General hints | Hints The Division Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
1. Always use cover: The Division is a cover shooter and using every possible form of cover is crucial to win a shoot-out. During missions, we often encounter waves of enemies, so even after defeating the last opponent it is wise to stay in cover just in case another wave appears.
2. Remember to use your abilities. Pulse is the most useful skill available in beta and you should use it whenever you can. It will protect you from a sudden attack and will improve your combat skills. Remember that other players can hide from your Pulse by using a special modification to the skill.
3. Pay attention to your surroundings. Aside from the Dark Zone, you will always have access to the mini-map, which will show (with a red field) the side from which the enemy is approaching.
4. Watch your steps! Enemies will constantly throw grenades at you (and mortal-like weapons will appear farther in the game), which will by marked by a red field appearing in the specified area. To avoid taking damage, or getting negative effects caused by those attacks, leave the indicated area of effect.
5. Fully automatic fire is almost always pointless (unless you are an expert on keeping your crosshair on the target), as most of the bullets will miss your intended target. However, firing this way will allow you to pin down the enemy - he will stay behind cover for a few seconds, not able to do anything.
6. Each story-related mission ends with a boss-like fight - an encounter with an enemy with a unique name, huge amount of health and armor. Additionally, those enemies are able to dish out enormous damage, so try not to get caught in the open when dealing with them. Moreover, they always have a flaw that can be used against them - some of them will use a sniper rifle (and they can be damaged in between each shot), some will wield a light machine gun (leaving them vulnerable for several seconds while reloading) and so on.
7. Use your grenades with moderation - during some of the longer missions you will have a hard time replenishing them, and a single, well-aimed grenade can turn the tides of every encounter.
8. Your skills should be constantly used. They have no cost, and the cooldown times of most of them are short enough not to hinder you in any way. However, the Signature skills need enormous amount of time before they can be used again, which means that you should think twice before using them.
9. While playing in a team, all of you should try to pick your skills in order to supplement each other. This goes especially for the Signature skills, which a single player can only have one - it's a good idea to have all three different Signature skills in the team's repertoire. Some of them, like the Pulse, can be doubled - if more than one player has access to this skill, it will allow you to pinpoint the location of your enemies more often.
10. If you are playing with a team of players, pay attention to what happens to them. Whenever a companion is knocked down to the ground, rush to their position to revive them.
11. Always focus your attention on the enemy snipers (a crosshair-like icon will appear next to their health bar). Those foes can take out your whole health bar with a single shot.
12. Don't shoot at the first encountered enemy as soon as you enter a new room, or a location. Look around, pinpoint the location of the most dangerous foes, find a good position. The enemies will be unaware of your presence until you make a ruckus.
13. Complete some of the upgrades as early as possible. The ones you should be especially interested are the Counseling from the Medical Wing and the Situation Room from the Security Wing. The former gives a 10% increase in Credit gain, whereas the latter one increases your experience gain by 10%.