[Megathread] The Division 2

[Endus]

Anyway, for everyone, feel free to ask for build directions. I did that myself and got a grasp on whats strong and whatnot. Bullet King /Baker's Dozen(classic M1A) are both strong weapons with incredible QoL features.

I'm curious; have you tried an offensive skill build?

I got impatient waiting on perfect drops for an all-red solo build (and I play 100% solo), so I crafted some Hard Wired which basically is all godrolled automatically (one stat slot is +1 skill tier, which is always the max, and the second you can recalibrate to a godroll you get off anything, and the rest of the statblock is the set bonuses). That, plus Coyote mask (for having nothing better), and a cheap-ass shitty chest with the 25% chance to reset skills on skill kills talent, and I'm off to the races.

I use Sniper Turret and Cluster Seekers. Sniper's the big damage source, but seekers clear out trash when having 8 guys shooting at you is a problem.

I haven't stepped into Heroic yet, and I'm still arsing around; I'm only SHD level 65 or so. My gear's not optimal (I did get a nearly godrolled Fox's Prayer kneepad shortly after swapping; one stat short but I can recalibrate it to be perfect). I have a crappy Acosta's Go Bag (60% ish stats) I should probably equip, and Hard Wired is apparently buggy and I'm not getting everything out of it I should. But I don't have the stuff to supplant it, yet. The Coyote mask is basically only marginally useful, and is in there because I don't have anything better.

Running Technician, though I'm likely to swap to unlock new specializations once I max it out.

Even so, I can clear Challenging CPs pretty easy. My biggest issue is when I get new spawns behind me, when a patrol comes back in or something. For a lot of CPs, if that doesn't happen, I can take the CP without using resources at all. Still have a lot of plans and stuff to get, so farming CP3s for them is what I do when I don't have anything else I want to do right now.

Named enemies usually take 3 sniper shots to get through the armor, without healing. Heavies take two shots to break their chestplate, and then a third for the kill. I can help by plinking with my M1A, but I mostly focus on clearing reds and purples and letting the sniper turret handle the yellows. Like I said, Cluster Seeker will also do a lot of work clearing out those reds and purples, which significantly reduces what you've got to deal with. Cluster targets where they currently are when it lands, so if the charges have to travel too far, they'll get out of the radius. But it's a pretty significant radius; it's more brutal in missions when you know where a spawn's coming from. Seeker can kill entire waves (and with the chest talent, can and often does reset itself).

My main rifle's an M1A with Lucky Shot; not a Baker's Dozen but the stats are good (not godroll, but highish). Using The Sendoff as my secondary, since that's one of the first crafting plans I got. This means the Ammo Hoarder directive is stupidly easy to roll with; I can clear fights without even using ammo, and when I do, I'm really efficient.

Would this build be great for group content? I honestly have no clue. But for solo? It's super safe, isn't all that slow (Cluster Seekers clear shit out, letting you focus on the yellows MUCH faster), and you can focus your skills on offense rather than having to run stuff like Revive Hive or healer drones. I'm underplaying how effective the M1A is with zero reds, too; I can still plink off red and purple enemies just fine, solo.

For heroics? I'm sure I could handle them. I've cleared Control Points at level 4. It slows me down enough I'm not sure it's efficient. Gear and SHD levels will likely change that. I really should use the Acosta's and the Fox's Prayer knees.

[SirCowdog]

Didn't try it yet. My reasoning was mostly about the times put for missions that are all over the place. Generally with a good 2man team you finish all the challenging ones around the 7-8 minutes mark. DARPA instead is way too short - complicated in 2 but 4man has way too many spawns to make it viable (as it was last league).

The last balancing in Heroics just didn't do well for the game. Solo/2man is the most popular playstyle and they managed to make it just more difficult because reasons (literally, their expalantion was "we want heroics to be a challenge, so we made solo/2man more difficult and 4 man easier").

I've been pushing pretty hard for heroics to have the restart-after-wipe mechanic changed to a directive. It's VERY unfair to solo players, since they don't even have another person to get them up, on top of the already over-tuned difficulty of some heroic runs. And especially in light of all the bugs that are still effecting the game.

They REALLY need to address the heroic situation. Legendary is one thing, in it's own world as the pinnacle of ridiculous challenge for only the most crazy players. But heroic? It shouldn't be so punishing. Difficult, challenging, sure. But placing DARPA as a timed challenge in the league when people are already complaining about it shows a distinct lack of awareness of the community.

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For heroics? I'm sure I could handle them. I've cleared Control Points at level 4. It slows me down enough I'm not sure it's efficient. Gear and SHD levels will likely change that. I really should use the Acosta's and the Fox's Prayer knees.

Level 4 CPs are nowhere near the same as heroic missions or strongholds. Entirely different beast.

I think you might be in for a bit of a shock with heroics. Especially against heavies.

[Coldkil]

I'm curious; have you tried an offensive skill build?

Yes. My Tech build is basically all yellows but one (since Tech specialization gives you one for free). I don't use any Exotic because they're meh in my opinion, I can try Acosta but the Named CL is stronger for me. I also use the Cluster Seeker, but i use the Fire Chem Launcher because it gives me lots of control. I Could swap to hive for even more control and reliable damage. I'm not a fan of Turret/Drone as enemies tend to rush it and destroy it immediately.

Anwyay. All rolls in skill haste/skill damage. 1 Wyvern, 2 Hana, 1 CL (backpack) and 2 Grupo Sombra for 15% explosive dmg (both seeker and chem launcher scale with that). CL backpack has perfect shock and awe, and that's perma up due to me spamming the launcher and setting people on fire. On chest i'd like the chance to reset cd when solo, but Spotter is a good contender for both solo and group due to the Tech special laser pointer. I'd also like to try Explosive delivery (and check if it works with Acosta because it would be INSANE).

Weapons: the Send-Off is a must. It's specifically built for techs, and requires you to actually not use it. It's free damage. The other weapon is the named rifle Surge - it has Perfect spark (skill dmg on headshot for 8 sec) and again, if you use the laser pointer you have Spotter and pulse effects aswell for free basically.

All in all it seems to work really well. Mine is specifically aimed towards explosive dmg, but using other skills is not an issue since it's pretty much "stack as much dmg as possible", so other pieces that give you skill haste or dmg are equally fine.

Playstyle wise, it's clunkier than shooting because aiming with skills is painful. But again, if you use turret/drone/seeker you don't have to aim at all.

Fun fact: if you hit someone with the chem it takes like 190 dmg. But it also flickers for a moment letting me detonate it and hitting people.

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I've been pushing pretty hard for heroics to have the restart-after-wipe mechanic changed to a directive. It's VERY unfair to solo players, since they don't even have another person to get them up, on top of the already over-tuned difficulty of some heroic runs. And especially in light of all the bugs that are still effecting the game.

They REALLY need to address the heroic situation. Legendary is one thing, in it's own world as the pinnacle of ridiculous challenge for only the most crazy players. But heroic? It shouldn't be so punishing. Difficult, challenging, sure. But placing DARPA as a timed challenge in the league when people are already complaining about it shows a distinct lack of awareness of the community.

Legendary isn't even that of a pain (other than being a drag - i mean 1&1/2 hour or more long) if you go with a control guy that spams the blinder firefly. Most enemies are just headless chicken and you kill them down slowly and systematically. Takes time and practice but it's doable. We're planning to do the raid, probably this. firday and see how it goes. Didn't go into the Legendaries yet but i plan to do them soon, teams in my clan are already doing them consistently.

[Witchblade77]

oh yay.. did DARPA labs with SO... only for it not to count towards my manhunt progress. fun times.... and then my scope gets randomly unslotted, despite me no changing specializations or mods since last night - and i don't realize until i'm in a middle of a firefight and suddenly my rifle is not zooming in...

/siiiiigh...

[SirCowdog]

Legendary isn't even that of a pain (other than being a drag - i mean 1&1/2 hour or more long) if you go with a control guy that spams the blinder firefly. Most enemies are just headless chicken and you kill them down slowly and systematically. Takes time and practice but it's doable. We're planning to do the raid, probably this. firday and see how it goes. Didn't go into the Legendaries yet but i plan to do them soon, teams in my clan are already doing them consistently.

Which is fine. I have no problem with groups coordinating and finding good tactics. My problem is with the devs telling us that all the content(except legendary and raids) is for all groups sizes and solo, but then designing and balancing those upper difficulties only for groups.

IMO I don't have any issue at all with there being the upper-reaches of all content balanced for groups, with rewards commensurate to the challenge. But there needs to be allowance for solo players as well. I know the Massive team is probably struggling with the virus thing like everyone else, but it really seems that they're missing some pretty fundamental aspects of balance at the top end.

I'm going to keep playing, because I enjoy trying all kinds of different builds and difficulties. But man...playing skill builds solo has been a real slog.

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oh yay.. did DARPA labs with SO... only for it not to count towards my manhunt progress. fun times.... and then my scope gets randomly unslotted, despite me no changing specializations or mods since last night - and i don't realize until i'm in a middle of a firefight and suddenly my rifle is not zooming in...

/siiiiigh...

League, or Manhunt?

The league DARPA has to be done on Heroic for the timed run. Manhunt should be doable on any difficulty, normal or higher.

[Witchblade77]

Which is fine. I have no problem with groups coordinating and finding good tactics. My problem is with the devs telling us that all the content(except legendary and raids) is for all groups sizes and solo, but then designing and balancing those upper difficulties only for groups.

IMO I don't have any issue at all with there being the upper-reaches of all content balanced for groups, with rewards commensurate to the challenge. But there needs to be allowance for solo players as well. I know the Massive team is probably struggling with the virus thing like everyone else, but it really seems that they're missing some pretty fundamental aspects of balance at the top end.

I'm going to keep playing, because I enjoy trying all kinds of different builds and difficulties. But man...playing skill builds solo has been a real slog.

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League, or Manhunt?

The league DARPA has to be done on Heroic for the timed run. Manhunt should be doable on any difficulty, normal or higher.

manhunt. timed runs can go die in a fire, not even attempting that crap.

we did it on hard. did pentagon and darpa back to back. pentagon counted. darpa did not. yeah, i have no idea either :/ I've had bugs like that show up in ESO where I would do a run where one achievement would register, but the other would not. even though the achievement that DID register, would be impossible without the other. never happened to me in other games before. first time for everything?

[Coldkil]

Which is fine. I have no problem with groups coordinating and finding good tactics. My problem is with the devs telling us that all the content(except legendary and raids) is for all groups sizes and solo, but then designing and balancing those upper difficulties only for groups.

Yeah, basically this. Hopefully TU9 fixes these issues.

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manhunt. timed runs can go die in a fire, not even attempting that crap.

Just discovered that you can do full league by redoing stuff the second week. I mean, if first week you do 40/60 levels, the second it resets tasks but not overall progress, so you can to the 20 missing pretty easily. I'd just avoid DARPA, the rest is piss easy.

[SirCowdog]

Just discovered that you can do full league by redoing stuff the second week. I mean, if first week you do 40/60 levels, the second it resets tasks but not overall progress, so you can to the 20 missing pretty easily. I'd just avoid DARPA, the rest is piss easy.

That's something else they badly need to address:

On the one hand you have the glitch where if Rogue Agents show up it resets you time for the leaderboards.
On the other hand you have the DPS glitch returning....allowing people to also speed run to unrealistic times.
Then on top of that, you have freaking DARPA, which no one enjoys.....as a speed run.....on heroic. -_-

What is the point of having the most difficult non-raid level be a timed run under broken, buggy conditions? Whoever thought of that needs to have their TP taken away and given to someone with an actual brain. The idiot probably throws poo when he's angry anyway. He doesn't need it.

[Witchblade77]

Yeah, basically this. Hopefully TU9 fixes these issues.

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Just discovered that you can do full league by redoing stuff the second week. I mean, if first week you do 40/60 levels, the second it resets tasks but not overall progress, so you can to the 20 missing pretty easily. I'd just avoid DARPA, the rest is piss easy.

oh really? /rubs hands together, THAT is very nice to know and TBh, I hope they do NOT change that.

[Coldkil]

oh really? /rubs hands together, THAT is very nice to know and TBh, I hope they do NOT change that.

afaik it's wanted. they made it so getting the rewards/cosmetics was doable by everyone, while ladders are for competition.

still its terribly terribly unbalanced. the 7/8 minute clears on challenging are doable, have a clanmate thta did it solo because more people in party the worse it becomes. 2 ppl is still the best setup. then there's darpa - we tried 3 dps, managed to do around 20 minutes but its just shit, last room has waves o er waves and enemiea keep hiding in the most remote places and we have to hunt for them. then last boss turtles on its balcony forever, and the icing on the cake os that once you have done it, calling the copter and letting it finish the animation tooks like 30 seconds of nothing

edit: afaik the rogue bug has been solved, but i dont know what else can happen. i have seen a video on a 16 minute clear on darpa on console, emp helps a lot.

[Witchblade77]

afaik it's wanted. they made it so getting the rewards/cosmetics was doable by everyone, while ladders are for competition.

still its terribly terribly unbalanced. the 7/8 minute clears on challenging are doable, have a clanmate thta did it solo because more people in party the worse it becomes. 2 ppl is still the best setup. then there's darpa - we tried 3 dps, managed to do around 20 minutes but its just shit, last room has waves o er waves and enemiea keep hiding in the most remote places and we have to hunt for them. then last boss turtles on its balcony forever, and the icing on the cake os that once you have done it, calling the copter and letting it finish the animation tooks like 30 seconds of nothing

edit: afaik the rogue bug has been solved, but i dont know what else can happen. i have seen a video on a 16 minute clear on darpa on console, emp helps a lot.

yeah.. I'm way to casual and unoptimized for that :P SO and I did Washington hotel, took us JUST under 18 minutes, or stage 7. we could probably shave off couple of minutes if we skip looting completely, but even then... but since we can take both weeks to get up to max rewards - it doesn't really matter, so yay? :P

[Coldkil]

yeah.. I'm way to casual and unoptimized for that :P SO and I did Washington hotel, took us JUST under 18 minutes, or stage 7. we could probably shave off couple of minutes if we skip looting completely, but even then... but since we can take both weeks to get up to max rewards - it doesn't really matter, so yay? :P

yeah, we don't loot anything, we just run

as a term. of comparison, i currently crit for 2mil+ so thatvs the damage you should have

[Witchblade77]

yeah, we don't loot anything, we just run

as a term. of comparison, i currently crit for 2mil+ so thatvs the damage you should have

yeah, i'm nowhere near that, especially with my accuracy issues :P I don't mind though, don't care about leaderboards at all. as long as i can finish content that interests me, its enough.

[Coldkil]

yeah, i'm nowhere near that, especially with my accuracy issues :P I don't mind though, don't care about leaderboards at all. as long as i can finish content that interests me, its enough.

same here. Though i like more optimizing my character, so i'm at a decent level with my dps build. I need to do some more DZ so i can get a Pestilence and do a status effect build like i wanted to do - tried Directive but it's just an underpar rifle build, plus relies on kills so it's good-ish solo and next to useless in team.

The more time passes, the more SHD levels people farm, the more "underdog builds" are coming out. And while all these videos are interesting, to me they're just "doing damage in a less effective way than my rifle". All gameplay videos are about DZ (which is a oneshotfest) or 4man missions which makes all the difference when you're not focused by every single enemy.

Solo players have way less options. I am currently playing Heoric with all directives, beacuse even if i die, the xp bonus is huuuuuge. I'm trying playing as tech and it's somewhat effective with drone and seeker but it's slower and requires much more tactical playstyle = running an awful lot, rushers destroy you if your skill isn't ready. Drone is waaaaaay too fragile but damage is there. Maybe i'll should just stay away from seekers and use a turret aswell, and shoot enemies more from a distance. But again, why bothering with all this when i can crit my way through and take much less time? Using seekers and healing drone to avoid the skills cd directive downsides and it's safe enough to play even with glass cannon.

Hopefully the pestilence build is good enough to be an alternative.

[Witchblade77]

same here. Though i like more optimizing my character, so i'm at a decent level with my dps build. I need to do some more DZ so i can get a Pestilence and do a status effect build like i wanted to do - tried Directive but it's just an underpar rifle build, plus relies on kills so it's good-ish solo and next to useless in team.

The more time passes, the more SHD levels people farm, the more "underdog builds" are coming out. And while all these videos are interesting, to me they're just "doing damage in a less effective way than my rifle". All gameplay videos are about DZ (which is a oneshotfest) or 4man missions which makes all the difference when you're not focused by every single enemy.

Solo players have way less options. I am currently playing Heoric with all directives, beacuse even if i die, the xp bonus is huuuuuge. I'm trying playing as tech and it's somewhat effective with drone and seeker but it's slower and requires much more tactical playstyle = running an awful lot, rushers destroy you if your skill isn't ready. Drone is waaaaaay too fragile but damage is there. Maybe i'll should just stay away from seekers and use a turret aswell, and shoot enemies more from a distance. But again, why bothering with all this when i can crit my way through and take much less time? Using seekers and healing drone to avoid the skills cd directive downsides and it's safe enough to play even with glass cannon.

Hopefully the pestilence build is good enough to be an alternative.

I pretty much HAVE to play a tactical build (words cannot describe how much I absolutely ADORE sharpshooter scope. it may even rival my adoration for my drone). i cannot rush and crit my way through, though playing with SO, I see it in action a lot more, but just from personal preference, playstyle and general ability - i don't mind taking a bit longer. tactics allows me to succeed with slower reaction times of course that also means i'm rubbish at any sort of timed run solo, but oh well.

I don't mind optimizing my character. I just haven't had particularly good luck with rolls and simply not willing to invest in the kind of farming that would be required of me to negate bad rng through sheer volume of gear.

[Woogs]

Anyone have an active clan I can join? (PC, not sure if there is crossplay)

[SirCowdog]

I'm trying playing as tech and it's somewhat effective with drone and seeker but it's slower and requires much more tactical playstyle = running an awful lot, rushers destroy you if your skill isn't ready. Drone is waaaaaay too fragile but damage is there. Maybe i'll should just stay away from seekers and use a turret aswell, and shoot enemies more from a distance. But again, why bothering with all this when i can crit my way through and take much less time? Using seekers and healing drone to avoid the skills cd directive downsides and it's safe enough to play even with glass cannon.

I use the mortar turret for long range, and drop a stinger hive whenever anything gets close.

You can mostly stay in cover and never fire a shot. The only thing you have to watch out for are grenades and grenade launchers. Heavies are a pain, but you can most just stay away from them and let the mortar do the work. Takes a lot of mortar rounds, but you can literally hide behind a building and still shoot them.

So far it's the best pure skill build I've been able to come up with. Absolutely wrecks warhounds and mini-tanks. Drops redbars in one shot, vets and elites in 2. It even shreds named guys pretty well. But you have to learn where the best spots to put the mortar. There are A LOT of stupid pieces of terrain that will cause a shot to miss. Sadly you have to take the demolitionist spec to use it, too.

I've been trying to think of an alternative for the mortar, but it's just too good. Seekers is the natural alternative, but you almost have to use the 4 piece Hard Wired to get cooldown resets to 10seconds so you can spam mines. But that, in turn, means giving up stinger hive(since it doesn't proc Hard Wired). I don't know. It's a catch 22.

EDIT: DARPA Labs hard....best time I've been able to do is 27 minutes. Challenging final stage is too stronk! I'd be REAL curious to see a solo video on challenging or heroic that doesn't use rifle/shield.

[Coldkil]

EDIT: DARPA Labs hard....best time I've been able to do is 27 minutes. Challenging final stage is too stronk! I'd be REAL curious to see a solo video on challenging or heroic that doesn't use rifle/shield.

Will try that but i don't like turret that much. I have all hardwired so i can try put it up and see how it goes.

As for DARPA, well, not going to happen. Riflecrit is way too fast and easy to play that makes up for a lot of things. Baker's Dozen/Bullet King are awesome because you have no reload times basically. Clanmates did that in 16 minutes, all 3 dps and EMP and it's the only way. I managed to do 20 something and im fine with that.

[SirCowdog]

Will try that but i don't like turret that much. I have all hardwired so i can try put it up and see how it goes.

As for DARPA, well, not going to happen. Riflecrit is way too fast and easy to play that makes up for a lot of things. Baker's Dozen/Bullet King are awesome because you have no reload times basically. Clanmates did that in 16 minutes, all 3 dps and EMP and it's the only way. I managed to do 20 something and im fine with that.

Hardwired is not for mortar turret. At all. The set bonus basically has no real effect.

I use 2pc Wyvern Wear, 2pc Hana-U, 2pc China Light. Kinetic Momentum on the chest and Shock & Awe on the Backpack. Kinetic Momentum is the ultimate talent for any skill build that has a deployable. It's basically 15-30% extra skill damage, depending on your second skill. Shock & Awe makes any shot after your first 20% stronger.

I want to make a tankier version that maybe gives up 1-2 skill tiers for armor. But I just can't see that being a good idea. Really wish we could roll armor as a secondary attribute. Or maybe if Blue actually did something worth a damn. It just kind of sucks that there's no real way to make a hybrid build of any kind. And if you're going pure damage output, skill builds just take a back-seat to the Classic M1A meta. :/

[kenn9530]

I use the mortar turret for long range, and drop a stinger hive whenever anything gets close.

You can mostly stay in cover and never fire a shot. The only thing you have to watch out for are grenades and grenade launchers. Heavies are a pain, but you can most just stay away from them and let the mortar do the work. Takes a lot of mortar rounds, but you can literally hide behind a building and still shoot them.

So far it's the best pure skill build I've been able to come up with. Absolutely wrecks warhounds and mini-tanks. Drops redbars in one shot, vets and elites in 2. It even shreds named guys pretty well. But you have to learn where the best spots to put the mortar. There are A LOT of stupid pieces of terrain that will cause a shot to miss. Sadly you have to take the demolitionist spec to use it, too.

I've been trying to think of an alternative for the mortar, but it's just too good. Seekers is the natural alternative, but you almost have to use the 4 piece Hard Wired to get cooldown resets to 10seconds so you can spam mines. But that, in turn, means giving up stinger hive(since it doesn't proc Hard Wired). I don't know. It's a catch 22.

EDIT: DARPA Labs hard....best time I've been able to do is 27 minutes. Challenging final stage is too stronk! I'd be REAL curious to see a solo video on challenging or heroic that doesn't use rifle/shield.

Sniper turret is far better than the mortar turret, mobs easily run out of the explosion ranged and its damage is not any better than the sniper, 5-10 million dmg per sniper shot and far less chance to miss.