This guide is a work in progress and is not yet complete.
Raids in the Division 2 are the most challenging content available. A raid consists of eight agents attempting to complete a series of stages which involve defeating one or more special boss opponents. Defeating these bosses involves some special mechanics which require teamwork and coordination, as well as strong builds and skillful work by the participating agents.
There are two raid difficulty levels
- Discovery – the easier mode. Not all raid mechanics are in play. There are slightly fewer enemies and they are a bit easier. It is best to learn in this mode. Discovery supports matchmatching. Raid-only drops are not available.
- Normal – the higher difficulty. There is no matchmaking available for this mode. Special raid-only drops can be obtained, like the Eagle Bearer.
Requirements to participate in a Raid (Discovery or Normal):
- World Tier 5
- Gear Score 490 or higher
- Talk to the Pilot at the White House
During a raid, there are some special player mechanics.
- There's no radar available. This means calling out high priority threats is very helpful, as well as listening to squad mates about targets.
- A squad mate who is unconscious requires a revive kit to revive. Each agent only has one revive kit per boss encounter. This means getting squad mates up before they go unconscious is very important. It also means if you've used your revive kit already, don't waste time trying to revive an unconscious squad mate.
You can tell if you have a revive kit available by looking at the agent roster. The blue circle shows an agent with a revive kit, the red circle shows an agent who has used their revive kit.
- You only have two armor kits per boss encounter. Armor kits are a last resort item for keeping your armor up. If you are accustomed to using a lot of them, you could be at risk.
To succeed in a raid, the most important aspect of an agent’s build and playstyle is survivability.
No matter how strong an agent's damage output might be, it doesn't help the team if that agent is down.
To that end, here are some suggestions:
- For most stages, equip the Reviver Hive skill. This skill will revive you if you go down, though it has a long cooldown, so it is basically an extra life every few minutes. This skill will make up for the occasional mistake without impacting the rest of the team. In terms of equipping skill mods on it, the only thing that matters is reducing the cooldown.
- For most stages, equip the Repairer Chem Launcher skill. This skill allows you to heal yourself, and potentially other team mates. It has multiple charges and a low cool down. If you haven't used this skill before, practice with it during a mission or two to get comfortable with how it works. The best skill mods for this skill are ones that improve the heal or add charges.
After survivability, damage output is important. Since almost all the enemies are elites, having a high damage to elites percentage is very important. A minimum of 75% damage to elites is strongly suggested. This can be obtained with a combination of the "Hard Hitting" talent on a gear item and a mask with good damage to elites percentage.
Most stages have an “aggro” mechanic, with the exception of Razorback. Having aggro, short for "aggression", means a boss unit is targeting a specific player. Sometimes a player is picked randomly for aggro, but usually aggro is obtained by shooting at a boss.
You can tell who has aggro by looking at the agent roster. Agents with aggro will have a red eye under their name, and the name of the boss currently targeting them.
Agents with aggro, with the red arrow pointing out the aggro indicator.
When you have aggro, there will be a blinking red eye on your HUD
When you have aggro, it is wise to let your squad mates know, since it can be hectic during an encounter and people may not notice the aggro indicators right away.
The impact of aggro depends on the boss encounter.
Currently, there is only one raid mission available: Operation Dark Hours. The rest of the guide is specific to Operation Dark Hours.
Operation Dark Hours
There are four boss stages in Operation Dark Hours:
- Boomer
- Hanger (Dizzy, Ricochet and Weasel)
- Buddy & Lucy
- Razorback
Some stages have an approach portion, where there will be an area of a fixed amount of enemies that need to be cleared before you get to the boss area. Since there's no radar to alert you, approach each new section with eyes open. Sometimes the enemies are drones which can be hard to see.
Most stages continue to spawn additional enemies ("adds") endlessly until the boss is defeated. The notable exception is the Buddy & Lucy phase, which has no adds.
Boss Stage: Boomer
Basic summary of how to defeat Boomer:
- Boomer cannot be damaged unless he his kneeling. Shooting at Boomer cannot hurt him unless he his kneeling. When he kneels, it is best to shoot him in the head. When Boomer is vulnerable, the callout "DPS. DPS. DPS." will be made, indicating it is time to shoot Boomer in the head.
- Boomer will kneel when his backpack is shot with one of the turrets. One agent will have Boomer's aggro, and must guide Boomer so that another agent can shoot his backpack with the turret. Boomer will disable the turret with an EMP grenade, so alternating between the turrets is required.
- Boomer has a chestpiece that heals him when it is lit green. When Boomer’s chestpiece is green, it is important to shoot it, or Boomer can heal up.
- Additional enemies continue to spawn until Boomer is defeated. Killing these adds is essential to victory, as too many enemy units can interfere with defeating the boss.
How the Boomer encounter unfolds:
This stage has an approach phase of clearing the tarmac. Once that is complete, you enter the terminal for the encounter with Boomer, the first boss. The important aspects of the terminal layout are shown on this map.
The two fixed turrets, one at gate 41 and the other at gate 45, are essential.
- The encounter starts with shooting the shield generators with the turrets. The shield generators can only be damaged by the turrets. The shield generators will protect enemies until destroyed, so agents must destroy all four. Each turret can target one close and one distant shield generator.
- When the shield generators are destroyed, agents must clear the first wave of enemies. Enemies spawn on all sides of the map, so stay in cover.
- Boomer enters from the entrance between Gate 45 and Gate 42. Typically the first agent on sub-group 1 will have aggro, but it can vary.
- The agent with aggro leads Boomer to a turret. Whichever agent has aggro should lead Boomer to a turret in a way that his backpack can be shot. Boomer has a powerful melee attack so keep your distance. But you also need to keep an eye on his chestpiece and shoot it if it turns green.
- Other agents need to kill adds and man the turret. An agent operating the turret needs to be careful not to overheat the gun shooting at adds. The primary function of the turret is to shoot Boomer's backpack and to shoot Boomer in the head.
- Turret operators need to be careful not to draw aggro.. If you are on the turret and shoot Boomer instead of his pack, you may draw aggro. Turret operators who drag aggro must immediately abandon the turret and try to keep Boomer in front of the turret for another agent to shoot.
- When Boomer's kneels from damage to his backpack, squad mates will call out "DPS." This is the time to close on Boomer and shoot him in the head.
- It can take several damage cycles to defeat Boomer. After inflicting damage to Boomer, he will get up and toss an EMP grenade to disable the turret closest to him. The agent with Boomer's aggro will need to lead him to the other turret for the next damage cycle.
- Killing adds is very important. In the scrum of the conflict with Boomer, remaining behind the center counter and shooting adds is huge contribution to defeating Boomer. So when in doubt, stay safe and shoot adds. If you draw Boomer's aggro, lead him to a turret.
Boss Stage: Hangar
Basic summary of how to defeat the three bosses of the Hangar:
- The encounter area is divided in two areas. The raid team will split into two group, with four agents going into area A and four agents into area B. Usually the split is by sub-group on the agent roster on the right of the screen.
- Each area has a debuff active when the encounter starts. One side will have an orange gas and do less damage and one side will have purple gas which weakens agents' armor.
- Consoles in the middle of the area on the aircraft can toggle the gases These consoles must be operated at the same time, so coordination between sides is essential. In addition, the correct console to interact with is visible only from one side. Typically one agent from each side is assigned to managing the consoles.
- When one boss is killed the aircraft lifts up and a new boss spawns. The area will no longer be divided so agents can group up again.
- The goal is to weaken the two initial bosses to almost dead before killing one. This will allow the whole team to focus on the last remaining boss. Because of the gases, it is key to pay attention to the health of both bosses, and to not kill one boss too soon. You can see the health of the bosses in the top center part of the screen.
- There is an aggro mechanic for the bosses. Try to assist your agents by drawing aggro, and when you have aggro, be defensive and lead the bosses away from fellow agents. The agents assigned to do the gas consoles will need priority in keeping aggro away from them so they can toggle the debuffs.
- Additional enemies will continiously spawn and must be eliminated. Snipers spawn in a room above the encounter area and are particularly dangerous.
