The Division 2 features an intricate gear system to equip your Agent with. The ‘Gear’ in this game correlates to the six armor slots or gear slots that you have on your person. There are six slots: mask, chestpiece, holster, gloves, backpack, and knee pads. Needless to say, you can only equip one gear item of that subclass in its individual slot. The other gear items you have in that slot are stored in your inventory and can be switched out anytime.
As one would assume, the Exotic (red) gear items are the most sought-after, providing the biggest buffs, stats, and distinguished unique passives. However, equipping gear items are more complicated than switching weapons. Other than their individual stats, gear items can be paired with pieces from the same ‘brand’ for an additive bonus, which is further stressed in Gear set items. Using only Exotic armor pieces, therefore, comes with the caveat of sacrificing these bonuses.
Some of the Exotic gear provides enough utility that it becomes worth the sacrifice. The following are arguably the most beloved gear items that are either peerless best-in-slot pieces or come with talents that significantly amplify your in-game impact.
Coyote’s Mask, Memento, and three of the best Exotic Gear items in The Division 2
5) Coyote’s Mask
Introduced in the Shadow Tide update, Coyote’s Mask is arguably still the best slot gear item if you participate in co-op often. Despite its uniquely party-wide talent buff, it is not a ‘support item’ in the traditional sense. Its attributes are geared towards offense, specifically weapon damage, critical hit chance, and critical hit damage.
Called ‘Pack Instincts,’ this talent innovatively enhances the damage output for all weapon classes. It gives you and your allies a critical hit-oriented buff according to how far the last target you shot was.
For close range, i.e., less than 15 meters, this is 25+ critical damage, whereas faraway targets (25+ meters) grant a 25% critical chance. Targets at 15-25m, i.e., the average range at which most gunfights take place in The Division 2, grants +10% to both critical chance and critical damage. Essentially, Coyote’s Mask is a three-in-one stat booster that vastly opens up build flexibility.
4) Memento
Memento is a unique backpack item added in Title Update 11, Season 3. It has been almost three years since its introduction to The Division 2, and it has not waned in usage rate or popularity. This is because Memento is a good add-on that caters to all classes and builds.
It especially seems to be best in the slot for players who like a balanced jack-of-all-trades approach to their stats and playstyle. Unlike other backpacks, memento has no core attribute or primary attributes. It completely does away with the primary attribute segment and splits its core attribute into all three variants you can pick between.
Its unique talent is a ‘Trophy’ buff that buffs you throughout extended shootouts. Killed combatants drop a Trophy of conquest, which buffs you for 10 seconds, depending on your equipped core attributes. Weapon damage cores provide +5% gun damage, Armor cores provide +10% armor bonus each, and skill cores provide +5% skill efficiency.
It also provides an additional +30% Skill efficiency, +30% weapon damage, and +3% armor regeneration upon picking up 30 Trophies. This is a long-term buff that lasts for 300 seconds.
3) Vile
One could argue that Vile is the most fundamentally game-changing gear item in the game. This exotic mask was released in 2020 in Update 10 and has been a community darling ever since. An otherwise plain-looking gear item in the mask slot, its bread and butter is the ‘Toxic Delivery’ talent.
When you have the Vile equipped, every status effect you proc has an additional 10-second damage over time effect. The lingering damage it deals is set at 50% of your base concussion grenade damage and increases further based on your status effect attribute modifiers globally. It synergizes perfectly with Scorpio, a unique exotic shotgun, and it can significantly bolster any status-oriented build.
2) Waveform
If you like to play a healer or any Skill-based build, Waveform is easily the best in-slot holster in the game. One of the legacy exotic gears, the Waveform’s attribute choices betray its Skills-centric nature at the outset: you can get +1 skill tier, skill damage up to +10%, and skill haste up to +12%.
The ‘Alternating Current’ talent is essentially the best buff for builds that rely on skill damage. Each second, it generates a stack that grants +3% skill damage and caps out at 10.
The maximum buff of +30% skill damage will last 10 seconds before it transfers to your next skill in your build. The tradeoff for this unparalleled boost is the timing-based element, where you have to pick the exact right moment to utilize the buff at its peak.
1) Ninjabike Messenger Kneepads
Reloads can often interrupt the fun for players who like to keep their barrel smoking and stay on the run weaving through a gunfight. Many high-magazine weapons in The Division 2 are balanced with equally long reload animations. Ninjabike Messenger Kneepad is the best in-slot item for players who want to eliminate this interruption.
Having these kneepads equipped will make the slick vault-over and cover-to-cover actions provide meaningful benefits. With the ‘Parkour’ talent, these maneuvers grant you +25% armor for 5 seconds. More importantly, they also fully reload the clip on your current weapon. Its fully offensive attribute options endorse the gung-ho playstyle of non-stop action, with extra weapon damage, critical hit chance, and critical hit damage.
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