Things are heating up in The Division 2 as the Escalation mode has arrived in the eighth year. Aimed for the veterans, this difficulty level will be a true test of your in-game skills and abilities. That said, with great risks come greater rewards.
Let’s understand what the difficulty means and if it’s worth your time and additional efforts.
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How does the Escalation mode work in The Division 2
With Year 8 Season 1, aka Rise Up, now live, we can test out the Escalation mode. It’s purely made for the veterans who have completed the campaign and reached Level 40. At launch, it only includes main missions and strongholds. The chosen missions will be part of a set of five that will rotate weekly on Tuesdays.
To play at this difficulty, you need to head to your Base of Operations. You can then fast travel directly to the mission. Escalation has its own dedicated panel. Choose a tier, check the token cost, view the rewards, and then begin the test.
Every Escalation mission has 10 tiers. Higher tiers offer better rewards, but it also brings more risks. The lowest tier will always be available for free, but anything above that will require tokens to play (the tougher the challenge, the higher the cost).
All Escalation mode mutators in The Division 2
Mutators are special modifiers that will determine how the Escalation mode works. Each tier has its own consistent set of effects.
- Harvester: The enemy will regenerate Armor and Health by a percentage of your maximum Armor when dealing damage.
- Suppressor: Once the enemy takes damage, it will charge an EMP blast and release it after a full charge.
- Aid Specialist: The enemy repairs the Armor of all its nearby allies upon taking heavy damage.
- Anchor: The enemy gains damage resistance, and it also uses incendiary ammo if its allies are still alive.
- Hot Foot: If you stay at one spot, it will build up a charge. If the charge is full, you’ll take shock damage.
- Unyielding: Enemies will be immune to all crowd control effects when heavily damaged.
All Escalation mode rewards in The Division 2
The main aspect of the Escalation mode is to play for Prototype Gear. At higher tiers, you’ll have better chances and stronger rolls that raise the chances in your favor. However, higher tiers also offer better rewards in general. You’ll get increased XP, Season XP, Escalation Tokens and rare Expertise materials.
