The Division: the 11 best perks to unlock first
Want to increase XP, Dark Zone credits and get free incendiary ammo? Get these perks.
The Division: the 11 best perks to unlock first
Perks might not be as immediately exciting as finding a blue gun in The Division, but they can make a considerable difference to your agent's abilities or help you to level up quicker than normal. Perks are passive abilities and they affect your character build automatically.
You unlock perks by spending the credits you get by completing missions for one of the three wings in the Base of Operations; Medical, Security and Tech, as well as side missions and encounters. There's over 10 perks for each wing, giving you plenty to chose from. Some are immediately a bit rubbish (better energy bars) and some are best left until a little later in the game when you have more cash to take advantage of. Here's the 11 we think are the most important to boost you through your early game.
Firstly, you're going to want to unlock all three wings of the base first, but start with the Security Wing because…
Perk: Experienced Agent
Security Wing Upgrade - Situation Room
Cost: None, it's your first upgrade.
This has to be your first priority. Complete the first Security mission and you'll unlock a 10 percent increase to all experience you gain from here on in. That's a great way to start the game.
Perk: Credit
Medical Wing Upgrade - Counseling
Cost - 200
A cheap perk that increases the credits you find by 10 percent. Very handy for topping up your piggy bank. Those purple guns don't come for free, you know.
Perk: Incendiary Bullets / Special Ammo
Security Wing Upgrade - Guard Posts
Cost: 200
This is cheap and unlocks two perks that give a little more umph to your combat. Incendiary Bullets increases the fire damage on this ammo by 10 seconds. Special Ammo allows you to collect free incendiary and explosive bullets from the Guard Post in the Security Wing every hour. Save them for boss encounters.
Perk: Inventory
Tech Wing Upgrade - Control Room
Cost: None, first upgrade.
Increases inventory by 10 slots. Which means you won't have to stop to junk the s**t in your backpack that you don't need so often.
Perk: Intel Discovery
Security Wing Upgrade - Canine Unit
Cost: 200
Once you complete a side mission or a encounter in a zone, all undiscovered intel on the map will be revealed. This is great for hoovering up to all that extra XP in the location. It all mounts up and gets you leveling quicker.
Perk: Shooting Range
Security Wing Upgrade - Shooting Range
Cost: 200
This unlocks two talents in your inventory. Stopping Power is a particular favourite, increasing headshot damage on suppressed enemies by 25 percent. The other unlock is Desperate Time, which increases blind fire accuracy by 20 percent if you have low health. It's more of a desperate measure to be honest.
Perk: Dark Zone Funds
Tech Wing Upgrade - Recharge Center
Cost: 200
This is a cheap upgrade and one of the most useful, buried at the bottom of the list. It increases all Dark Zone funds found by 10 percent, to help you reap more lucrative rewards from the PvP Dark Zone map.
Perk: Division Tech Materials / Engineer
Tech Wing upgrade - Division Tech
Cost: 1000
This is expensive but unlocks two perks which work in unison, so it's best saved until later in the game when you've gotten comfortable around crafting. Division Tech Materials allows you to collect electronics in the Tech Wing automatically once every hour. Those electronics are then used for crafting.
The Engineer perk then allows you to use Tech crafting materials and convert them into any other materials at the crafting station. Very useful if you're lacking a particular material for a different crafting upgrade
Perk: Hazardous Materials
Tech Wing Upgrade - Communications
Cost - 500
This gives you one extra slot in your Dark Zone inventory. You'll find the equivalent perk in the Security Wing (Dark Zone Ops) and in the Medical Wing (Decontamination Unit).
Perk: Advanced Weaponry / Grenades
Security Wing Upgrade - Armory
Cost - 500
This unlocks two perks. Grenades gives you an extra grenade slot - always handy. Advanced Weaponry unlocks the Advanced Weapons vendor in the security wing. Probably best to save this until later in the game as you're going to need a lot of money for those advanced weapons.
Perk: Medkits
Medical Wing Upgrade - Intensive Care, Pediatric Care
Cost: 400 and 200, respectively
If you're the kind of players who bleeds out regularly, you'll want to unlock these perks, which both give you an extra slot for medkits.
Remember, if you're looking for a group to play The Division, our partners at The100.io have the perfect LFG solution.