Agents in The Division 2 need to restore order in post-apocalyptic Washington DC, and amid the rising powers of nefarious civilian, military, and terrorist factions - and the Technician may have the firepower to take on all of them at once. Players of Ubisoft's The Division sequel might want to consider taking up the Technician, a skill-heavy support Specialization. Thanks to its trusty missile launcher, Technicians can target and rain hell on multiple hostiles at once.
However, other players might notice that the Technician appears to be one of the more complex Specializations to handle in The Division 2. After all, the Specialization works best against multiple targets, and its skillset optimizes device mechanics. Thankfully, a better understanding of the Technician skill tree can make it a more bearable Specialization to take up. However, how exactly could one "read" this skill tree properly?
First Things First: Enter The Hacker
At first glance, its reliance on gadget elimination and electronics destruction seems to be a very technical (no pun intended) skillset to have. Moreover, some of its healing-related Talents seem very reminiscent of the Survivalist, albeit this time with drones. How exactly are players supposed to balance a kit with seemingly-circumstantial skills within a combat-heavy game? As it turns out, players simply need to look at the Technician as primarily a support class. Here are some key points:
P-017 Missile Launcher: Unlike other Signature Weapons, the Technician's P-107 Missile Launcher has a rather limiting magazine and middling rate of fire. However, its seemingly-ordinary specs do hide its sheer technical nature: the P-017 can lock onto various targets and attack them all at once.
Tactical Tech Support: Despite the funny notion of the term, the Technician represents a more tactical and combat-ready version of the "tech support" trope. From their skill-augmenting Artificer Hive to its buff-oriented Talents, the Technician changes the game by maximizing the team's resources and eliminating the enemy's support systems.
Distance Is Key: Unlike other Specializations, the Technician's focus on support means they always have to remain safe from enemy fire. In exchange for the Technician's buff boosters, the rest of the squad need to ensure the former is kept safe and sound from enemy threats. Likewise, in the case of clutch, the Technician may want to rely on ranged specialty weapons such as marksman rifles, rifles, and LMGs.
EMP: Following through with the gadgets theme is the Technician's unique grenade, the EMP. Unlike other combat-focused grenades, the Technician can rely on the EMP to disrupt the "flow" of enemy combatants. Essentially, the EMP not only disrupts electronic devices, but it also stuns enemies with a mild electric shock.
Signature Weapon: P-017 Missile Launcher
Interestingly, like other Specializations, the Technician's Signature Weapon keeps up with its motif. The P-017 Missile Launcher serves as the Technician's trusty aide against squads of enemies. This custom-made missile launcher does not simply fire miniature missiles into a target, though. Thanks to ISAC, the P-017 d eploys miniature seeker missiles to hit a multitude of targets at once.
Locked-On Target
As mentioned, the P-017 relies on the Technician to designate various targets for its seeker missiles. In turn, players can deploy at least one up to six missiles towards their chosen targets at any single time. Interestingly, the sheer damage potential of the P-017 Missile Launcher ensures that unfortunate targets of the seekers will be vulnerable enough for the rest of the squad to finish.
Given the nature of the P-017, the Technician should use to at the beginning or the middle of engagements to provide suppressive fire. Moreover, the targetable nature of the P-017 encourages Technicians to have a more tactical approach to enemy disruption. Here are some basic statistics:
Damage: 2.5M
Rate of Fire: 98
Magazine: 6
Range: 50 Meters
Fire Mode: Missile Guided
Guided Missiles (Weapon Talent)
The technological uniqueness of the P-017 Missile Launcher lies within its Guided Missiles. As previously mentioned, these missiles are explosive micro-warheads that utilize advanced seeker tech, courtesy of ISAC. As with other Signature Weapons, the missiles do suffer damage penalties against Named opponents.
Signature Weapon Damage (Passive)
Technicians can further augment the explosive power of the P-017 Missile Launcher with the Signature Weapon Damage Talent. With this modification, Technicians can launch attacks with up to (Tier 4) 40-percent boost in Signature Weapon damage. In turn, this upgrade allows the P-017 Missile Launcher to help squad members with more damage-oriented builds to fight tougher Elites and even raid bosses.
Skill Modifiers: Tech Support For Drones
Unlike other Specializations with gadgets that directly attack or impede enemy progress, the Technician has the Artificer Hive. Interestingly, the primary asset of the Artificer Hive is its capacity to augment various activated skills. In The Division 2, these activated skills mostly come in the form of Drones that give various buffs to Agents. As such, the Artificer Hive already reflects the support aspect of the Technician's kit.
Artificer Hive (Item, Drone)
As mentioned, the Artificer Hive serves as a collection of electro-booster Drones. When deployed, these drones can essentially boost the efficiency of allied skills and even reset their duration.
However, perhaps more awesome is that the Artificer Hive also affects only the Technician when holstered. In turn, the Technician essentially gets a continuous buff on active skills. And the deployed nature of the Artificer Hive encourages Technicians to intelligently deploy this system in the right situations, such as when taking control points from heavily-augmented opponents.
Upgraded Sensor Package (Mod)
Technicians can add an Upgraded Sensor Package Mod to the Artificer Hive to increase its effective radius, especially when its skill is activated.
Liquid Cooling (Mod)
Technicians can use the Liquid Cooling Mod to boost the potency of their Artificer Hives. Essentially, this Mod increases the Hive's recovery rate, making it boost the party much faster and more efficiently.
General Modifiers: Overloaded Circuitry
Interestingly, the Technician's main role as a support Specialization means they focus on providing buffs to allies. However, unlike the Survivalist's healing, the Technician focuses on buffing skill-based builds and abilities. In turn, much of the Technician's Talents involve around boosting damage against electronics and even providing resistance against the same effects. Moreover, Technicians and their allies can enjoy maximizing their skill usage with a number of handy buffs as well.