The Division

[Nutri]

I'm looking for a setup that allows me to melt enemies with a gun, not electronics. What do you all suggest?

Weapons (+Perks)
Armor (+ Stats)
Mods
The whole thing.

I was using Alpha Bridge with a Lightweight M4 and Famas. Last time I played for a long period of time, the best mod you could use was enemy armor damage and damage to elites mixed with Armor mods. Sadly, now when I jump into an activity, I watch my team melting people, yet i'm just pecking away at their health.

What seems to be the best way to hose down enemies without having to rely on electronics?

Striker Classified. 6k Stam, rest in Firearms, 2832 Electronics to unlock Predatory for extra regen. This gives my loadout about 650k dps with the constant active health regen of a standard support station.

At 100 stacks I can drop a heavy with just 1 clip. I'm using it with a Bullfrog, 950RPM, spec into CHD, 43% Damage to Elites, 80% Enemy Armor Damage. Showstopper to get 100 stacks in 3-4 shots. Clearing Lexington Challenging solo in about 8-9 minutes. (people may claim they can do it in less than that but w/e).

I can do you a writeup but it's all based on having 6/6 Classified Striker.

[Kathandira]

Striker Classified. 6k Stam, rest in Firearms, 2832 Electronics to unlock Predatory for extra regen. This gives my loadout about 650k dps with the constant active health regen of a standard support station.

At 100 stacks I can drop a heavy with just 1 clip. I'm using it with a Bullfrog, 950RPM, spec into CHD, 43% Damage to Elites, 80% Enemy Armor Damage. Showstopper to get 100 stacks in 3-4 shots. Clearing Lexington Challenging solo in about 8-9 minutes. (people may claim they can do it in less than that but w/e).

I can do you a writeup but it's all based on having 6/6 Classified Striker.

I would love if you did a write up. This seems right up my alley. Pretty smart really, using a shotgun as it fires off a bunch of shots to get those striker stacks. I can dig this build.

[Nutri]

Alright, wall of text incoming.
Mind you, this is all just personal findings. I'm no theorycrafter so some of this info might be up for debate by others, this setup just seems to work very well for me.

Aim for 6k stamina, rest in Firearms, unlock Predatory with 2832 Electronics

My build has a pure focus on PVE only, and it'll run with the highest amount of Damage to Elites & Enemy Armor Damage.

The playstyle is not about facetanking but controlled engagement. The power from Striker comes from maintaining the Striker stacks at it's highest by doing controlled bodyshots. Headshots do more damage but can also drop your stacks really fast if you miss.

Because I'm doing bodyshots I've modded my weapons into Critical Hit Damage and not Headshot Damage. Why CHD and not CHC? At 100 Striker stacks your dps will be well over 600/650k, and since CHD is % based it will do a ton of damage.

This build is all about balance. You could toss out all the self healing this set offers and go mental on Firearms but that'll make this a glass-cannon build. I went with a self sustain build for solo play. But this build also works very well for group play due to it's high DPS making you an asset even without providing any group buffs that a FM/D3/Sentry would give.

--------------------------------

WEAPONS:
Bullfrog - Destructive / Predatory / Bullfrog
Showtopper - Destructive / whatever / Showstopper

I went with the Bullfrog AR because of it's stability, relative small bloom and high RPM (900 base). (and because I don't have the new SMG 'the House' yet, which could make this build even better )
Mods are all CHD where possible, zero stability/acc mods because of the Exotic talent (+15 dmg with no stab/ac mods). Destructive + Predatory weapon talents. Predatory will heal for quite a bit due to the 6k+ stamina (35% total HP) and is far more valuable than another dmg perk. You'll notice the difference when not running with Predatory.

The Showstopper is not for killing enemies. It is for getting to 100 stacks in 3-4 shots. When starting off in a close encounter use the Showstopper to quickly pump a few shots into a mob and swap to your primary.

--------------------------------

GEAR:

Chest:
Health/EAD
Ammo

Mask:
EAD
DTE

Kneepads:
CHD or Health
DTE

Backpack:
Health
Ammo

Gloves:
%AR DMG
EAD
CHD

Holster:
Health or Reload Speed (Bullfrog already reloads fast)

All gear mods are Stamina + 3% DTE
Performance mods: +self heal

--------------------------------

SKILLS/TALENTS:
I just use pulse and first aid for talents. Healing ulti for solo.
For talents On the Move, Critical Safe for the added resilience, rest is up to you.

The first aid healing sucks but it's better than nothing, more of a small panic heal. Could go healing box or maybe even Smart Cover if your playstyle is more into cover. Yet I found running/ducking/moving forward my preferred playstyle.

--------------------------------

With all pieces classified (ofc, for 6 piece value), speccing this way got me to 43% Damage to Elites and 80% Enemy Armor Damage with about 338k HP (optimization station will help a great deal at getting these values up to their maximum).
At 100 stacks the DPS will take me over 650k, and the heal is as if you where sitting in a average Healing Station. It really shreds through enemies, making you forget you are fighting elites. A heavy can die with just one clip. The heal is extremely convenient. If I am in my last segment with 100 stacks, I just duck behind cover and I'll be back to full HP in a matter of seconds.

As for the playstyle, what works best for me is pop&shoot in controlled bursts. With 100 stacks you can play a bit more ballsy but you are by no means invincible so don't get too cocky.

All and all I found this to be the perfect solo and group set. Nomand is profiled as the go-to solo build, but all of it's perks require you to have the killing blow to trigger a HoK effect. You have to spec a ton into stamina while gimping your DPS. Striker is high dps with active healing, which is in my opinion way more valuable.

I'm using the Bullfrog because I didn't get my hands on House. Since the Bullfrog has very high RPM and the 15% buff it was the best alternative for me to use.

[Kathandira]

Alright, wall of text incoming.
Mind you, this is all just personal findings. I'm no theorycrafter so some of this info might be up for debate by others, this setup just seems to work very well for me.

Thank you so much for this!

One follow up question. What is DTE? All others i'm aware of what they mean.

[Shanden]

Thank you so much for this!

One follow up question. What is DTE? All others i'm aware of what they mean.

Damage to Elite.
Just a little advice, running full damage isn't that wise if you die. Some Health on kill helps more than full dps. I dont find the healing part of 6 piece striker that strong tbh.
If you have base electronics another useful skill is gas charge seeker as it gains no meaningful benefits from higher electronics and it cc groups of enemies.

[Kathandira]

Damage to Elite.
Just a little advice, running full damage isn't that wise if you die. Some Health on kill helps more than full dps. I dont find the healing part of 6 piece striker that strong tbh.
If you have base electronics another useful skill is gas charge seeker as it gains no meaningful benefits from higher electronics and it cc groups of enemies.

Ah! Sweet. @Nutri Thanks again for taking the time to write all that out. I'm eager to see if I can put together such a set. I've always saved all of my sets, so I basically have a piece for each set, for each slot. I should be able to put most of this together. But then i'll have the grind for the classified set, lol. I only have regular sets since I stopped playing before Classified became a thing.

[Shanden]

Ah! Sweet. @Nutri Thanks again for taking the time to write all that out. I'm eager to see if I can put together such a set. I've always saved all of my sets, so I basically have a piece for each set, for each slot. I should be able to put most of this together. But then i'll have the grind for the classified set, lol. I only have regular sets since I stopped playing before Classified became a thing.

If you have no classified then 3 Striker + 2 Nomad + Ninja Bag (exotic backpack from the Dark Zone that allows 4 + 3 set bonus to be applied as it gives +1) is a good start. Gives you fast stacking with shotgun, 15% health on kill + constant small healing just from set bonus. Stats for firearms oriented build are always the same (Nutris guide).

[Kathandira]

If you have no classified then 3 Striker + 2 Nomad + Ninja Bag (exotic backpack from the Dark Zone that allows 4 + 3 set bonus to be applied as it gives +1) is a good start. Gives you fast stacking with shotgun, 15% health on kill + constant small healing just from set bonus. Stats for firearms oriented build are always the same (Nutris guide).

Man, being behind is rough, lol. Even for the budget version, I need the Ninja Bag, this also I don't think existed when I used to play, lol.

I can figure out how to get that though, shouldn't be too horrible.

[Shanden]

Not having Ninja is no deal breaker but it enhances absolute everything until you get full 6 piece classified. 4 Strikers + 2 Nomad still gives you 15% Health on kill, but not the constant healing. Having Ninja does not give you a real damage boost but some additional nice to have stats (survivability in this case).
Got the Ninja from landmark farming in DZ02-03.

[Kathandira]

Not having Ninja is no deal breaker but it enhances absolute everything until you get full 6 piece classified. 4 Strikers + 2 Nomad still gives you 15% Health on kill, but not the constant healing. Having Ninja does not give you a real damage boost but some additional nice to have stats (survivability in this case).
Got the Ninja from landmark farming in DZ02-03.

Haven't dropped into the DZ since long ago. Do World Tiers affect the DZ? Or is it strictly the DZ level that controls the Item Level of the drops?

- - - Updated - - -

Alright, wall of text incoming.
Mind you, this is all just personal findings. I'm no theorycrafter so some of this info might be up for debate by others, this setup just seems to work very well for me.

Im no where near having this setup complete, and there already is quite a noticable difference in power compared to my alpha bridge setup. Thanks again for writing this all out!

[Nutri]

Im no where near having this setup complete, and there already is quite a noticable difference in power compared to my alpha bridge setup. Thanks again for writing this all out!

No problem. As said, it's a classified write-up but the suggestions others made with combining Striker/Nomad, the Skull MC build and the Ninjabike build are also very viable. I just prefer Striker over all of them atm :-) have fun!

[Zephyr Storm]

Wow.

I never thought I'd see the day that The Division got its shit together and became a better game than Destiny. Where Massive is picking up the pieces and making a better and better game, Bungie seems intent on just destroying what was working in D1 and ruining the franchise all together.

What the hell is going on here!?

[Nutri]

Wow.

I never thought I'd see the day that The Division got its shit together and became a better game than Destiny. Where Massive is picking up the pieces and making a better and better game, Bungie seems intent on just destroying what was working in D1 and ruining the franchise all together.

What the hell is going on here!?

It's so weird. Before patch 1.8 for Division was released, and you looked at the Destiny and Division Reddit subs side by side... It seems both have just flipped around.

Where Division was just raging and negative about everything and Destiny was doing just fine, all of that simply turned the opposite way on both subs.

[Shanden]

Its quite simply, while Division always was a mediocre game with some promise and alot of failures, Massive never tried to fuck with the community. DLC were never tied to character progression. MTX no stats at all. They changed their DLC schedule after receiving heavy negative feedback and started to actually listen. Jeah they are slow as hell, but as we can see stuff is finally happening.

Bungie openly lies to community with boosts and nerfs. Locks players out of progression with DLC and the worst thing is still that they do not acknowledge fault. They may have said so, but nothing they do shows that. DLC will be released as planned and fix absolutey nothing. They will never release a long term plan to fix things because they do not want to. They shifted from the hardcore base and will only cater to casuals and MTX whales. There will only be some small band aid fixed to the game to keep the last ignorant old fans in the game.

I rather play a game with inferior gameplay that at least has a listening developer and long term motivation.

[SirCowdog]

I'm looking for a setup that allows me to melt enemies with a gun, not electronics. What do you all suggest?

Weapons (+Perks)
Armor (+ Stats)
Mods
The whole thing.

I was using Alpha Bridge with a Lightweight M4 and Famas. Last time I played for a long period of time, the best mod you could use was enemy armor damage and damage to elites mixed with Armor mods. Sadly, now when I jump into an activity, I watch my team melting people, yet i'm just pecking away at their health.

What seems to be the best way to hose down enemies without having to rely on electronics?

Stop using Famas.
Mod for headshot damage.
Wait for it....
Shoot them in the head.


Seriously, with stability and headshots, you should be able to consistently burn down enemies, even the heavies. With my current lightweight M4 I can easily drop 2 yellow bar enemies with some ammo left over. Granted, I use a magazine that gives 64 rounds total, with 3 piece predator/3 piece striker. However, even non-headshots do a lot of damage, but you really should work on aiming at heads and weakspots for extra effect.

Ninja bag would help this build a LOT, but again, I can't be bothered to farm any more. So over it. But you would probably get a lot of mileage out of it.

As a point of interest, I have solo'd every challenging mission with this gear. The only places that give me trouble are the shotgun rush of 6 stacked dudes in the Queen's Tunnel Camp. If I don't huck a flame grenade perfectly, I can die a lot at that chokepoint. But that's going to be true of almost any build you use.

[Shanden]

I imagine 6 piece Predator probably melts enemies faster, but I can't be bothered to deal with the grind to get it.

Jeah playing a few hours within one week is for sure to much. Got all pieces of the four sets with 30 caches. Did a few legendaries, world bosses, rest lexington. One lexington run is 900 (875 + boss) credits in less than 10 minutes. This equals 50 lexington runs (or other content as you wish, plenty of sources) or 8,3h. Lets round it to 9 hours. 9 hours over a week is a deal breaker in a looter? You do not need to answer, your position is obviously clear and cannot be altered.

[Kathandira]

One lexington run is 900 (875 + boss) credits in less than 10 minutes.

Are you talking about Global Event Credits?

Last night I was playing, and wondering what the best activities would be for farming. I mostly spend my time in Under Ground, and when I want I want a break from that, I do some Dailies.

Tried to do the Legendary difficulty, but I was useless to my team. Currently, my DPS is around 370k. Mostly because I am missing a backpack for the Striker set to get the 4 piece. on Challenging and Hard I can melt people, but on Legendary, It takes quite a while to take down their armor.

Should add, my Gear Level is only like 273.

[SirCowdog]

Jeah playing a few hours within one week is for sure to much. Got all pieces of the four sets with 30 caches. Did a few legendaries, world bosses, rest lexington. One lexington run is 900 (875 + boss) credits in less than 10 minutes. This equals 50 lexington runs (or other content as you wish, plenty of sources) or 8,3h. Lets round it to 9 hours. 9 hours over a week is a deal breaker in a looter? You do not need to answer, your position is obviously clear and cannot be altered.

I didn't say I didn't want to put in the time. I said I couldn't be bothered with the grind.

I mean, look at what you just said: 50 lexington runs. Uhg...as though we all haven't already run that place to death. I'm sick just thinking about doing it again once, much less FIFTY times more.

And it's not that it's 9 hours too much grind. It's 9 hours on top of the 500+ I've already got in the game. So like I said, I can't be bothered with it anymore for such a slight advantage...and what does that gear enable me to do? MORE challenge runs? The idiocy of super-calculated, perfect execution Legendary? No thanks. The time invested isn't worth the payout for me as a solo player.

[Shanden]

Are you talking about Global Event Credits?

Last night I was playing, and wondering what the best activities would be for farming. I mostly spend my time in Under Ground, and when I want I want a break from that, I do some Dailies.

Jeah, GE Credits for the event. Best content for farming is lexington event center on challenge mode. If you cannot do it alone, you can still find groups pretty fast.
First thing to do should always be farming open world bosses as they drop GE credits + older classified. After them (4h respawn rate) its either lexington spam or some legendaries (time square easiest). The rest is subpar when you want to maximize GE credit gain.
273 gearscore isnt that bad. My friend is around the same but does heavy damage with his sniper build (sentry + historian as weapon). You just need to find the right role to play as. There is more to the game than just going for firepower and taking enemies head on. Some off meta builds are surprisingly fun and strong.

@SirCowdog: and thats why you grind with a friend and just talk about fun stuff.

[SirCowdog]

@SirCowdog: and thats why you grind with a friend and just talk about fun stuff.

Almost ANY videogame will be better with friends. However, I have always been 100% solo in The Division. It's just always felt more natural.

But don't let me send the wrong message. Like I said, I've got over 500 hours in this game already. It's not that I don't like it. It's just that I've done everything I care to do, and the newest patch(and classified sets) just don't add anything worth the grind for.