CONTENTS

• Dark Zones
• PvP Environment Improvements
• Modifiers
• Escalation
• New Weapons, Gear, and Talents
• Additional Updates
• PTS Only

DARK ZONES

For PTS Phase 2, the Dark Zone structure still revolves around three rotating rulesets: Classic, Toxic, and Balanced Dark Zones.

This phase is mainly about seeing how each Dark Zone variant feels: if the rules are clear and the rewards feel worth it, how the updated weapons and gear affect PvP, and how the overall experience comes together.

The PvP balance pass applies across all PvP environments, including Conflict and all Dark Zone variants. More details are available in the Global PvP Balance section below.

A Dark Zone vendor overhaul has also been added, with updated inventories, new caches, and rebalanced DZ Currency costs.

DARK ZONE ROTATION

Variant	Focus	Rogue Protocol	SHD & Expertise	Global PvP Balance
Classic Dark Zone	Standard PvPvE risk-versus-reward gameplay	Active	Active	Active
Toxic Dark Zone	Seasonal PvE survival and cooperation	Disabled	Active	Active
Balanced Dark Zone	Competitive skill-based PvPvE	Active	Disabled	Active

DARK ZONE VARIANTS

CLASSIC DARK ZONE

(PvEvP / Normalized / Global PvP Balance: Active / SHD & Expertise: Active / Rogue Protocol: Active)

Classic Dark Zone remains the baseline PvPvE experience, with Normalization, SHD Watch, Expertise progression, Rogue Protocols, and periodic Invasions active.

TOXIC DARK ZONE

(PvE / Normalized / Global PvP Balance: Active / SHD & Expertise: Active / Rogue Protocol: Disabled / Season / Toxicity)

Toxic Dark Zone remains the seasonal PvE-focused variant, with Rogue Protocols and friendly fire disabled. Toxicity builds over time and can be managed through Surged Active Modifiers, Safe Houses or by leaving the zone.

Even though Toxic Dark Zone is PvE focused, it is still part of the wider Dark Zone experience. Global PvP Balance also applies here, so players can create builds around the same PvP ruleset used in other Dark Zones. The goal is to make the jump between PvE and PvP variants feel less abrupt, without requiring a full build rethink.

For Phase 2, several changes have been made:

• Landmark Chests now drop Sample Cannisters as contaminated cache items. These work like regular contaminated items and must be extracted.
• Calling the Extraction Helicopter in the Toxic Dark Zone now requires a Stabilization Agent, which has a 33% chance to drop from Landmark Chests.
• Toxicity no longer resets when entering a Dark Zone Safe House. Instead, the current Toxicity value is frozen while inside.
• Toxicity debuffs have been reduced.
• Toxic Dark Zone Hunter difficulty has been adjusted.
• Toxic Dark Zone Hunters now guarantee 1 Exotic Component each and have a dedicated 2% chance to drop Eagle Bearer or Ravenous.
• Sample Cannister gains and costs have been adjusted.

BALANCED DARK ZONE

(PvPvE / Normalized / Global PvP Balance: Active / SHD & Expertise: Disabled / Rogue Protocol: Active)

Balanced Dark Zone remains the competitive PvPvE variant, using high-level normalization based on the Conflict ruleset.

SHD Watch and Expertise are disabled. Deconstructing dropped contaminated items grants double Dark Zone Currency.

DARK ZONE VENDOR OVERHAUL

Dark Zone vendors have been adjusted for PTS Phase 2, with updated inventories, new utility and progression caches, and rebalanced DZ Currency costs.

Following Phase 1 feedback, we have reduced the cost of the new vendor caches:

• DZ East: Recalibration Cache (40 DZC) and Optimization Caches (60 DZC).
• DZ West: Exotic Component Cache (120 DZC / 4 Items) and Reconstructed Cache (180 DZC).
• DZ South: Prototype Core Caches (125 DZC) and Prototype Caches (260 DZC / Higher Chance for Better or Perfect Stats).

Full updated vendor inventory, all vendors:

Item	Price [DZC]	Contains
Skill Mod	40	High-roll Skill Mod
Gear Mod	40	High-roll Offensive, Defensive, or Utility Mod
High-End Gear Piece	60	High-End Gear Piece with random stats
High-End Weapon	70-72	High-End Weapon with random stats
Gear Set Piece	64-65	Gear Set Piece
Named Weapon or Named Gear Piece	90	Named Weapon or Named Gear Piece with Perfect Talent
Exotic Cache	130	1 random Exotic Weapon or Exotic Gear Piece

Full updated vendor inventory, DZ East vendors:

Item	Price [DZC]	Contains
Recalibration Cache	40	70 Ceramics, 70 Steel, 65 Electronics, 65 Titanium
Optimization Cache	60	Tactical Assessment, Weapon Alloy, Gear Weave, 5 Field Recon Data, 3 SHD Calibration

Full updated vendor inventory, DZ West vendors:

Item	Price [DZC]	Contains
Exotic Components Cache	120	4 Exotic Components for Expertise or Re-rolling
Reconstructed Caches	180	1 Random Blueprint (Named / DZ Exclusive), 1 Named / DZ Exclusive Weapon or Gear

Full updated vendor inventory, DZ South vendors:

Item	Price [DZC]	Contains
Prototype Core Cache	125	1 Prototype Core
Prototype Cache	260	1 random Prototype Weapon or Prototype Gear Piece, with a higher chance for better or Perfect Stats

PVP ENVIRONMENT IMPROVEMENTS

GENERAL DARK ZONE UPDATES

The Dark Zone entry and checkpoint updates introduced in Phase 1 remain part of the Phase 2 test.

Checkpoint Turret Damage Scaling

• To help prevent checkpoint containment, entrance turrets now deal additional direct Health damage to hostile Agents within range.
• Turrets inflict an additional 4% direct Health damage on top of their standard base values.

Entry Invulnerability Window

• Agents receive a 5-second invulnerability window immediately after entering a Dark Zone.
• This gives players a short moment to load in, check their surroundings, and decide their next move before taking damage.
• The invulnerability ends early if the player moves or fires their weapon.

GLOBAL PVP BALANCE

This first balance pass focuses on currently active Weapon and Gear Talents across Conflict and all Dark Zone variants. The goal is to reduce mandatory “must-pick” options and give more builds a chance to compete.

This is part of a wider, multi-phase effort. Future updates are planned to look at Skills, Attributes, Status Effects, and other PvP areas.

Following Phase 1 feedback, we made another pass on the PvP balance list. This includes some further tuning for damage talents, status-based talents, armor repair and bonus armor options, support focused builds, etc.

We also revisited a few specific items like Striker’s Battlegear, Cavalier, Core Strength, Negotiator’s Dilemma, Ongoing Directive, The Bighorn, Strega, Backfire, Pestilence, and many more.

The full numeric adjustments are listed separately in the dedicated balance list.

Note: When reviewing these changes, please look at the wider PvP balance picture rather than focusing on one talent in isolation. Some changes may look significant on their own, but they are part of a broader effort.

MODIFIERS

Several Modifier adjustments have been made for PTS Phase 2:

• Pneuma - The Surge Effect no longer depends on the weapon used to apply stacks. For example, Inhale can now be triggered by Headshot kills with any weapon, not only MMRs/Rifles/Pistols.
• Sopoforic – Toxicity now only increases when Sopoforic applies Disorient through its own effect, instead of increasing on every hit.
• Plague Doctor – It now affects Health only, instead of Health and Armor.
• Active and Hostile Modifier values have been adjusted across multiple areas.

ESCALATION

Several reward and economy updates have been made for Phase 2.

REWARDS

• Escalation Completion rewards now grant +1 Exotic Component for each Escalation Tier, starting at Tier 5.
• Prototype targeted loot drops have been added back to Escalation chests.

ESCALATION TOKENS

The Escalation Token economy has been adjusted to better reward group leaders and make the overall flow less punishing.

Tier	Cost	Leader Reward	Leader Profit	Group Rewards
0	0	N/A	N/A	2
1	1	5	4	2
2	4	10	6	3
3	8	16	8	4
4	13	23	10	5
5	19	31	12	6
6	27	41	14	7
7	37	53	16	8
8	49	67	18	9
9	63	83	20	10
10	80	102	22	11

REQUISITION VENDOR

Escalation Requisition Vendor prices have been updates to match the new token balance.

• Random Prototype Cache – 10 Escalation Tokens
• Gear Prototype Cache – 20 Escalation Tokens
• Weapon Prototype Cache – 20 Escalation Tokens

NEW GEAR, WEAPONS, TALENTS

The following adjustments have been made since PTS Phase 1.

Ortiz: Reficere Gear Set

• 4pc Talent “Ortiz Rapid Application Nanite Prototype”
  • Healing Duration and Radius reduced by 75% → 90%
  • Healing Efficiency increased by 100% → 150%
• Chest Talent “Overcharged Nanites”
  • Increase the Healing Efficiency bonus from 100% to 150%. → 150% to 225%
• Backpack Talent “Improved Dampeners”
  • Decrease the Duration and Range reduction from 75% to 25%. → 90% to 25%

Caduceus Exotic AR

• Talent Caduceus: 1.5% of the hit's dealt damage → 2%
• Magazine Mod: 20 Rounds → 40 Rounds

Underboss Exotic SMG

• Underboss has been added to the Y8S2 Gear Cache.
• Its PTS1 Notes version had no mods, it will now have an Optic Mod providing +15% Crit Chance.

ADDITIONAL UPDATES

Prototype Gear

• Prototype Core costs for upgrading Prototype Augments have been increased. Maxing out one item now costs 46 Prototype Cores, up from 31.

Retaliation

• A new threat may now ambush you during Retaliation. Stay alert.

PTS ONLY

During the test, all modifiers will be unlocked from the start.

Adam Shipley’s Inventory:

• PTS Cache: Y8S2 Gear - Contains all upcoming Gear, their blueprints, their respective materials, and all other materials used in the Expertise system.
• PTS Cache: Materials - Contains Brand and Gear Set materials not included in the Gear cache, Prototype Cores, Escalation Token, and other materials used in the Expertise system.

Known Issues

• Some gear, weapons, and talent visuals are currently a placeholder.
• PTS Cache: Blueprints – is available in the PTS build, but it currently reflects its previous state and may not include all newer blueprints. The team is looking into a better solution for a blueprint access in future PTS builds.

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Your feedback is important during this phase of PTS. Join the official TD2 Discord server to share your thoughts directly with the team!

/The Division 2 Team