Skirmish Mode Coming To ‘The Division’ Uses Normalized Gear, ‘Last Stand’ Levels As Progression

The new Skirmish mode coming to Tom Clancy’s The Division in the 1.8 update is a pure PvP experience. The imminent update will give agents a way to participate in a PvP experience without any PvE elements. In a Skirmish, all players are there to battle each other in fully consensual PvP. Unlike combat found in the Dark Zone or in the “Last Stand” downloadable content, there are no AI-controlled enemies in a Skirmish.

A Skirmish in The Division pits two teams of four agents against each other in a race to reach 20 kills first. If a team does not reach 20 kills, the team with the most kills after 10 minutes is deemed victorious. The team deathmatch mode requires a player to be fully dead to add a point to the score. An enemy will need to finish a downed player to earn a point for their team. If an ally revives a downed player before they are finished, a point is not earned.

In addition to the lack of NPC enemies, Skirmish maps are also tighter, making combat easier to find than in other PvP modes of The Division. These matches will also be normalized keeping agents on an even playing field in terms of gear score and power. The same normalization rules that apply in “Last Stand” will be used in Skirmish, according to the game’s website.

In fact, a player’s “Last Stand” level will be used and progressed in Skirmish maps. Once 1.8 releases, the “Last Stand” level will become an overall PvP level. After “Last Stand” ranking becomes PvP ranking, the level cap on it will also increase. The new cap will raise from 40 to 99 in patch 1.8, and certain level milestones past level 40 will reward players with Classified Caches.

Alongside the overall PvP level, each Skirmish match can offer new Skirmish caches to players based on their personal score in the battle. Players score points in each match for things like healing, defeating their opponents, and reviving their allies, as seen in the Twitch video. Players’ personal scores will also contribute to their rank. When matchmaking for Skirmishes, personal performance is considered to keep teams balanced.

Patch 1.8, including the new Skirmish mode for The Division, is not on the test server yet. As the Inquisitr reported, the update also includes PvE features like the new West Side Piers zones and the Resistance horde mode. The update will also introduce Gear Optimization that ties in with the new maximum gear score.

[Featured Image by Ubisoft]