ-15 Laser attachments for shotguns also had their spread Min/Max bonus reduced from 20 to 15 percent.

Finally, all shotgun reticle blooms (visualized by the vertical and horizontal hash marks of the HUD reticule) are now enlarged slightly while leaping.

Devices

Sticky grenades now stay put rather than disappearing if the deploying player kicks the bucket.

Miscellaneous

The cursor no longer shifts to the main display when playing on a second monitor in fullscreen mode with the “lock mouse to game window” option turned on.

Fixed an issue preventing players’ kill/death ratio from updating properly after completing matches.