Since the heroic difficulty and especially the raid in The Division 2 have been playable, the exotic rifle “Gnadenlos” or “Merciless” is gaining popularity. How come?
That’s why the Exotic is sought after again: After Gnadenlos was more or less absent from most builds for a while, it has once again found its way into the focus of players with the implementation of the heroic difficulty and the raid.
The Exotic is suddenly “in”, on Reddit, the user Awake514 even speaks of a new “obsession” among players. And for good reason.
It belongs to the rifles and is possibly one of the most unusual weapons in the game in terms of its playstyle. Its talents are particularly effective against heavily armored enemies, as it is geared towards explosive damage. What exactly makes the Exotic so good, you will find out here.
Unusual, but explosive damage
This is what makes Gnadenlos so effective against tanks: The weapon’s talents are quite specific, but they make the Exotic very effective.
It particularly shines in action against heavily armored tanks, which are notably tough in the raid “Operation: Dark Hours” and heroic missions.
These are the talents of the Merciless:
- Binary Trigger: The weapon fires a bullet each time you press the trigger and when you release it. The Merciless has a unique firing mechanic that allows you to fire bullets quite quickly.
- Guerilla Warfare: When you press the trigger, a “primer bullet” is fired that sticks in the target. When you release the trigger, the second bullet is a “detonator bullet” that causes all primer bullets in the target to explode.
- Brutality: Every shot has a 5% chance to deal +20% damage as explosive damage – but only when Merciless is holstered.
Why is the weapon so powerful? Every primer bullet in the target increases the damage per primer bullet by +75% when the primers explode. The more primers are in the target, the higher the damage upon detonation.
In total, up to five primer bullets can be sunk into the target. Thus, with the right gameplay, massive damage can be dealt.
How can one find the weapon? Gnadenlos is only available as a drop from certain enemies. Here’s how to get the Gnadenlos rifle.
How do you play the weapon best? Playing the Gnadenlos correctly means a change for you. Because where you would normally only fire one shot by pressing and releasing the trigger, you now have to account for two shots (primer and detonator).
The massive damage then results from the fact that you accumulate the primers to the maximum number of 5 and thus maximize the damage from a detonation.
Here’s how to effectively stack primers:
- To avoid triggering a detonation immediately after the first primer, you need to press the trigger but must not release it immediately.
- If you have a target with one primer, aim slightly off to the side and release the trigger.
- Now you can fire another primer bullet at the target with the next shot. You do this until you’ve stacked all five primers.
- Now you just need to hit the target with a detonator shot, and you will get the maximum damage out of it.
In the video, which comes from Reddit user AJ_Gadz, you can see how this works. He is playing the stronghold Tital Basin on the heroic difficulty.
The enemies fall almost like flies due to the massive explosive damage. It may be harder to play on PS4 and Xbox One due to controller handling, but it is still very strong there.
Other players also write on Reddit about the advantages of the Exotic: “It is the best weapon against enemies that wear proper armor pieces instead of just a health bar. You can take down a heroic enemy with 5 primers in a matter of seconds.”
Many other comments agree and describe similar experiences. However, some have not had luck and have been waiting longer for a potential drop of the exotic weapon.
Was this weapon also used when Xbox players completed the first phase of the raid in a very short time?
