Welcome Agents, this article focuses on one of the aspects of The Division 2’s endgame: Strongholds.
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Tom Clancy’s The Division 2‘s Strongholds are the mid-scale zones – defining scale compared to the raid content released later this month which will be larger – where your objective is to push out the enemy occupying force from their controlled area. You are able to enter each Stronghold at level 26 for the Hyena-controlled District Union Arena, 28 for The Outcast-controlled Roosevelt Island, and at 30 you gain access to the Capitol Building which is occupied by the True Sons.
Each stronghold is located at various areas of DC and will require you to either travel there by foot or fast travel there, if you happen to have a team member at the location. Once you enter the area, you’ll be tasked with several objectives to complete in order to dismantle the faction and encounter the main faction boss.
These missions will require a decent amount of skill and understanding to be able to venture through them without being overran. Once completed for the first time you’ll be gifted with a high end weapon, and once you complete the Capitol Building you’ll enter the “Endgame,” entering World Tier 1 and introduced to the Black Tusk, the new paramilitary faction that has now made DC their Base of Operations.
Upon the Black Tusk making their march on DC, they take over the strongholds again, requiring you to go back in. Now, they’re much more dangerous and tech heavy, your approach to these three strongholds will more than likely have to change. To reclaim back the “invaded” strongholds you must first complete the invaded missions you did earlier in your leveling process.
Complete these two missions allows you to unlock one of the three strongholds, which you choose. You will also need to meet the minimum gear score requirement as well. Gear Score is a numerical representation of your power, it is based on the gear you have equipped and also stored on your person and stash. As you progress through the game and unlock higher world tiers, by completing all three strongholds, this number will also increase, along with the difficulty of enemies.
As of April 5, 2019, with the latest update, you now have the opportunity to go head-first at the Black Tusk themselves in their own Stronghold, Tidal Basin.
Tidal Basin combines elements of all three previous strongholds, wrapped into one multilayered experience that has to be played to truly enjoy. It is also the one stronghold with the most lethal of bosses as they have access to a variety of weapons to handle encounters at all three ranges: the close quarters of District Union Arena, the longer sight lines of Roosevelt Island, and the verticality of the Capitol Building. Tidal Basin uses each of them to great respect, especially in the last segment where you encounter the boss.
Now, once you complete Tidal Basin and make it to World Tier 5, the Black Tusk double down again. They will lock down Tidal Basin and in order to fight there once more you must go through one of the initial three strongholds which have been invaded yet again. This time, to unlock the invaded stronghold you must complete three invaded missions instead of just two. This will rotate on a weekly basis, as there’s also an exotic weapon you can begin to earn pieces for in this stronghold.
Aside from the previous strongholds being a segway into getting into Tidal Basin, you can replay the strongholds at any time as they also do fall into the rotation for daily quests which will have you playing them on a more challenging difficulty (Hard or Challenging) but if you want to truly give yourself a challenge in the endgame, play on Heroic.
