The Division 2: Which skills to choose at the beginning?

Tom Clancy's The Division 2 has an excellent shooting system which is in addition supplied with the availability of 8 unique special abilities that can be used during combat. What is more, each of those abilities has several modifications, giving the players dozens of skills to choose from, which in turn translate into multiple combinations of abilities to use. Which abilities and skills work the best at the beginning of the game? You will learn that from the following chapter.

• The first ability
• The second ability
• Selection and usage of abilities - tips

The first ability

After several minutes into the game, you will be given the opportunity to unlock your first special ability. The one worth noting is the Turret ability - it allows you to set up a defensive turret that will fire automatically at nearby targets or those specifically targeted by the player. This is definitely the best ability to start with - it allows you to deal additional damage to enemies and - above all else - distract the enemies and shift their attention from the player's character.

The second ability

After completing your first story mission, you will be given the opportunity to unlock your second ability. Here you should take a particular interest in the healing abilities - those that allow one to regenerate lost armor of the character. There are three options to choose from:

1. Drone with the Fixer upgrade - of all the three abilities, the Fixer repairs the least amount of armor, but has the longest duration, up to 180 seconds. It works great when a character receives continuous, but not too high damage.
2. Hive with the Restorer (default) upgrade - the ability offering moderate amount of healing with decent duration time. Interestingly, the ability has 25 charges and each can restore a specific amount of armor to the player. What is more, the ability can heal up to 4 characters at the same time. This skill is great when you need to quickly regenerate a large amount of armor and/or when the whole team needs such a treatment.
3. Chem Launcher with the Reinforcer (default) upgrade - the ability offering the highest, one-time armor restoration, but the ability is single-use only, with no constant healing. A huge advantage of the ability is the fact that it has an extremely short cooldown time, allowing one to use it multiple times during a single encounter. Ideal for scenarios in which one-time, instantaneous healings are necessary.

The choice for the second ability really depends on the playstyle of each individual person - each of those abilities will work well in the appropriate hands.

Note - there is a fourth variant, Hive with the Reviver upgrade. The ability does not allow you to regenerate armor, but instead gives the ability to revive a fallen companion or automatically raise the player's character when it is incapacitated by the enemies. It works great during missions where death is not an option - during Bounties, Convoys, hostage rescues or when one is moving through Dark Zones.

Selection and usage of abilities - tips

Depending on whether you will be playing solo or in a 4-player squad, the selection of abilities can vary significantly. However, it is still worth to stick to the following tips that will work in most scenarios:

1. A great choice of abilities for the beginning of the game (and through the next hours of the campaign) is the combination of the Turret with the Assault mod (default) and the Drone with the Fixer upgrade. This set will allow one to deal additional damage and shift the focus of the enemies off the player's character (Turret) and at the same time keep the character alive (Drone). It is also very effective while playing in a team.
2. ALWAYS have a healing ability at your disposal. Even though you will not have problems surviving enemy fire during the first hours of the game, at higher levels the opponents can deal huge damage in seconds and the amount of armor-restoring consumables carried by the character at once is, unfortunately, limited. This is why it is worth to have a healing ability at all times. If you are playing in a team with a dedicated healer, you can swap this skill for another one.
3. Do not waste excess SHD points to unlock upgrades for multiple abilities. These points are better to be used to unlock Perks - once you have majority of them unlocked, you can start spending SHD points to unlock ability mods.
4. Test all of the abilities to find those that will suit your playstyle the most.
5. Remember to increase the cooldown reduction parameter if possible - it will decrease the cooldown time of abilities, which is the time needed for the ability to become available again.

Tom Clancy's The Division 2

March 15, 2019

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