Need some tips on how to level up in Division 2? Well you can’t go wrong by reading on. The free-roam style of division may confuse some, or give a weird paranoia of “missing something” to others, but ultimately…
Don’t worry – there’s not WRONG WAY to level up.
But you might as well try to “get the important things done” along the way.
Division 2 Leveling Process & Priority
Due to the open world nature of Division 2, you should think of the leveling process as completing in-game objectives in loose priority. The higher in the list, the more important they are for you.
Note: Main missions don’t scale up, side missions do.
Note: Strongholds are the highest priority when doing them the first time.
Settlements, Safehouses, Staff
Unlocking any Settlement should be the highest priority as they unlock more main missions, more side missions, more projects, staff… you get the picture. Unlocking settlements simply gives you more options going forward – and another point to fast travel to. Settlements are marked by a large green structural icon.
Nearby Safehouses are also worth getting sidetracked for. They give you locations for SHD caches, and another fast travel point. Safehouses which are unopened appear as a white house icon.
On a side note, getting control points also help alleviate excessive walking as you can fast travel to control points you own (more on this in the project tab). You also get some sweet loot each time you “liberate” one. They appear as red flags on the map.
Lastly, Staff can be very important so take the time to unlock them whenever a new one pops up.
Main Missions
Main Missions unlock lots of things – so it’s a good idea to get them done as long as you meet the level requirement. They also give large amounts of EXP and other rewards. These don’t scale up in level so if you’re the type to ‘experience the game as it was planned’, try not to over-level them.
Main Missions appear as a large hexagon.
Side Missions
You’ll eventually want to complete every mission, as many of them unlock mod recipes. – These are high priority missions.
Others unlock crafting recipes for armor, or SHD caches – these are a lesser priority side missions but you’ll want to get these done someday.
Sidemissions are marked by a small blue pentagon.
Projects
Projects require material donations and completing a few in-game objectives to get an unlock and some EXP. Just by playing the game you will have projects “near completion” – easy EXP.
Many projects need a control point to finish. Try not to just conquer any at random – go for the control points that will make travel easier for you.
Activities
Activities are essentially “everything else”. While they give good EXP and rewards, they don’t really contribute to anything permanent. You should go out of your way to do activities tied to projects, but otherwise complete them at your own discretion.
Activities come in many icon shapes and colors – you’ll getw the hang of it soon.
Long story short, MISSIONS of any kind give the chunkiest EXP. But also keep in mind that you can get sidetracked for quality of life unlocks, such as fast travel points.
Gaining Power and gearing up while leveling
Sometimes, for whatever reason, you need to get a little stronger to complete your next objective (usually a Main Mission). Here’s a priority of things you can do to power up:
- Get high impact Perks and Skills early on.
- Get better gear* (More on this below)
- Raise your level with “non-mission activities”.
Notes on gearing up while leveling
ACTIVITIES are great gearing up, but make sure you preview the activity reward to check if you get gear. Just highlight the activity and check the middle left of your screen to see the reward.
Crafting gear early on is actually pretty good. The crafting results are usually absurdly strong compared the the random junk you get – and it’s a great way to mitigate bad gear RNG (ie getting the same gear type multiple times).
For most players I feel stopping PURELY to gear up won’t happen very often, or at all, but better gear helps speed things up regardless.
Well that’s it for a preliminary guide on leveling up in Division 2. I’ll refine this as I go along!
