XDefiant: 10 Tips For Playing As Dedsec

Summary

• Dedsec requires 400,000 XP to unlock, but is versatile and suitable for various play-styles.
• Dedsec's spider-bot can hinder enemies and gather intel, while Lockout and Hijack are situational abilities.
• Dedsec's passive ability quickly recharges devices, making grenades a potent weapon.

The Dedsec Faction in XDefiant is the only one that isn't available immediately upon opening the game; Dedsec requires gaining 400,000 XP in order to unlock (or you can, of course, buy them). While that might seem like a ton of work, it isn't going to take you too long to get, in the grand scheme of things.

XDefiant: 10 Coolest Skins In The Battle Pass

These are the best skins you'll find in XDefiant's Battle Pass.

Dedsec is one of the more formidable factions in XDefiant, capable of hampering enemy movement and combat ability and even completely deactivating enemy abilities altogether. That being said, they can be a bit more complex than other factions to use to their fullest potential.

1 Make The Most Of Their Versatility

Dedsec Works With What You've Got

One of the great things about Dedsec is that they're incredibly versatile. While some things might work a little better than others, it's a faction that can be used to suit pretty much every play-style, provided you're willing to use your abilities a little bit differently to accommodate it.

It's perfectly plausible for a Dedsec player to run around with a double-barrel shotgun in one game and a marksman rifle in the next. This makes them a particularly good faction to use in Escort, where the evolving situation might demand different weapons brought at different times.

2 Use Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Bot

Dedsec Comes With New Friends

Every Dedsec player has a best friend, and that best friend is their spider-bot. When deployed, the Spider-bot will automatically begin roaming the battlefield, looking for some poor, poor soul to facehug.

Once facehugged, the enemy cannot aim down sights and can barely see or move, all while taking a small amount of continuous damage. It's a great item to use, and it's a terrible time to fight against.

3 Know Your Ultra Ultra Timing

Get The Most Out Of Your Ultra

Lockout is Dedsec's Ultra Ability, and it can range anywhere from being outrageously effective to hardly affecting the outcome of the match at all. Lockout prevents enemies from using their Ability and Ultra. While the wording of this might make it seem like it only stops enemies from activating them in the first place, it does, in fact, cancel enemy abilities that are already in use, too.

XDefiant: How To Unlock All Faction Characters

Learn how to fill out your character roster in XDefiant.

This means that Echelon players currently using their Sonar Goggles, Phantoms in their bubble shields, Cleaners with their Flamethrowers, and so on will immediately cancel their abilities. This goes for all enemy abilities, too, including any Spider-bots roaming the hallways or Shield Walls hiding cowering snipers. Time the use of this ability well, and your enemy is just some person with a weapon and nothing more.

4 Use Your Spider For Intel

The Spider Sees Beyond Your Mortal Coil

One important note about your Spider-bot is that it is quite a good little intel machine, as well. You can see a little Spider-bot symbol through walls wherever the little thing crawls, and that symbol changes from a spider to a few lightning bolts once it's got someone by the face.

Keep an eye on the Spider-bot, and it can reveal some enemies that you might not have known were there otherwise. Even if the Spider-bot gets shot before it gets to the enemy, the fact that it got destroyed tips you off to an enemy presence just as well.

5 How To Remove Enemy Spiders

The Spider-Bot's Weakness

Now if you find yourself in a situation where a Spider-bot has, in fact, hugged your face, there's (probably) no need to panic. While the effect only lasts for a few seconds normally, it can be shortened by getting a friend to shoot you in the face, thus getting rid of the Spider-bot.

Don't have any friends? There's a solution to that, too! Look straight down and shoot at your own feet, and that Spiderbot will be off in no time flat. It might not look entirely rational, but it gets the job done, and no one looks rational when a spider is on their face, anyway.

6 Hijack Is Situational

It Isn't The Best For Every Situation

Hijack is similar to Lockout in that it's situational, it's just situational in a different way. Lockout is useful in every match, while Hijack is only useful depending on the abilities being used by the enemy. Hijack does exactly what it sounds like it does: it hijacks enemy abilities (not Ultras) and makes them your own.

While this is useful when enemies are using things like Libertad's El Remedio and the Phantom's Shield Walls, it's not particularly useful against things like Molotovs and Intel Goggles. In a lot of situations, you'll be better off using the Spider-bot, but that's not to say that Hijack is useless.

7 Use Your Grenades

Seriously, Throw Grenades All The Time

The Passive Ability of Dedsec recharges whatever device you have equipped, whether it's some type of grenade, a proximity charge, or whatever else. This is a tremendously underrated ability and quite possibly the best Passive Ability in the game.

XDefiant: Every Game Mode, Ranked

From capturing the point to raking up kills, we rank all the game modes in XDefiant to see which is the best.

It hardly takes any time at all to recharge your device, meaning you can throw multiple grenades a minute. Get good at placing them, whether that means cooking frag grenades or tossing sticky grenades into just the right spot, and you'll be grabbing quite a few extra kills. In Escort or Occupy, where enemies are often clumped into easy-to-predict spots, you are going to ruin their collective day.

8 Play Unpredictably

Terrorizer

While Dedsec can be perfectly suited to do just about anything, they are most suited to absolutely terrorize the enemy team. Their Spider-bot is best used at close range and from unexpected angles, and being close enough to capitalize on the Spider-bots' chaos means bringing an ACR, MDR, or an SMG is a brilliant option.

Work the edges of the map and get off some creative flanks while the rest of your team draws fire from the more expected route, and you'll be a hacker to be feared.

9 Have Teammates Bring Spiders

So Many Legs

While it certainly doesn't make for a balanced team, one of the more effective and soul-crushing tactics to use against your opponents would be bringing three or more Dedsec players with Spider-bots at the same time. This would mean that there would be a Spider-bot out hugging someone's face just about 100 percent of the time.

After a few minutes of this, a lot of them will be checking the floor for a Spider-bot much of the time instead of having their weapons ready for other players, meaning there are going to be a lot of easy kills the rest of the match.

10 Really Get In Your Opponent's Heads

Be What They Fear, And Use It

Apart even from Spider-bots, Dedsec seems ready-made for psychological warfare. All of their abilities are either irritating to fight against on their own or limit the enemies' ability to do something of their own.

This can really dampen the morale of an enemy team, particularly over a longer-style match like Escort. It can erode them from within, making them easier to deal with in every situation.

XDefiant: 10 Tips For Playing As Echelon

Learn how to get the most out of the Echelon faction in XDefiant.