[Megathread] The Division 2

[Edge-]

There are two very different builds here.

Negotiators uses the Backpack, Gloves, Knees, and hokster for ND. Coyote Mask and Groupo Sombra chest with Obliterate. Vector 9mm with preservation or Optimist. Gunner Spec. Whatever skills you want, although I highly recommend revive hive.

The AR build uses Technician, Spotter, In-Sync, and is not a set build. Brands only. You can use vanguard, but that would require a crusader shield. Which works pretty well, but becomes more of a hybrid, so you might want to go 3/3 red yellow or may e 4/2. Either way you need the striker drone to keep proccing In Sync.

Oh sorry I'm not entirely sober and forgot to specify, meant your Coyote non-set build with 3W&H/2Sokolov and Coyote. Rolling with revive hive and assault drone.

Ran a few heroics and ended up swapping back to my skill build. Might be that the gear I have is mediocre and I need an Eagle Bearer or something (even though it's talent is more defensive) but I'm critting for around 400k and it's not exactly melting as much as I was hoping for. I'll need to get more drops to try it with more yellows, but is the drone damage boost that much given that I'll be losing losing 20-30% weapon damage? >.>

Or am I derping harder and I could and should totally be using 1p Sombra for the 15% crit damage and 1p Fenrus for the AR damage. Because that makes more sense.

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Yes, thank you, also downloading the trial now.

I'm gonna binge on few videos before I start playing it. I've also noticed that the gold version is 67% discounted at this moment, so I guess I'll start with that one. I just hope that everything turns out okay and that the game is little bit less disappointing than Destiny 2. This looks like a solid and well themed game where's Destiny 2 is great, but I found it to be little bit toxic when it comes to certain activities. Hence the switch.

Also, looking forward reading this forum and learning more.

I couldn't say what the raids are like in this, never pugged them and I don't PvP at all. But thus far running missions on the harder difficulties (challenging/heroic, there's one difficulty harder but it's specific to a few missions) folks generally seem pretty nice though. Not always the most talkative, but haven't really had anyone raging or eating a 3 course meal while their dog barks nonstop in the background.

Edit: And I'm a derp. Had been rolling 3P W&H and 2P Araldi on my sniper build...now that I'm re-realizing what damage to armor is, and that armor is literally the only thing that gives me any problems at all, I'm realizing I can just swap that. And oh look at that, a pair of pretty well rolled Araldi gloves to replace my W&H gloves.

[SirCowdog]

Yes, thank you, also downloading the trial now.

I'm gonna binge on few videos before I start playing it. I've also noticed that the gold version is 67% discounted at this moment, so I guess I'll start with that one. I just hope that everything turns out okay and that the game is little bit less disappointing than Destiny 2. This looks like a solid and well themed game where's Destiny 2 is great, but I found it to be little bit toxic when it comes to certain activities. Hence the switch.

Also, looking forward reading this forum and learning more.

I will tell you right now: PVP in this game is an unbalanced dumpster fire. If you want fair and challenging matchups where your skill is tested against peers.....yeah. Just walk away now.

However, the PVE side of things is fairly decent. There's a lot of stuff to do at "end game", with a fairly major update bringing "greater rift" style content om the horizon. There's small squad and solo content, and even a couple raids that I'm forced to admit are decent(even though I think they have no place in the game).

As a 99.999% solo player, I can't really speak to the in-game community. The 4-5 regular posters here on MMO Champ are super cool though. While the official forums are hit or miss.

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Oh sorry I'm not entirely sober and forgot to specify, meant your Coyote non-set build with 3W&H/2Sokolov and Coyote. Rolling with revive hive and assault drone.

Ran a few heroics and ended up swapping back to my skill build. Might be that the gear I have is mediocre and I need an Eagle Bearer or something (even though it's talent is more defensive) but I'm critting for around 400k and it's not exactly melting as much as I was hoping for. I'll need to get more drops to try it with more yellows, but is the drone damage boost that much given that I'll be losing losing 20-30% weapon damage? >.>
.

Now that I've thought about it more, here's what I would probably do as an AR build. This is pure theorycraft. I haven't actually tried it.

Technician(5/1 or 4/2 Red)
Coyote Mask
3pc Walker & Harris
1pc Fenris
Contractors Gloves(The AR already has more than enough damage to health)

Chest: Spotter
Back: Vanguard
Weapon: In Sync with laser pointer

Crusader Shield
Striker drone


Should be good synergy between the drone picking up damage from both in-sync, spotter, and the damage to armor/health from the brand bonuses. Same goes for the AR. Stacked with a tier 3 shield and drone to distract, and it should have both respectable damage and survivability.

You could swap 2 of the W&H pieces for a Ceska and Groupo Sombra I guess. I suspect you'd lose damage from the Drone, but I have no idea if the additional CHC/CHD would offset or be better.

Technically this would be better with a Harmony rifle. Both because of Perfectly In-Sync and swapping contractors gloves for Fox's Prayer knees would allow you grab another brand piece or named item. But that also means using a rifle and giving your fingers cramps.

With the AR you should absolutely disintegrate Warhounds amd Minitanks. All that damage to health with technician giving a little extra too. Heavies shouldn't fare much better.

[SirCowdog]

Well, I ran the Harmony version of the build, although not perfectly. I didn't have perfectly rolled gear to change a couple to Skill Tier. And I don't have Fox's Prayer knees on my new character, but did have pretty well rolled Contractor's Gloves.

The damage is decent. It's actually REALLY good when the drone is hitting the same target as you. Things melt. The only real problem is that the drone doesn't fire nearly as often as I'd like to keep the In-Sync buff active. So it may actually be better to use a turret.

I'm not entirely convinced that Spotter + In-sync is actually better than Obliterate + Optimist. I think it's close enough to allow people to play either way, depending on their personal preference.

[Witchblade77]

Division 2 gameplay is pretty much why I still play couple of times a week (100% with SO only, I find it very fun for us to duo things)

I still cannot decide how I feel about bullet king. sometimes I freaking love it. other times, when I end up suppressing an npc that cannot be flanked while we are doing a timed mission... not so much. mostly, I feel like its great as an almost crowd control type of weapon while playing with someone who plays as aggressively and melee heavy as my SO. i can provide pretty nice essentially non stop cover fire while he is moving around. but I have a feeling, I wouldn't like it nearly as much solo.

[Edge-]

Realizing with my skill build that I should probably be using Spotter on chest instead of Kinetic Momentum because it gives amplified skill AND weapon damage vs. just increased skill damage. Required me to swap back to Harmony and a different AR for the laser, but it seems like it gave me a bit more damage.

And did a few heroics on my sniper again and...man, overall it's just so much easier/faster with it. Freakin 18-19M headshots on the regular without any buffs from the group. Skill has some better AoE clear with the hive melting packs as they come out of doors/drop from helicopters, and maybe some better sustain for solo fights, but the ability to just absolutely massacre a room with headshot after headshot and little regard for anything more than if you need to save a red dude to shoot after breaking a heavy's helmet is glorious. (fuck mortars and CC builds still, tho)

And just got a Diamondback to boot. Doubt it'll be more damage than Mantis with its talent active (and Mantis doesn't make you shoot specific dudes), but Diamondback seems like it could be pretty fun. Will be curious as to what the damage is like, because the talent didn't seem to be working on the range dummies (that or it was marking another one of them and I didn't notice).

[SirCowdog]

Realizing with my skill build that I should probably be using Spotter on chest instead of Kinetic Momentum because it gives amplified skill AND weapon damage vs. just increased skill damage.

Well, the idea is that 30% increase would generally be better than 15 amp. Not sure of the math for which is better. Probably Spotter due to not having any ramp-up time.

[Edge-]

Well, the idea is that 30% increase would generally be better than 15 amp. Not sure of the math for which is better. Probably Spotter due to not having any ramp-up time.

Isn't it 15% increased for each skill separately, rather than 15% + 15%? Even then, I'm not sure is 30% increased would outweigh 15% amplified for skills, not to mention weapon on top of that. I'm sure someone has done the math somewhere, I'll try to find it.

[SirCowdog]

Isn't it 15% increased for each skill separately, rather than 15% + 15%? Even then, I'm not sure is 30% increased would outweigh 15% amplified for skills, not to mention weapon on top of that. I'm sure someone has done the math somewhere, I'll try to find it.

Here's the talent wording:

"When in combat, each skill generates a stack while active or not on cooldown.
Stacks increase your total skill damage by 1% and total skill repair by 2%. Up to 15 stacks per skill. Lost when on cooldown."

My understanding is that you can get a total of 30 stacks(15 from each skill). Which should mean 30% total skill damage. I guess I could be wrong. This game uses some pretty arcane calculations sometimes.

One of the things I never found out is if skills like Hives and the Chem Launcher, with multiple charges, count as being on cooldown while not at full charges.

[Edge-]

One of the things I never found out is if skills like Hives and the Chem Launcher, with multiple charges, count as being on cooldown while not at full charges.

Yeah...a lot about the game isn't exactly as obvious as I'd like when it comes to stats. But it's still seeming like it gives a bit of an overall boost with weapons factored in (my AR is still regularly critting for 200K or so which ain't remotely bad for supplementary damage).

Started testing Diamondback only to be pleasantly surprised that it's a rifle, not a MMR! Trying out a new build with it that seems to have lower Headhunter burst (12M vs. 18M) but more overall sustain -

Coyote mask
3P W&H
Contrators Gloves
Fox's Prayer

Rolling with revive hive/crusader shield for some defensive utility, and my perfect Burn Out as my off weapon in Sniper spec. I can't change up all my gear since some of it is shared between sets, but I was able to get around 100% crit damage with this build so far at around 25% crit. So realistically usually sitting at about 50% crit with the Coyote buff, with periods of 100% crit chance due to the weapon.

Plus it's back to ironsights, baby. I do kinda miss having the handy circles to help guide headshots but not needing to look down a bloody scope is such a big QoL buff for me.

Edit: And I'm an idiot and didn't realize I didn't have 150% headshot damage, but 130% (for headhunter). Time to ditch some crit damage for headshot damage!

[Jakkobi]

@ SirCowDog

Would you recommend CR or DW for ND? I have a god rolled CR and my DW is about 80% maxed on all stats.

Also, just realized that I need to have more than one target marked to make use...

[SirCowdog]

@ SirCowDog

Would you recommend CR or DW for ND? I have a god rolled CR and my DW is about 80% maxed on all stats.

Also, just realized that I need to have more than one target marked to make use...

I think that I'm tired from work and can't make sense of what CR or DW means....

EDIT: Looked up named items. Cold Relations or Dark Winter? Don't use a named weapon for Negotiator's Dilemma. Get a Vector SBR with Optimist or Strained if you're using an SMG. You want that insane RPM with those talents. PP-19 you lose mod slots. Dark Winter's talent is too random.

[Nutri]

Is there somewhere a list of possible changes coming in TU11?
Haven't really payed attention to Div2 the past 6-7 weeks

[SirCowdog]

Is there somewhere a list of possible changes coming in TU11?
Haven't really payed attention to Div2 the past 6-7 weeks

Not as of yet. All we have so far are hints from Devs on twitter.

[Coldkil]

Ok, extensively tried Directive, i found it's also really useful in raid (we're at last boss) for the very large amount of special ammo drops via Survivalist.

Really, the only downside of the build is that playing it in group is painful as hell because if anyone steals your kill GOODBYE SPECIAL AMMO. For the rest, it's super satisfiying to see people melt around you.

Still, full red is just the way to go, it works 100% of the time everytime with no downsides. No need for Glass Cannon.
@Edge- Diamondback shines with a full critdmg/headshot build with enough amount of weapon handling. It's literally the same old red build, but since you have at least 40% crit chance from gear only and with the talent you'll have more, you can just stack as much critdmg as possible for bigger nukes. Handling is really good because it drops the reload speed of Diamondback by an insane amount and you're basically cancelling the only downside it has.

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Is there somewhere a list of possible changes coming in TU11?
Haven't really payed attention to Div2 the past 6-7 weeks

AFAIK mod slots on gear will become all "white", plus there should be an overhaul of mod inventory/management. I expect new sets and exotics for more builds/playstyles .
Apparently the overly aggressive mobs that we got rid of un TU10 reappeared for TU 10.1, but it's feedback from players so i don't really know. I don't see much of a difference but i am also used to play with Glass cannon so eveything is a oneshot.

[SirCowdog]

Apparently the overly aggressive mobs that we got rid of un TU10 reappeared for TU 10.1, but it's feedback from players so i don't really know. I don't see much of a difference but i am also used to play with Glass cannon so eveything is a oneshot.

Meanwhile I'm over here having to chase NPCs because all they generally do is run and hide from me. It's annoying as hell.

[Coldkil]

Meanwhile I'm over here having to chase NPCs because all they generally do is run and hide from me. It's annoying as hell.

I think it's actually a mix that's happening. Assault archetypes seem to be back to their deadly kamikaze spree, especially Hyenas with their damn SMGs. On the other side, the defensive ones like techs or snipers just go turtling to the moon - i especially note this with Directive because with all the dots rolling around i see people running away with a simple bleed ticking.

Some adjustments are still needed, most annoying thing i see is NPCs running at the speed of light actually. But it's nothing so extreme many people fuss about.

Oh, and sniper/predictive grenadiers are back.

[Nutri]

I cant recall where I saw it, but Massive themselves elaborated that AI behaviour is affected by player behaviour. The tl:dr was defensive playstyle leads to aggressive AI and vise versa

[Popastique]

New player here, got to level 30 today and am enjoying the game, doing activities left and right. Have a question : does raiding in Division 2 reward players with BIS items? or is it completely optional and you could get said items from solo/party activities outside raids?

[Edge-]

New player here, got to level 30 today and am enjoying the game, doing activities left and right. Have a question : does raiding in Division 2 reward players with BIS items? or is it completely optional and you could get said items from solo/party activities outside raids?

There are some exotics that are raid exclusive (and I think the most recent has 2 set pieces that are exclusive to it for now), and I'm not sure if the drops are "better" in raids. Not a ton of gear though.

[SirCowdog]

Oh, and sniper/predictive grenadiers are back.

What does that mean?

AFAIK Grenadiers have always lead player movement. But what's new with snipers?

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New player here, got to level 30 today and am enjoying the game, doing activities left and right. Have a question : does raiding in Division 2 reward players with BIS items? or is it completely optional and you could get said items from solo/party activities outside raids?

The concept of "Best" gear in the Division 2 is VERY different than any other game you may have played. Divorce yourself from that preconception right now.

Yes, there are some items which are nonsensically locked behind the raids. There are also some which can only be obtained in the Dark Zone. But are they the "best" items? The answer to that is:

It's 100% absolutely, completely dependent upon the player and the build.

For example: I personally use a build that is not generally considered strong by players who follow the current meta. However, I'm able to clear the hardest content just as fast or faster than people who do follow the meta because my build suits my preferred playstyle.

Gear that drops with maximum stats in all slots can be found anywhere, even theoretically on story mode. The minimum rolls on gear are increased the higher you go in difficulty, with Raids and Legendary having the highest minimums of around 60% or so. But I've found that speed-farming challenging or heroic is often a better source of gear, taking a quantity-over-quality approach. RNG is all luck. Some of my highest rolled pieces of gear were obtained from challenging.

My recommendation is to find a build that you REALLY enjoy playing, and focus on gathering gear for that. Don't worry about what someone else tells you is the "best" gear, because they're only speaking for themselves and not an objective truth.