Armed with a focus on competitive play, XDefiant Ranked offers a much more competitive experience in Ubisoft's shooter. In this guide, you'll find everything there is to know about XDefiant Ranked including the ranks, rewards, maps, modes, and more.
However, that's not all you'll need to reach high ranks in this competitive mode. Understanding the XDefiant meta will also come in handy. So, grab all the best XDefiant loadouts right now and start practicing.
XDefiant Ranked Explained
Unlocked at level 40, XDefiant Ranked is a four-vs-four competitive mode that sees players competing to win matches to gain Ranked Points to progress through the seven ranks and earn exclusive rewards each season.
While a trial of Ranked Play was available at launch, the full XDefiant competitive mode debuted in Season 1 after much anticipation.
Though it will be skipped during its debut Season, XDefiant Ranked will feature a one-week 'warm-up period' in future seasons where players can get used to the new content before Ranked becomes available.
Ranked rules and matchmaking
Ranked Play in XDefiant follows a slightly different ruleset and matchmaking parameters than the standard casual mode.
Firstly, Ranked matchmaking is based on your:
- Competitive rank (RP)
- Latency and region
- Party size
- Input device/platform
Broadly, Ranked features skill-based matchmaking that looks to pair you with players of a similar skill level, in a similar party size, and preferably with low latency. This is to provide the highest quality matches for a more competitive experience, unlike casual modes.
Ranks Bronze to Ruby can matchmake within 15 levels of the party average. Emerald and Diamond matchmaking span -15 levels all the way up to +2000 RP. Meanwhile, Legends players can play with others within -2000 RP of the party average or other Legends players.
Leaving or being kicked from a match (such as for being AFK) is considered a loss, reducing your RP and potentially resulting in your account being suspended or banned.
Importantly, ranks Silver and above will reset to Silver 1-10 at the start of each season. For example, if you're in Gold, you're likely to be placed in Silver 3-5, whereas a Diamond player can expect to be reset to Silver 7-10 at the start of a new season.
XDefiant ranks
The XDefiant ranks are as follows:
- Bronze
- Silver
- Gold
- Ruby
- Emerald
- Diamond
- Legends
Every rank has ten levels to progress through besides Legends. For example, to progress from Bronze to Silver, you must earn enough RP to pass Bronze 1, Bronze 2, Bronze 3, Bronze 4, Bronze 5, and so on before you then reach Silver 1.
XDefiant Ranked rewards
The rewards for competing in XDefiant Ranked depend on your rank and will refresh each Season. During Season 1, the Ranked rewards are as follows:
- Paintballer Gloss rare player card - Bronze
- Paintballer rare Seleste skin - Silver
- Paintballer rare M4A1 skin - Gold
- Paintballer rare Green skin - Ruby
- Paintballer rare L115 skin - Emerald
- Paintballer rare Kaptan skin - Diamond
- Paintballer epic MP7 skin - Legends
As you can expect, the rewards generally improve the higher rank you reach during a season. In Season 1, Bronze players will only receive a measly player card. However, reach Silver and you'll get a skin for Libertad character Seleste.
Though these rewards change with each Season, you can expect it to feature weapon skins, character skins, and other profile customization options in return for your hard work.
XDefiant Ranked maps
The available Ranked maps are:
- Arena – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Attica Heights – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Clubhouse (Season 1) - Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- DUMBO – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Echelon HQ – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Emporium – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Liberty – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Mayday – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Nudleplex – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Pueblito – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Rockefeller (Season 1) - Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Showtime – Domination, Occupy, Hot Shot
- Daytona (Season 1) – Escort, Zone
- Meltdown – Escort, Zone
- Midway – Escort, Zone
- Times Square – Escort, Zone
- Zoo – Escort, Zone
Ranked features all the standard maps in rotation right now as it supports both ‘Progression’ and ‘Arena’ modes. This means you'll have a large number of maps to learn, which is only set to grow as time goes on and more Seasons are released.
XDefiant Ranked game modes
XDefiant's Ranked mode features a more restricted, objective-based playlist. Here are all of the available modes and the differences between their normal counterparts:
- Domination - Each team plays on either side for five minutes
- Occupy - Zones move in a predetermined order
- Zone Control - Both teams take turns attacking and defending
- Escort - No changes
Modes like Hot Shot and Team Deathmatch are not available in Ranked, as these are intended as more laid-back, casual experiences, whereas Ranked focuses on intense, competitive matches that require strong teamwork. However, there are differences between the Ranked and casual versions of these modes that you need to be aware of.
Now you know all there is to know about the challenging XDefiant Ranked mode, it's time to start making a name for yourself. If you're struggling to increase your rank to reach the higher tiers, then you should familiarize yourself with the ever-expanding XDefiant gun list and Factions. After all, knowing your enemy is the first step to countering them.