In our Level Guide, we show you how to quickly reach Max Level 30 in The Division 2 and farm more EXP.
Many players try to reach the endgame in The Division 2 directly and without detours to get the best loot.
In our guide, we show players who want to reach Max Level 30 as quickly as possible how they can gather EXP faster and level up best.

There are perks for more experience points
In The Division 2, there are perks that you can unlock with SHD Tech. These reward you with bonus EXP when you eliminate enemies in a specific way.
Especially at the beginning of the game, this is a useful boost that allows you to level up a little faster.
This is how you unlock the perks: Go to the Quartermaster in the White House. Here you can choose the perks. There are several tiers, each providing new ways to earn extra experience points through specific kill methods.
These include bonus EXP through
- Multi-kills,
- headshot kills
- kills from destroying weak points
- kills from destroying environmental objects
- long survival without dying.
You need SHD Tech to unlock them. You obtain this currency by completing missions or from SHD caches.

Quests are your main source of EXP
In The Division 2, you have several options to collect EXP. For each completed mission, you receive an EXP reward at the end. There are differences between the activities.
These are the available mission types:
- Main missions: The experience points you earn from main missions are fixed and do not scale with your level.
- Side missions: The EXP reward scales with your level and always gives you 33% of the required experience points until the next level-up.
- Open-world activities: Capturing a control point also gives you EXP. Like side missions, these scale with your level but provide only 10% of the required EXP until the next level, which is significantly lower.
Most players will tackle all these things leisurely and in order. However, if you’re in a hurry, it can be helpful to only complete specific missions and save the rest for later.

Play the story missions
Here’s why you should play the story missions first: As in The Division 1, story missions are the first you should play. They provide you with good EXP, loot, and are prerequisites for the endgame.
Even if you are 1-2 levels below the recommended levels, you should be able to manage reasonably well. If in doubt, find a group to assist you or complete open-world activities to make up the difference.
The missions are also usually entertaining and take you to interesting places in the game world.
Can story missions be repeated to continuously gain EXP? You can play each story mission as often as you want. However, you only receive EXP the first time you complete them. Therefore, it is not worth replaying them just for leveling.
Save side missions for later
At the beginning of the game, until the end of the story campaign, progressing is not an issue.
You might think that you should complete side missions meanwhile to gain even more EXP. However, you should definitely save these for later if you want to maximize your experience points.
That’s why higher-level side missions are more rewarding: As mentioned above, side missions scale with your level. For a completed side mission, you receive 33% of the required EXP for the next level-up.
So if you’re in a hurry, you should tackle these only in the mid-level range.

Things to keep in mind:
- Don’t play side missions if you’re really close to leveling up.
- If you progress through the experience points, for example, from Level 10 to Level 11, you only receive the amount of EXP that corresponds to your previous level.
- In that case, it would be more effective to play the mission only after leveling up, as you would benefit from the scaling of EXP more with Level 11.
- You can simply complete activities in the open world in the meantime to level up.
Side missions are particularly worthwhile in higher-level ranges. But what if someone just keeps eliminating NPCs?

Killing NPCs takes too long
Why isn’t it worthwhile to just kill stronger NPCs? This may work in the earlier levels. However, the EXP you receive from NPCs does not increase sufficiently at higher levels to make a real difference.
This would simply take too long, as an example from YouTuber MarcoStyle illustrates:
- At Level 2, you need 3900 EXP to level up
- A normal enemy with red health gives 25 EXP
- You would need to eliminate 156 “red” NPCs to level up.
At Level 7, it’s already 513. And this continues up to Level 30. While tougher enemy types give more EXP, it’s not enough to compensate.
Experience points through projects
What are projects? These are tasks that you can accept in The Division 2 in settlements.
Projects are worthwhile because they provide not only blueprints and other benefits but also experience points.
Therefore, it is important not to dismantle all the equipment you find. You can often donate this for projects.

The fastest way to level up
What exactly should you do now? The quick summary looks like this:
- Play the story missions and open-world activities
- Save your side missions for as long as possible
- Additionally, you can complete projects to gather extra EXP
If you prefer to have all this explained in moving images, check out the video by MarcoStyle:
What type of player are you? Do you want to reach the endgame as quickly as possible or prefer to take your time and complete everything sequentially?