XDefiant's BEST Faction? In-Depth Look At "The Cleaners" & The Results Will Surprise You...

[@NerosCinema]

HELLO NOTIFICATION SQUAD! Hope you all enjoy the video

[@Cozy_Shoko]

As always❤

[@F1RST_BLUD1]

I'm still playing mw3. Don't hate on me. Hate the publisher and their community

[@Cozy_Shoko]

@@F1RST_BLUD1 are you having any fun?

[@F1RST_BLUD1]

@@Cozy_Shoko yes even if sbmm and cheaters are here idgaf about them

[@Cozy_Shoko]

@@F1RST_BLUD1 well at least your having fun 😊

[@YourGuySmallFry]

The passive is good for countering enemies who duck behind cover after you shoot them a few times. Now their healing is delayed and it gives you a good chance to rush them.

[@jacob818tanner]

It seems to get me a lot of (from the grave) kills too and assist kills. Definitely not a faction to sleep on

[@reg1990]

The Incendiary bullets make using marksman rifles a lot more forgiving since the extra damage lets them 2-shot non-Phantoms anywhere to the body (instead of needing at least 1 torso shot to do it) and lets them 2-shot Phantoms with only 1 torso shot needed (normally they need 2). So I would recommend using Cleaners while leveling up the marksman rifles until you get the heavy barrel.

[@E-Money719]

There's a slight counter to enemy Cleaners' fire damage. If you crouch while taking fire damage, it will end the fire ticks early. Unfortunately it doesn't immediately end the fire damage (you still take 1 or 2 ticks of damage), but it can save you in certain situations. It also only works on the incendiary bullets in particular, it won't save you from a flamethrower hit or incinerator drone.

[@NerosCinema]

Wait wtf lol why would crouching do anything?

[@NovaTheVagabondBeatz]

@@NerosCinemastop drop and roll?

[@TheSpawnTrapper]

Libertad also naturally kind of counters it because you start healing immediately.

[@d8l835]

Lol that can't be true

[@AdrianDWolfe]

@@NovaTheVagabondBeatz stop drop and roll is indeed the correct answer 😆

[@naivet]

Here are my thoghts after being a cleaner only most of my 90 levels: Pros: - Drone is good both in offense and defense - Fire bomb is the same but more for making plays rather than controlling a zone, it could work for that too tho. * Note: Fire bullets deal the first 2 damage almost instantly so when you see the enemy hp bar it will only go down by 6 hp afterwards * - Fire bullets work best with SVD (1 shot headshot without worrying about the range, unless they are phantoms ofc. The burn damage unless it's from far away makes for an instant kill. Also when you headshot someone from really far away you can just hide and wait a sec for them to die, so it's good against snipers), MK 20 (you can use focus on fire rate and still get the 2 shot kill on anyone, unless you shoot the phantom in the lower part of the body) and Tac 50 (If you use the heavy barrel you can 1 shot anyone except phantoms by shooting them in the hand) - Fire bullets are also great enemies that would usually get away with low hp or close gunfights when the enemy lives with 6 hp or less. - The flamethrower is situational, I think the range is actually 12-13 meters. You can use it to destroy enemies in closed spaces, to cancel other ults (like phantom's ult for example) and also to surprise the enemies who don't expect it (going around a corner for example) Cons: - Drone has a static height, so you can't use it well unless you are in the same level or avobe the enemy - Fire bomb is close rangeand has a wind-up animation - Flamethrower is only for close range. The first part of the animation is not actually in sync, so when you start using it right away after pressing ult it wont burn until a second has passed. - Libertad can get away with low hp sometimes because of her passive healing, and phantom just says "I don't care about your passive" most of the times because of his +20 hp In my opinion is not the best faction, but the weapons that I metioned are really strong on cleaners. And if your playstyle revolves around controlling zones it may be really good for you, that's the reason why I use it.

[@bumdumumb229]

I honestly chose cleaners because I’m a fan of The Division

[@NerosCinema]

They have the best announcer imo

[@vanquish421]

​@@NerosCinemaThem and Libertad, for sure.

[@NotGettinHatch]

Same, its prolly the only reason anyone plays cleaners💀

[@reapersasmr5483]

​@MXLBLR22 for sure .. the division is a iconic franchise atleast div 1 is a iconic game

[@geraldtorres5339]

Literally the same 😂

[@RegulayGuy_1996]

That fire bomb is a nightmare for me when I play the obj

[@MichelangeloBeats]

When I play obj like occupy I just run the shotgun so I at least always trade with that fire bomb trash

[@Tonyhotrod69]

That 10% range hit really affects shotguns, pistols & some SMGs since their maximum damage range is so piss to begin with.

[@udavidzzz]

XDEFIANT is so refreshing

[@F1RST_BLUD1]

Ubisoft: I'm about to end this man's whole gaming career

[@WarKlutch]

Okay

[@iTzIronPedro]

Libertad for life never using another faction

[@xVongolaXth]

What kinda heals you're using? I prefer the AoE heals.. You can outheal a 3-4 vs 1 fight and heal others and heal even tho you're not there anymore and combined with others that are using it from your team, you can hold everything for minutes or forever haha.

[@MissBeloved__]

the liberalz!!!!

[@stevegoose6705]

Cleaners announcer is the most entertaining THEYRE TAKIN THA ZONEEE

[@JackDaniels350]

The Xclusive Ace has a full breakdown video of how the fire damage works on the cleaners.

[@atropos0754]

Good stuff Nero😀Thanks for covering X😀👍🏻

[@Quackra]

I'll give a some ideas for scenarios that passive that could be good for: 1. The sniper you mentioned for a Phantom 2. The Marksman build with a few targets could actually be useful if you need to take cover after hitting them 3. Almost kill and enemy and die with them being low enough 4. Shotguns to hit multiple targets and weave in and out while your drone is down, obviously it's risky but can work I bet. I bet the AA-12 would benefit the most with this. That's all I can think of right now.

[@ChainedGraboid]

Thanks for all the effort you put into this. Valuable information to have for sure.

[@HeartInLight]

Another huge point on the cleaners. Is the fire bullet ticks also delay regeneration. Which helps your team push the point ect. Unless they have a healer, it can keep them weak for longer allowing your team to capitalize on you going ham with the fire.

[@ChickenRiceAndBeans951]

I’d like to see Theater Mode in XDefiant

[@ChickenRiceAndBeans951]

Nero what are your thoughts?

[@robert907]

Fire rounds make m16 significantly better because of the fire delay one between burst. Allows natural use and advantage of fire rounds without doing anything stupid like shooting slower.

[@NerosCinema]

Great point, and the M16 is already really good

[@livewia]

@@NerosCinema but does the fire tick damage even kick in in between bursts? and to the point you made (great vid btw), isn't it better just to spam burst fire anyway?

[@bookofeli4640]

It's so refreshing to see nero having fun instead of being extra sweaty and doing challenges

[@WaynerTheGamer]

Play each Specialist = Get Well Rounded. Plus Daily Challenges from Specialist XP is 😎

[@switch2086]

The cleaners with the MK marksmen’s rifle makes it a 2 shot kill. Because each shot does 49 dmg. 49 x 2 = 98. So you only need 1 tic of burn damage. That’s the only time I use the cleaners and it’s awesome.

[@MDEGlorious]

Love the XDefiant videos bro keep it up🧡

[@vixiliannebrightsun81]

I think the major benefits of the fire bullets can come at longer ranges where you manage to get a few shots off before someone ducks behind cover. They could potentially die due to the fire damage, but if they don’t, that lingering damage is gonna MASSIVELY delay their health regeneration and make it much easier for you to close the gap and finish them off

[@Kayze330]

The fire bullets help make both marksman rifles a consistent 2-shot since they do 49 damage to most of the body. I believe the SVD does like 98 to the head, so in these situations, you only need 1 tick of burn, which is pretty quick and will meaningfully change your ttk. It's also good for the magnum since each bullet is like 48 or 49 damage. Phantoms do make all of this irrelevant tho but these are the most substantial interactions I think the fire bullets have.

[@Chasodey]

DMRs. 49 dmg per lower body shot. 98 dmg per headshot. First tick of fire dmg comes after 0.150 second after the bullet hit flesh. Now you can see why cleaners can utilise DMRs like no one else before heavy barrel attachment

[@CCM1199]

Thats because the two shot mechanic plus the fire will kill targets. however the M44 sniper rifle is the only sniper rifle that will one shot a phantom with no issues

[@sdx3918]

They also have the best announcer by far. I love how blunt and sarcastic he gets at times.

[@FieldsofCold]

It feels good to actually be playing the game Nero is covering again

[@704ALS]

Cleaner fire bullets also help track of invisible echelon

[@pikik100]

Cleaners are the most fun with Firebomb. I mostly play Escort, and while defending, just running into the package and using it on the whole enemy team is both satisfying and hilarious.

[@Extirpo]

Cleaners + MK20 Marksman = dope.

[@Redacted_Actual_]

The fire damage has worked in my favor the best with marksman rifles over long range. Especially with enemies running away or going behind cover.

[@drekarus8113]

Thank you for testing this

[@josetomascamposrobledano4618]

Assassins creed will be the biggest boom of this game. Ezio with an AK will be legendary!

[@musicmancampbell]

I think I do have the most time in with the cleaners. Honestly something that I noticed (hopefully I am not the only one) is that the tracers from the incendiary rounds are more red. I can see them better and I have been able to make better adjustments to my shoots on the fly. I have also been very impressed how many times that 8 points of damage has gotten a kill either after I die, or when an opponent manages to bunny hop behind some cover. Happens very frequently for me.

[@BurntToast6940]

if you hit two desert eagle shots to the upper chest within its range it perfectly stacks the fire damage with the rate of fire to do 10 damage instead of 8 which is enough to kill on top of the 90 from the bullets

[@TrueBlaze_]

The fire damage is to keep people from being aggressive/guarentee that your teammate will kill them since damage over time prevents people from healing unless they are libertad.

[@gnarface3831]

You should've talked about the weapons that really benefit from that extra tick of damage since their shots land you just under 100. Also there's usually around 2 gunfights per match where that fire damage gets me a kill after I died and that's super satisfying. The assists because the enemies are taking longer to heal are way higher too and seeing those assists is also satisfying

[@ronwashington5417]

Fire bullets turns the the MK 20 SSR into a guaranteed 2 shot kill every time.

[@YourGuySmallFry]

Emp grenades are still not unlocking for me and I've destroyed lots of equipment with grenades for the challenge but it says 0.

[@shaulbabylegsmaloney9854]

I didn’t even know there was a challenge for it I just looked and they were unlocked already.

[@Jim_RavenClaw13]

one other thing since the regen of health is slow, getting shot with fire bullets makes it even slower to regen i think thats another benefit for them it keeps the player out of battle for a bit longer and keeps them is weaker position to get killed

[@CCM1199]

The cleaners are really potent with certain weapons in the game. I can name some of the weapons that synergizes with the cleaners: Mk 220 SSR, SVD (both weapons with two shots and burn will kill), The M44 Sniper Rifle (allows a one shot kill against Phantoms) and the M16A4. Now for the sidearms: The 686 magnum and D50 (will two shot up close and 3 shot kill from distance). I personally go with the M16A4 since I have mine set up for movement plus it shoots like a laser once set up right.

[@YourGuySmallFry]

I thought cleaners were the weakest faction for a while until I used them and I was like 😳.

[@synblood]

The cleaners are real good for aggressive play I think they allow you to challenge more comfortable because of the fire bullets and the drone is really good to clear off objectives.

[@Outlawproductions582]

The cleaners go well with shotguns and Snipers since on the sniper a hitmarker the majority of the time will cause the status to eliminate them

[@Zeptil]

I enjoyed playing cleaners a lot when the game first came out, especially on a map like arena but as I kept playing the game it was harder to find a good time to actually fire bomb more than one person and sometimes I would never see a good opportunity to flamethrower. That's as someone who played a TON of overwatch so I'm used to this kind of ability stuff, but I started to play the Libertad and Echelon more and feel like I get way more out of both.

[@YourGuySmallFry]

I think it's weird that they're the only faction in the game with a downside to their passive. It seems unnecessary.

[@NerosCinema]

Like I say, the downside doesn't seem to exist. Use any gun in the firing range, go back as far as you can, even into the hallway, and see if there is any fallout range. I can't find any

[@he4dy122]

Ace caculated ~ 10% dmg range loss. But even if that is the case it doesnt really matter for the most time imo.

[@SGSMusic.]

@@NerosCinema if zzou like a even bigger gamechanger, go plaz hotshot with M249 and the last mag attached. the quick reload is bugged when you are hotshot, and you just instantly reload the full mag. you can litterally shoot without a stop. takes like 1 ms to relaod

[@avengeme6972]

The firebomb bails me out of tough spots like being one-shot or needing to reload but the incendiary rounds are just a net-gain in k/d because ill get a handful of kills that i otherwise wouldnt get with other classes

[@zaidkidwai7831]

Great thing about this game. Can use any faction, and any gun, and still have a great time.

[@cutieeva536]

Keep in mind as well, that the fire damage delays Regen and helps farm assists :)

[@T4SelNiNO]

I feel like if I'm using cleaners and the right gun attachments and I lose a gun fight, 50% of the time I still get the kill whilst I'm in the death screen thanks to that added fire damage.

[@emperornike]

Nero, what would be your dream faction

[@chrishenslick5482]

I want a fast knife class with a one shot melee. Maybe assassin's creed?

[@Krydolph]

@@chrishenslick5482 I would like that I think! I love bashing people down with melee! The get 6 melee kills daily I often complete before I realize it is there :)

[@nahCyzar0520]

A good way to buff fire bullets is to add initial damage which I believe for that to be balanced is to nerf burn damage (the damage overtime).

[@Tegridyvs]

The fire bullets are actually pretty brutal. I can’t tell you how many times after I’ve won a gun fight with barely any health left and that burn finishes me off.

[@vanquish421]

Xclusive Ace did extensive testing and confirmed there is a 10% damange range pentalty for this faction.

[@bakes1324]

The flamethrower is very lackluster compared to the other ultimates though. Liberdad and phantom ultras can win games by taking objectives while the same can be said for deadsec preventing these ultimates from taking over at the end of a round. Echelon ultimate gives you so much information and power to stop enemy flanks and pushes. But the flamethrower is just very situational in most modes.

[@JollyTobi]

Firebomb is honestly OP... and I love it!

[@mateomorales2129]

Big tip for cleaners . Enable damage numbers so you can track them while they are ticking from the fire rounds

[@AdrianDWolfe]

Oh lawd, this is huge

[@gumsterify]

lol prob should be patched

[@WhatsTheDylBr0]

Question for ya, if the fire damage doesn’t kick in until after you’re done full auto shooting at somebody, if you do this to a Libertad, will her passive sort of cancel out the extra damage since she heals up so quickly?

[@ethanp1348]

The Incinerator Drone is my favorite ability in the game, so I use the Cleaners a lot. But yeah, the fire bullets seem pretty unlikely to make a difference. I think I've only had them finish an enemy off once.

[@snazzypants57]

This is a great video and I love the insight. I noticed that the barrel extension (which supposedly increases short and mid range damage by 10%) does not equate to any more damage done when testing in firing range…seems weird to me that the attachment is actually doing nothing…

[@epicgamerzfail4575]

the only time I can think the fire bullets/-10% range being an active downside is with shotguns. In my experience, using cleaners with shotguns just makes things more miserable, but that might in part just be because how bad 2/3 of the shotguns are. And the double barrel is consistent enough where the fire won't really help you either.

[@FlyinJMan]

Cleaner main here. The fire bullets are placebos. Sure, 8 damage can be clutch but overall it’s going to be very situational. It annoys me when people whine about them yet if they watch their game back they will only die to the fire ticks maybe 1-3 times throughout the entire match. Not much can be done that wouldn’t make it too strong or cheese tactics. Fire Bomb is basically a suicide bomb. Rush the enemy around the corner and hope you can drop it before you die. Powerful but limited in usage. Drone has collision issues. When it works, it’s great. But if you don’t launch it from the right spot it will crash into an invisible wall. Or you will get shot trying to use it. Cleaners are niche. Not the best but I still prefer them over the others.

[@christownsend552]

The factions/abilities are honestly fairly balanced , and work in a kinda rock/paper/scissors scenario. IF you see a ppl running phatoms, use the cleaners, if you see cleaners, use Libertad, if you see Libertad or esceleon , use deadsec , deadsec is the only one that doesn't have a solid counter to it but their abilities are are countered by emp grenades, and or just shoot the spider drone

[@dustinliam7878]

Gotta add, if you can get your Deadsec ult before the enemy, and hold on to it, it's the best counter to Echelon goggles/Phantom orb. Shuts it down immediately, and wastes their ult

[@christownsend552]

@@dustinliam7878 I forgot that lol ty

[@mktrill]

The fire bullets are nice when people like to hide behind convert after you hit then, I know I have a few seconds more to go after then before they start healing

[@bobmihothe3rd]

I use this faction mainly for the fire bomb. Gets me out of sticky close quarter situations and to clear out capture points

[@metrohunter8673]

Honestly the cleaners are really good especially with the marksman rifles, for example the SVD if you hit someone in the head it does 98 damage then about 150 milliseconds after it hits the targets head it's a guaranteed kill for 100 health enemies. For the phantoms 2 hits to take down as usual and I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed but the description for the svd is a little bit wrong, the svd doesn't have a higher rate of fire than the mk 20, the svd has 185rpm and the mk 20 has 200rpm so keep that in mind and honesty I hope they fix that because that confused me greatly.

[@tazzo_xy1938]

Honestly you shouldve watched xclusiveAce his video before posting this tbh. He argues a few points you don't go into. Fire bullets can be awesome on certain guns and playstyles for sure. Not my cup of tea either but they can be incredible

[@matthewbackhouse6309]

Think on the whole they’ve done a very good job balancing the factions! I’m rubbish with the fire drone, I never seem to get kills with it but heck if someone uses it near me to die all the time, definitely a skill issue on my part 😂

[@austin_fenix]

I like the fire bullets coz in some situations if an enemy gets away or beats me in a gunfight, i still mught get the kill if their health is low enough

[@360DJR]

It also stops people from regenning health I believe meaning you get more assists and your team gets easy kills.

[@BAMABOYSLIFE]

If you use the D50 in the firing range you can hit the last target with every faction except the cleaners

[@Outlawproductions582]

Playing cleaner is extremely fun definitely my Favorite

[@xVongolaXth]

How do you guys like the time to charge ultimates? Like.. Sometimes there are matches where you don't even have an ultimate while the pros that sweat and rush the noobies can have several. Is that fair?

[@a2daj83]

the fire bullets are mega-bait

[@Outlawproductions582]

Its made for slow fire weapons like Shotguns and snipers i feel this is intentional to prevent the game becoming overly toxic like call of duty is

[@kylestinson8794]

They are all good really, my complaint is invisible needs to be more invisible lol, throw down shield is the most reliable thing in the game, personally like it better than wall hacks, healing feels underwhelming when using it yet miss it when I don't have it, fire bomb is super fun

[@ervinjamesnavales7428]

Cleaners Firebomb Kamikaze > Phantom using barriers, shield, Aegis Cleaners Firebomb Kamikaze > Libertad using Biovida and El Remedio Cleaners Flamethrower > Libertad using Medico Supremo Cleaners Incendiary ammo > Echelon using invisibility Cleaners Incendiary ammo > Dedsec Spiderbot Cleaners Incendiary Ammo + Tac-50 > All Factions Dedsec Lockout > Cleaners abilities I'm a Cleaners Main

[@xenoslayer360]

You should review each of the factions.

[@trembal1941]

DedSec the best but slept on. If you know, YOU KNOW 😤 most clutch faction period.

[@ultima00005]

I only play cleaner and libertad. I’ll only use the other factions for daily challenges.

[@Karma_Miguel]

Green and Beto are my two favorite operators. that's all I have to say.

[@CodBoomer18]

I’m waiting on the BO6 video Nero!

[@MonoPod_DD]

Wait if one shot starts a new sequence of 4 ticks of 2 damage, wouldn't that mean that you essentially get 2 more damage per shot? Unless the first tick actually takes more time than it takes for the next bullet to hit and so on. But if that's actually how it works, I wouldnt mind a +2 damage per shot. That'd mean ~14 extra damage since the average shots to kill is ~7, PLUS the 6 extra damage after you stop firing from the 3 remaining ticks of 2 damage. An extra 20 damage to cover a Phantom's extra 20 health😲

[@kjak94]

Having a decently fun time playing XDefiant, but i went back to play black ops cold war for the first time in a while and having a lot more fun. It''s crazy how for being a 4 year old game, it feels head and shoulders better than XDefiant, which still feels sort of half baked.

[@chrishenslick5482]

When i was first playing XDefiant those fire bullets had a psychological effect on me. Definitely just wanted to find a place and hide to heal up. By the time i realized i was actually barely hurt i was stopped and hiding. So, still good for area denial due to not wanting to push when you see yourself on fire and your character screaming. Good players will know better, but just saying.

[@CrimsoniteSP]

The Cleaners are definitely for the "lab rats" of this game. You have to figure out mathematically when that 2-8 tick fire damage will come in to play. There's definitely a few niche scenarios and certain weapons become undeniably better with the cleaners. I will say, those fire rounds really help at putting more clutter on the enemies screen. For whatever reason when you get set on fire, you get fire particles indicating such. And it can be distracting, so much so that could actually be a factor to winning gun fights.

[@patmorgan6518]

The see thru walls thing is my favorite shit is fire

[@hondaboy_jim2514]

Libertad isn't affected form the fire bullets.. but i have a hard time using them

[@bussinboots6616]

The fire bullets for me are 100% good with m16 and the marksman rifles and the m44. And for players who play more and have semi better aim it is nice having the dmg mixed with the headshot like the mdr does 17dmg or 18 on attachments and one headshot does 25 ( with attachments ) so you make a 6 shot weapon to 5 if you get one headshot. Which is nice since the weapon is ASSSSSSSSS

[@920ss]

These snipers are cheesier than a quesadilla with double queso,holy shit

[@gabrielcisneros3426]

I don’t mean to compare this to COD… but I love the cleaners, only because Firebreak from BO3 and BO4 was my favorite operator of all time who also had the flamethrower 💯🔥

[@Doey135]

I see Nero has been watching Xclusive Ace

[@jimjones4976]

Phantom is easily the best class in the game. I have 10+ hours on every class and no ability on a 30 second cool down is better than 20 extra health every fight. Mag Barrier wins every 1v1 and is great for holding objectives. Ult is insane for holding objectives. Huge objective utility and 20 extra health every gun fight. Hard to argue against phantoms

[@ned3173]

I like the bullets mainly cuz of sweats that hop around all game I get so many kills after they movement their way behind a wall then die to the fire bullets

[@kerplunk_862]

This new class thing are basically modern TF2 pyro

[@Boyakaboyaka2]

Cleaners are good but phantoms are a must if you wanna win . Obj is key

[@syad911]

i find +20hp and deploying shields works better for my style in PC, survival matters more than more damage. and yes, i completed all challenges in the game, i know them all and had my preference already.

[@hybrid7594]

Phantom shield is underrated, ESPECIALLY AS HOTSHOT.

[@zanzeroth]

I've never chosen a faction because of their passive. I choose based on their use ability. I love the fire bomb, nothing feels better than runing up on a point and getting a multi kill. The drone feels meh. Like the range and angles don't match up for me. It also feels like ot takes way to long to deploy alot of the time.

[@Luke-vg6ow]

The fire damage shouldn't give hit markers. I'm here thinking I'm landing my shots where its actually just fire damage. Finishing a fight wondering how 10 hit markers was 20 damage. Didn't know passive abilities was a thing

[@gldcad]

Who doesn't like to play with fire 🔥🔥