A good XDefiant player knows how to use their primary weapon to rack up kills. A great XDefiant player knows how to use their primary and secondary weapons in combination to take control of any situation.
Don’t just leave your secondary weapon at its default setting and let it collect dust. Instead, figure out which XDefiant pistol works best with your primary of choice.
XDefiant secondary guns tier list
A secondary is always there as a backup if you need it. When your main gun runs out of ammo or when you’re in a situation where you need a different type of weapon, like when you have a shotgun class but need something with more range. With that in mind, these are the secondary guns that do the best in those situations.
S-Tier XDefiant secondaries
D50
The D50 is everything you want from a secondary in XDefiant with virtually none of the drawbacks. It packs a punch, it’s quick, and it has enough ammunition that you can either finish off an opponent easily or run an enemy down from 100 to 0 with ease. It doesn’t have quite the clip size of the M9 or the 93R, but its firepower more than makes up for that.
A-Tier XDefiant secondaries
686 Magnum
The 686 Magnum has the highest firepower of any other secondary in XDefiant. In exchange for that cannon firepower, its ammo capacity is limited. This makes the 686 a deadly secondary of choice if you’re confident in your ability to pull it out and hit the opponent with two or three quick shots.
The problem is that there’s little margin for error with this gun. If you miss, you’re probably dead. If you’re accurate with the 686 Magnum, though, you probably think it’s even better than the D50.
Sawed-Off Shotgun
The Sawed-Off Shotgun is basically just the Double-Barreled Shotgun with even less range. That might sound like a dealbreaker, considering it already has one of the shortest damage ranges in XDefiant, but the Sawed-Off’s edge is that it’s a secondary. You can carry this with a mid-to-long-range primary weapon and have an immediate kill switch for close-encounter scenarios. The Sawed-Off Shotgun is particularly effective at taking out Phantoms using their Aegis special, as long as you can get inside that force field.
B-Tier XDefiant secondaries
M9
The M9 does its job as the starting pistol: It does solid damage, has good accuracy and range, and can fire off a lot of shots before you need to reload. It makes sense to put the M9 right in the middle of this tier list. It’s the optimum all-around secondary. Level up this pistol until you have attachments like the reflex sight and barrel extender, and it will rarely let you down.
C-Tier XDefiant secondaries
M1911
The M1911 is very similar to the M9 in its range and accuracy. The main difference is that it has a little more firepower and a lot less ammo. Its clip size is just too small to justify using it over the M9 or the D50. It’s possible to use, but it just doesn’t make sense when there are better options in all categories.
D-Tier XDefiant secondaries
93R
XDefiant‘s 93R burst pistol lacks in virtually every area compared to its counterparts. It does a lot of damage when an enemy is in range—meaning nearly point-blank and nothing else. Even medium range is a fool’s errand with this secondary.
The 93R’s solid ammo capacity and damage output make it viable in some scenarios, which is a testament to the balance of XDefiant‘s secondaries, but you should probably use something on this list instead.
