The Division: Weapon Balancing with Update 1.4 – Extreme Nerfs on SMGs and M1A

With the upcoming Update 1.4, major changes to the weapon balance are coming to The Division.

It is not too surprising that Update 1.4, which aims to change the entire player experience, will also tweak and adjust the weapons in Ubisoft’s MMO shooter. However, it is surprising to what extent Massive is changing the weapon balance. Your SMGs and the overpowered M1A sniper rifles will no longer have the power you once knew after the patch.

The YouTuber and Division expert Skill Up has now presented the balance changes with Update 1.4 in two detailed videos. These are the “World Exclusive” revelations. The developers themselves have not yet spoken about the innovations.

Big Buffs, Big Nerfs

After 1.4, The Division should feel more like a shooter again. With weapon mods, it will no longer be possible to max out all stats of a weapon. For example, if you want to increase weapon damage, the fire rate or stability will suffer as a result. The handling of your guns will noticeably change. You can read the information about the changes to weapon mods here.

How is the damage output of the various weapon types changing?

Assault Rifles

The assault rifles largely survive the patch unscathed. Only the G36 weapons will be nerfed by 5% in base damage.

Until now, the G36 was the best choice among the assault rifles. That this “beast” is now being nerfed is not surprising – even though it is certainly annoying for many agents.

Pistol

Several pistols are being adjusted in base damage:

• Px4: +25% base damage
• M9: +10% base damage
• X45: -40% base damage

The dominance of X45 pistols is thus over. After 1.4, one can expect a larger selection in the pistol slot.

Shotgun

All shotguns will be nerfed by 30% in base damage.

Light Machine Guns

This weapon class is receiving substantial buffs:

• RPK: +8.6% base damage
• L86: +7.4% base damage
• M60: +29% base damage
• M249: +24% base damage

The M60 and M249 LMGs are getting extreme buffs, making them the weapons with the highest “damage per bullet” – excluding sniper rifles. However, a note at this point: During the current PTS phase, a lot of data is being collected. The numbers stated here can still change before the launch of Update 1.4.

Sniper Rifles

The best sniper since the release of The Division in March is the M1A. Massive has tinkered with this weapon several times, but now it is getting a massive nerf:

• M1A: -35.5% base damage
• SVD: -5% base damage
• SRS: +20% base damage
• SCAR-H: +28.5% base damage

Submachine Gun

The SMGs have always been the strongest automatic weapons in the game. Here, Massive is making extensive changes:

• SMG-9: -20% base damage
• MP5: -18.6% base damage
• PP-19: -24.2% base damage
• AUG: -20% base damage
• Vector: -20% base damage
• MP7: -31.1% base damage
• T821: -23.4% base damage
• Burst MP5: +11% base damage

As a result, the submachine guns will be ruthlessly and brutally nerfed. Only the MP5 will be buffed.

Note: Named weapons will not receive changes with 1.4. These will only be adjusted in future updates.

What do you think of these changes? Keep in mind that these are currently being tested with the PTS. These innovations are therefore still not final.

Information on the Gear Set changes with Update 1.4 can be read here.