In The Division, we provide tips and tricks on how you can efficiently level up in PvE when playing alone.
When friends are offline again or are playing other games, the diligent Division agent is left to fend for himself. But how can he farm delicious items solo to quickly rise in score and improve? Or is one reliant on a strike team to get the good stuff?
The Dark Zone is not recommended for lone wolves. Not only do other agents pose a great danger, but especially the high-level NPCs, which are virtually unbeatable solo due to their high health and immense firepower – or deadly flamethrowers.
Solo Agents – Down to the Underground!
To efficiently farm high-quality items when one is playing alone, the Underground is suitable. The Underground operations have been available to PS4 agents for about a week now, allowing them to benefit as well.
When you play the missions, you gain experience points. Once you have collected enough, you level up in the Underground rank. And now the special part: With every rank increase, you receive an Underground container. Since you are quickly progressing through the low ranks, you will receive numerous containers in a short amount of time.
With each one, you have the chance to loot an item with the maximum gear score. Currently, the maximum for armor pieces is 268, and for weapons, it’s 229.
However, the items in the containers depend on your current score. If you have a lower equipment value, you will not get the best items right away. Nevertheless, the Underground containers are excellent for gradually rising in score.
Tip: If you have acquired items with high scores that do not fit your build at all, it is still worth equipping them. This increases your chance of obtaining higher-value items in the next container.
Since you can easily master the Underground on “Normal” and possibly also on “Hard” solo, this method is well-suited for playing alone. While increasing difficulty and additional directives can boost your experience gain and thus help you get Underground containers faster, “Challenging” and “Heroic” are hardly manageable solo. But remember the matchmaking function if none of your friends are available.
Here are the XP gains in the Underground, depending on the difficulty:
- Normal: 500 XP
- Hard: 750 XP
- Challenging: 1000 XP
- Heroic: 1250 XP
Playing Solo from the Beginning
However, the Underground is only playable once you have already reached the endgame and can show the necessary equipment values. If you are just starting with The Division or starting a new character – how can you level up as quickly as possible?
The YouTuber Marcostyle tested how he could efficiently level up as a solo player without friends – all exclusively in PvE. To do this, he created a completely new account.
First, all story missions must be completed. He mastered these in about 11.5 hours. Afterwards, he completed a few side missions to fully expand the operations base and reach level 30 – and gear score 0!
Since many endgame activities require certain gear scores, Marcostyle had to consider how to proceed. He came up with a method that is certainly debatable and definitely not the most honorable, but in his opinion, it’s the best way to level up quickly: He had other agents carry him through the story missions on “Heroic”.
He started the matchmaking and hoped that the other players would not leave the strike team or kick him – since he only had a score of 0. However, he ended up in a team with other agents who carried him through. In just a few minutes, he went from 0 to 71. He repeated this approach several times, although he was often kicked. But time and again, some agents kindly helped him and took him through the missions. After a total of 14 hours of gameplay, he reached an equipment value of 181:
Next, he played “Falcon Lost” on Hard with random players, two of whom left their loot for him at the end. Later, he was drawn into the Underground and also into the “Dragon’s Nest”. So after a total of 21 hours, he achieved a score of 243:
However, you are far from “powerful” just because you quickly achieved high scores. For: While you may have access to the most challenging activities, your character can still have miserable stats. So with a low value, you could display the following stats:
Or with a high score, such stats:
It takes time until you have the items you need for your build. Nevertheless, understandably, many agents want to achieve high values as quickly as possible to have a chance at the best items in the game.
What advice do you have on how to play successfully as a solo agent?
In our The Division guide collection, you will find numerous builds that are also suitable for solo play.
