Guide: The Division 2’s Skills, Ranked

Regardless of your play style, The Division 2 offers a variety of skills tailored to suit your needs. However, some skills are more effective in achieving success than others. In this article, we’ll rank the skills in The Division 2 from least to most effective. First, we’ll evaluate each skill type, and then we’ll assess each variant of those skills.

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8. Ballistic Shield

Take a look around at the environment you find yourself in while playing Division 2. After noticing approximately forty-thousand opportunities for cover, do you find yourself thinking, “I wish I had more cover”? Didn’t think so. The ballistic shield is really only useful if you intend to play the game hyper-aggressively, but even then, you’re still probably going to be running for cover. The protection the ballistic shield offers just isn’t worth the space in one of your skill slots.

Ballistic Shield Variant	Info	Rank
Deflector	ricochets bullets back to an enemy of your choice	1
Crusader	allows the use of all firearms, does not protect legs	2
Bulwark	offers full body protection but can only use sidearms	3

7. Pulse

The pulse skill can be used to either highlight enemies’ locations or temporarily jam their electronics. Neither one is particularly useful, at least compared to the other skills on this list. Finding enemies is never that difficult and jamming electronics is only useful against certain enemy types, putting this skill just barely above the ballistic shield.

Pulse Variant	Info	Rank
Jammer	overloads and disables enemy electronics	1
Remote	scans for enemies at a set location	2
Scanner	scans for enemies in your immediate vacinity	3

6. Hive

Primarily a defensive tool, the Hive does offer one offensive variant, the stinger, which sends out micro drones to distract and damage enemies. Out of all the offensive skill variants, this is one of the worst, and the defensive options are nothing to write home about. The low range of the hive skill places it close to the bottom of our list. Still, the hive isn’t the most useless skill on our list thanks to the reviver variant.

Hive Variant	Info	Rank
Reviver	revives nearby downed allies	1
Restorer	repairs nearby allies’ armor	2
Booster	increases nearby allies’s combat effectiveness	3
Stinger	distracts and damages nearby enemies	4

5. Firefly

The firefly skill sounds great on paper – an automated “paper-plane” like device that can blind enemies, target their weak points, or attach proximity explosives to them. However, the firefly’s health is ridiculously low, and the device is going to be destroyed before it even gets close to an enemy the majority of the time. Hopefully, we’ll see an increase to the firefly’s health in a future patch.

Firefly Variant	Info	Rank
Demolisher	targets enemy weak points and environmental explosives	1
Burster	attaches proximity explosives to two enemies	2
Blinder	blinds enemies	3

4. Chem Launcher

The chem launcher is probably the most versatile skill in the game. Offering multiple offensive and defensive options, you’re sure to find at least one variant that fits your play style. The reinforcer variant can also be dropped at your feet, offering you another self-heal option.

Chem Launcher Variant	Info	Rank
Reinforcer	repairs your and nearby allies’ armor over time	1
Oxidizer	damages enemy armor over time	2
Riot Foam	immobilizes emenies	3
Firestarter	explosive gas that can be ignited by bullets	4

3. Turret

If you’re looking for a purely offensive skill, consider equipping one of the turret variants. There are three to choose from, each one complementing different play styles. The turret can be placed at your feet, on top of cover

, or thrown for a better angle. There’s something for everyone here.

Turret Variant	Info	Rank
Sniper	fires high-damage rounds at manually-selected enemies	1
Assault	fires at targets, automatically or manually	2
Incinerator	manually shoots a cone of flames at close range	3

2. Assault Drone

Like the chem launcher, the drone skill offers players multiple offensive and defensive variants. After deploying your drone, you’ll control it remotely, selecting your targets how you see fit. There’s a variant here for everyone, and the assault drone skill just barely misses the #1 spot on our list.

Drone Variant	Info	Rank
Striker	fires continously at a manually-selected target	1
Fixer	repairs allies’ armor, manual or automatic target selection	2
Bombardier	deploys explosives between two manually-set points	3
Defender	deflects incoming enemy fire	4

1. Seeker Mine

Is the seeker mine “easy mode”? Probably, but it’s there, so you might as well use it. Returning from the original Division, the seeker mine can be dropped or thrown for a better path to your target(s) and has a relatively low cooldown timer. Expect to see this skill a lot during your time in the game.

Seeker Mine Variant	Info	Rank
Cluster	splits into smaller explosive mines that seek out multiple enemies	1
Explosive	seeks out an enemy and explodes on proximity	2
Airburst	seeks out an enemy and knocks them back	3

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What did you think of our list? Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to keep on the lookout for more Division 2 content right here on Game Truth.