Ubisoft is getting into the arena shooter game with its free-to-play title XDefiant, which currently features five playable classes known as “factions.” Each faction has unique passive, active, and ultra abilities. The current roster of classes covers a wide range of playstyles. Players who like the sneaky gameplay of The Spy in Team Fortress 2, Sombra from Overwatch 2, or even Cypher from Valorant will feel right at home with XDefiant’s Echelon faction.

The game’s classes are based on Ubisoft’s hit franchises, like Far Cry and Watch Dogs. The Echelon comes from the espionage-themed Splinter Cell games, which is why the class’ kit is all about stealthily tracking and eliminating enemies. This faction can provide excellent value to any team in specific maps, as it can take down the enemy backline undetected. However, flanking and assassinating enemies may be difficult for inexperienced players.

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The Echelon Faction’s High Risk, High Reward Gameplay in XDefiant

XDefiant's Echelon Skill Set

The spies of the Echelon faction are for those who like flanking and lurking in other FPS games. The class’ passive trait, Low Profile, makes the player undetectable on the enemy minimap. Intel Suit, one of Echelon’s active abilities, reveals the last known locations of enemies to one’s team. Its second active ability, Digital Ghillie Suit, makes the player nearly invisible to enemies. Moving and aiming, however, makes them more visible. Echelon’s ultra ability, Sonar Goggles, is similar to Bloodhound’s ultimate in Apex Legends, as it reveals enemies through walls in real time. This skill also gives the player a powerful Third Echelon 5.7 pistol.

At first glance, this faction’s passive trait seems overpowered, as having information on enemy locations is vital to success in some of the best FPS games. Being invisible on enemy radars makes it significantly easier for Echelon players to flank. The Digital Ghillie Suit lets one slip past inexperienced enemies, as long as they keep their distance in open areas or stand still in tight corridors. Its tracking abilities, the intel suit, and sonar goggles give out enemy information for allies to act on. With this set of skills, XDefiant players don’t even need to shoot their guns to give their team a significant tactical advantage.

Getting that tactical advantage, however, isn’t easy. For one, XDefiant players need to learn all the places on each map where they can find cover. The Digital Ghillie Suit offers limited invisibility and only lasts nine seconds before it goes on cooldown, so players shouldn’t rely on this when traversing the whole map. They need to be smart and use it only when jumping from one piece of cover to another. Echelon players must be patient, too, as they need to reveal multiple enemies to get the most value out of their Intel Suit.

This faction may be challenging for new players, as it has no defensive or self-healing skills. Echelons often go into the enemy backlines alone, so a small misstep can cause multiple opponents to gang up on them. They can’t escape these situations by teleporting out like Overwatch 2's Sombra or Valorant’s Yoru. Careless players will likely get killed a lot without providing any real value to their team.

The Secrets of Splinter Cell's Echelon Faction

Sam Fisher stares at the camera while his night vision goggles are engaged

Members of this faction, according to XDefiant’s official description, are super spies of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Echelon Initiative. They specialize in information gathering and sabotage instead of direct firefights. The agents in XDefiant are likely part of the Third or Fourth Echelon, as evidenced by the weapon they get from their ultimate ability. These are preceded by the Second and First Echelons, which the NSA created during and after the Cold War, respectively.

It wasn’t until the Third Echelon that the agency started its own covert operations program known as Splinter Cell. Agents under this project are trained in physically obtaining intelligence in locations that are impossible to reach through passive means. Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher, was the program’s very-first field agent. He continues his work in the Fourth Echelon, which was established in 2012 as a counter-terrorism unit.

The Echelon’s skill set and backstory make it an attractive choice for players who want to feel like a secret agent. However, this power fantasy comes with a difficult skill curve because players must have perfect timing, extensive map knowledge, and patience in order to succeed. Its lack of defensive skills makes it suboptimal for Zone Control maps, too. With practice and preparation, however, an Echelon can give their team a seemingly unfair advantage by constantly feeding allies with enemy location info and consistently getting stealth kills.

XDefiant is currently in development.

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