The Division – How to Level Up Fast

This article covers how to level up fast in The Division and gain experience points (XP) as quickly as possible. Level is very important in Ubisoft’s latest title. Items and weapons are locked to a specific level and cannot be used until you reach that level, missions have a recommended level that’s fairly accurate, even if you’re in a party with friends, and the higher your level the more your stats will increase. Everyone who is just getting into The Division is looking for a way to level up as quickly as possible, and we have some tips to help you maximize your experience points.

Security Wing Upgrades

First and foremost, you should focus heavily on gathering Security wing supplies as soon as possible. If you’re just starting out you need to complete the Security Mission: Lincoln Tunnel Checkpoint. The recommended level for the mission is five, which means you should be able to complete it as soon as it becomes available, following the completion of the Medical Field Hospital mission. By completing Lincoln Tunnel you will be able to unlock the Security wing and all of the talents, perks and skills that come along with it.

Once you have access to the Security wing, you are forced to build the Situation Room as your first upgrade. While this uses up all of the security supplies you just gained from the mission, it also unlocks the perk, Experienced Agent, which increases your XP gain by 10 percent for all activities. That means no matter what you’re doing, if you get XP for it, you’re getting an additional 10 percent.

With the first perk unlocked, you need to check your map for as many security supply missions as possible. These are marked by a blue triangular symbol on the map and will usually give you 60 Security wing supplies with minimal effort. You can also look for the large blue shields on the map, which indicate a main story mission for the Security wing. While these give you 500 supplies or more, they are also much harder and require you to be a specific level to make it through without being overly difficult.

Gather 1,000 security supplies so you can upgrade the Security wing with Barracks. This increases the XP gained from accolades by 25 percent. Accolades are the small experience rewards you earn for landing head shots, going through a portion of a mission without dying, killing multiple enemies in rapid succession and other similar accomplishments. These don’t normally give a lot of experience (generally 30 XP at most), but with the 25 percent bonus, if you focus on scoring as many accolade bonuses as possible the XP starts to add up. FPS veterans should be able to rack up the XP by going for as many head shots as possible during missions.

Medical Wing Upgrades

Once you’ve picked up the XP bonus perks from the Security wing, you should move your attention to the Medical wing. While the Medical wing offers a bevy of useful skills, perks and talents, the focus here is on experience points. Work through medical missions to obtain 500 supplies for the Virus Lab, 400 supplies for the Hazmat Unit, and 200 for the Pharmacy upgrade. All three upgrades give you an additional Protective Measures perk, which increases your virus protection by one point so you can access contaminated areas.

There’s a good deal of loot hidden in the contaminated areas, but you can’t venture into those areas without the proper virus filter level (you can see your current level near the bottom of the character screen in the inventory section of the start menu where it shows your primary attributes). The faster you gain all three virus protection points, the faster you’ll be able to find the loot and score additional experience points in the process. If you don’t want to focus on the Medical wing, start with the Pharmacy upgrade since it’s only 200 medical supplies. Keep in mind, having all three perks means you won’t have to come back to a contaminated area in the future due to your virus filter being too low. As soon as you encounter a contaminated area you can go right in and loot the place.

Side Missions

As you run from one location to the next, you’ll encounter random events and side missions. It’s important to take a moment and complete these events, whether it’s saving a hostage or going out of your way to find loot. In these instances you will gain experience points for your efforts. While some activities will only give you 50 experience points (killing enemies), finding loot will give you 300 experience points or more. With the requirements for these missions taking little to no effort, you will be gaining experience points very quickly.

You can delve into team strategies or learn the best skills to create a support class for your Dark Zone adventures in our Division walkthrough and guide!