Currently, the test servers (PTS) for the upcoming major Title Update 6 of The Division 2 are running on PC. Preparations are in full swing, and Massive has already released preliminary patch notes. In addition to balance adjustments, new talents and quality-of-life changes are coming to the game.
There are significant changes coming to The Division 2. The next update has been announced for October, and it is currently being played on the test server. The extensive preliminary patch notes provide a taste of the massive changes.
The developers emphasized in the latest State of the Game that these changes are not set in stone and can still change before release. It is expected that the big Title Update 6 will be released a few weeks after the end of the PTS phase (October 1st).
Massive wants more strong builds: The well-known nerfs, such as for the Eagle Bearer, have already faced a lot of criticism from the community. However, the developers want to increase the variety of effective builds in the future. To that end, Massive is tweaking several talents and has even introduced a few new talents.
These are the new talents
- Spark – Skill Talent for Backpacks
- Dealing damage to enemies with skills or grenades increases weapon damage by +15% for 15 seconds
- Vigilance – Damage Talent for Vests
- Increases weapon damage by +25% – Incoming damage disables the buff for 5 seconds.
- Concussion – Headshot Talent for Masks
- Headshots increase headshot damage by +20% for 2 seconds, with sniper rifles for 5 seconds.
In particular, “Spark” and “Vigilance” make a strong impression. Although the values may change before release, these two talents will surely be tried out by some agents.
These talents could become interesting now
Some talents are set to be significantly buffed, and some will receive entirely new functionalities. The developers are massively changing the talent loadout. We have compiled a selection of the most interesting changes for you:
Buffs
- Critical – Passive Armor Talent
- Gloves, Holster
- +15% (previously 5) damage from critical hits
- Surgical – Passive Armor Talent
- Gloves, Holster
- +10% (previously 5) chance for critical hits
- Gunslinger – Active Armor Talent
- Holster
- Switching to a handgun within 10 seconds (previously 3) after a kill fills the magazine of the handgun and gives +30% damage (previously 20%) for the entire magazine.
- Basket – Active Weapon Talent
- All Weapons
- Body shots increase damage with each hit by 50% (previously 5) for the next headshot for 10 seconds. The maximum stack size is 3 (previously 10).
- Boomerang – Active Weapon Talent
- Rifles
- Critical hits have a 50% (previously 20) chance for the bullet to return to the magazine. If this happens, the next shot deals 50% (previously 20%) more damage.
- Killer – Active Weapon Talent
- All Weapons
- Killing an enemy with a critical hit increases the damage for critical hits for 15 seconds (previously 5) by 50% (previously 30).
- Marksman – Active Weapon Talent
- Rifles
- Headshots provide a stackable bonus of 10% to weapon damage for 5 seconds. The maximum stack size is 5. Additional headshots reset the duration. The buff is no longer disabled by body shots or misses.
New Functionality
- Devious – Active Armor Talent
- Gloves
- Whenever a status effect is applied to an enemy, weapon damage increases by 15% for 20 seconds.
- Opportunistic – Active Armor Talent
- Gloves
- Dealing damage to an enemy increases damage from all sources to that enemy by 10% for 3 seconds.
- Trauma – Active Armor Talent
- Mask
- PvE: Every 30 seconds, an enemy hit by a headshot is blinded for 5 seconds
- PvP: Every 40 seconds, an enemy hit by a headshot is blinded for 2 seconds
- Naked – Active Weapon Talent
- Sniper Rifles (min. 8x zoom)
- Whenever your armor is destroyed, damage increases by 50% for 20 seconds.
- Executioner
- Handgun
- Switching to another weapon 10 seconds (previously 3) after killing an enemy with this weapon increases critical hit chance and critical hit damage by 30%.
By the start of Title Update 6, much can still change. Here, however, are already a few potentially strong talents included. For example, the change of the “Naked” talent is worth a look. Builds using “Berserker” could benefit greatly with the right playstyle.
After the adjustments of the two passive talents “Critical” and “Surgical”, these will be a good support in building a crit build. Along with the strengthening of the weapon talent “Killer” and the weakening of the armor talent “Compensated”, critical hits will likely play a larger role again.
What is happening with the skills? Here, too, the developers have closely examined which skills are used how and in which combinations. The interaction between “Cluster Mine” and “Firefly” was particularly noteworthy.
A build combination of the exotic BT Data Gloves, the “Blender Firefly”, and the “Cluster Mine” can control large enemy groups for a long time. This makes it easy for agents to deal a lot of damage with minimal risk.
The skills continue to work well together, but cooldowns will be increased to reduce the potency of this powerful crowd-control combo. However, players in larger groups will certainly not be stopped from taking down entire mobs without incoming damage.
- Cluster Mine – Cluster
- Increased cooldown from 40 seconds to 60 seconds.
- Increased damage by +30%
- Capacity reduced from 4 to 3
- Cluster Mine – Explosive
- Increased damage by +20%
- Firefly – Blender
- Increased cooldown from 60 seconds to 90 seconds.
Another change for the Fireflies – the skill can now be activated without a previously set target and seeks potential attack points by itself.
There is also an upgrade for turrets and drones. The “Assault Turret”, “Sniper Turret”, and “Striker Drone” will benefit from “damage against elite enemies” bonuses after the update.
And there is even more
In addition to the already presented changes in PvP or the storage capacity, The Division 2 also brings some new comfort features, improvements, and balance adjustments that, while not spectacular, will enhance the game in their own way.
- Adjustment of the difficulty levels “Hard”, “Challenging”, and “Heroic”
- Overhaul of the “Black Tusk” dogs and mini-tanks
- Overhaul of enemy behavior when entering combat with players
- Heavy units are being reworked
- less health, but crowd control less effective
- Player turrets are attacked more often
- Inventory options
- Mods can be better sorted
- Items can be marked with “Donate” or “Recalibrate”
- 12 additional loadout slots
- Checkpoint officers now heal all downed players, not just the last downed one
In addition to the announced changes to crafting and the more targeted loot system, several new features are coming with the next Title Update 6. After the PTS phase is over, it will be exciting to see what new features will ultimately make it into the game.
Which talent will likely be the next OP talent? Or do you think builds will hardly change after these patches?
