The Division 2, Hardcore PVE Pestilence Survival Build (Rambolita)

Updated, added prototype augment suggestions they can supercharge this build a bunch.

This build is the secret sauce to safe Hardcore play. Sacrificing some damage for survivability and utility. Rambolita hardcore character had ;( over 188 hours played time using this build.

Build:

1. Cores: 5 red, 2 blue, 1 yellow (ninjabike gives +1 to all 3 cores)
2. Specialization, Gunner (+10% armor on kill, refills some bullets, foam grenades)
3. Skills, Reviver Hive, Assault Turret/Repair Drone (recommend banshee pulse for quick status effect hallow point fill up then swap to other skill when needed)
4. Main Weapon, Pestilence LMG exotic (12% DTTOC, 6% Damage to Armor <—- very important)
5. Secondary Weapon, Huntsman or anything you want, also I keep a sniper rifle in bag for some instances
6. Pistol, Quickstep (sprint faster, sometimes you need to run away)

This build is designed for XP farming mainly, but is a great all around build, good at many things. Note there have been recent changes to many gear set stats, I would now recommend using a Legmo piece as another alt piece when using NinjaBike backpack, +24% LMG will be active.

Gear Pieces:

1. Backpack, NinjaBike Messenger Exotic (set bonus with one less piece, +1 all 3 cores)
2. 3 pieces Ongoing Directive, gloves, holster, kneepads. (+20% dmg, extra bullets)
3. Chest, Petrov Defense Group, Talent Unbreakable (lmg dmg +10%, +15% weapon handling). The chest on this build will always be a High End so we can have the Unbreakable talent on it.
4. Mask, Golan Gear piece (+10% status effects +1.5% armor regen), alt Uzina Getica or Legmo. (Read note below)
5. Gear attributes, CHC/CHD, Weapon Handling/Hazard Protection
6. Mods, CHC/CHD
7. Note about the Golan Gear mask, if all you play is all 5 directives, one deactivates armor regen and so Uzina Getica would be better. The Golan Gear armor regen would be useless in this case most times. The directives have multiple versions that are changed each season, so the no regen might not be active and broken version in its place. Legmo now is viable option since second gear bonus of +24% LMG DMG can activate.

This build is a variant of the Swiss Army Knife build that does everything plus offers team support/self healing and has high damage. It is my most used build of all time. High SHD players who know how to level up a new hardcore character fast will probrably just use a high damage version, sometimes eliminating enemies quicker is the best survival. Thing is surprises happen and this version can help you out of those situations.

Prototype Augments:

1. If you so happen to upgrade gear pieces to prototype try getting 1-2 Amalgam augments top priority for Ongoing Directive. This makes the build extremely easy to always have hallow points and random status effects often. I found once your total Amalgam stats reach +5% chance or more you almost always get a random status effect every 5-7 seconds.
2. I recommend Trapper and Quantum for other augments on this build. Remember you can have a max of 7 total active Augments, 1 active weapon, 6 on gear pieces if none are exotic.
3. I would probably do Amalgam 2, Trapper 2, Quantum 2-3, for this survival build.
4. FYI you can farm tokens on non hardcore character and spend them on the hardcore character for caches.

S-Tier Hardcore Survival Build

My Stats:

• 44% CHC, 57% CHD, 85% Headshot DMG, 6% Armor DMG, 23% Weapon Handling, 1,000,000 Pestilence ticks at 16 expertise solo.

Most dangerous enemies for Hardcore that must be eliminated first. Outcast Suicide Bombers, Cleaners Scorchers/Flamethrowers, Any Thrower/Grenader, True Sons Immobilizer, Black Tusk Droner. Personally the Outcast Suicide Bomber and True Sons Immobilizer are very dangerous because they always sprint out of sight when in large mobs coming right up on you. I have lost multiple Hardcore agents due to these two more than others. If you hear “Come here gimme a hug” or “Let’s see you run now” when you are under heavy fire it’s definitely an oh shit moment.

Benefits:

1. 10% armor on kill.
2. 1.5% armor regen, +10% Status Effects, Golan Gear
3. Foam grenades, throw to snare enemy and kill to get hallow points
4. 1.3 Million Armor is extra padding to take some hits.
5. Weapon Handling 23%, Chest 15% + 8% on gloves
6. Pestilence ticks are good at around 1 million a tick often, +expertise/+red cores for more.
7. Nearly unlimited ammo due to Hallow Points and Gunner perk refil.
8. Great for all directives open world XP farming.
9. Works on Hardcore and Softcore.
10. Strong survival build, Unbreakable on chest helps a ton.

Foam Hallow Point Refill Tactic: a trick I do often is just let Pestilence plague weaken enemies and then right before they die usually staggered stick them with foam grenades and finish them off.

Play Style:

Stay in cover and shoot from mid to long range.

If you have directives on and no ammo when you load into game wait until your Gunner perk gives you some ammo and reload all your weapons. Start encounters from mid to long range, adding weapon handling really improves your accuracy from distance and from cover. Hit weak points or environmental damage to trigger status events (fire, shock, confuse) and get the kill while enemy is affected to acquire Hallow Point bullets. You can use a status effect skill to make this task easier for a turn then change back to better value skill. Target prioritize the most dangerous enemies, engineers with turrets, drone operators/controllers, snipers, outcast exploding huggers (these guys will count for hallow points just by shooting), etc.. Shooting heavy enemies to stack pestilence ticks works well too, can unload on one and it might spread on kill to finish an entire mob.

NEVER RELY ON REVIVER HIVE, if you get revived you need to figure out how to do things better, you just got lucky.

If Unbreakable talent triggers start backing off or find better cover, do not push more because you still have Reviver Hive. You never want to rely on Reviver Hive, an enemy can shoot or melee you before it revives, seen it many times. Again do not sleep on Weapon Handling, it is a main stat that effects multiple stats like accuracy, stability, and reload speed. Do not use a status effect skill as a primary skill most of the time, use them temporarily to get hallow points. Then swap to another skill that has more value over time like assault turret (less directive cooldown green trophies to refresh too).

Outcasts want her dead for stealing Pestilence and Hyenas want to steal BCT from Rambolita”s control! It’s WAR in them streets.

Spread bleed when you have enemies that aren’t affected by bleeds (war hounds), shoot them a few times. Then kill others with bleeds to keep the hallow points longer because they are limited to your magazine size, the pestilence plague will eventually kill the non bleed affected enemies. You can even save a good enemy to kill last to refresh hallow points in some cases. Don’t forget about your foam grenades either, throw one at enemy right before he dies for quick refill.

Constant armor and ammo refills, spread your bleed with precision to keep hallow points.

I have made many variations of this build in Hardcore, this one has proven to be the best one for PVE with all directives on Challenging difficulty. This build allows you to do decent damage, and if you need to move it’s still doing damage due to Pestilence ticks. If using this build on a softcore character I’d suggest using another chest talent instead of Unbreakable. I generally do not use a shield on hardcore due to staying in cover being superior plus it forces better habits in battle. This is a personal preference so adjust to your play style.

IT PROTECT YOU, WELL IF NOT NOOB!

I have another version of this build using Bullet King LMG and Momento Backpack and can face tank mobs, but it’s risky since you are relying on trophy gathering which can get you in trouble. Reloading is often when you find yourself in trouble and the Bullet King never needs reloading, but the build is super fun if you want more crazy good times. The damage of this Pestilence Survival build is better overall and allows for safer in cover play style from distance.

Nobody better mess with Hardcore Rambolita she protect BCT!