The Division 2: Red Horizon is the upcoming season focused on the Cleaners faction and heightened conflict across Washington, D.C. It introduces rotating Dark Zone variants, new seasonal modifiers, Cleaner activity in the open world, gear and weapon changes, and an ongoing PvP balance overhaul. Ubisoft’s public test server has concluded, and the studio has already adjusted several planned features using player feedback; a final release date was not announced in the available official notes.
Season setting and open world
- The Cleaners are the central enemy faction for Red Horizon. During the season, they will appear throughout Washington, D.C.’s open world.
- Cleaners can take over Control Points, create open-world activities, and initiate Retaliations in Named Zones.
- When a Retaliation involves another faction, Cleaners will build Agitation rather than Black Tusk’s usual buildup mechanic.
- A new Cleaner Elite Kill Squad, called 95 Company, can spawn during Retaliations. Ubisoft compares its role to BTSU Team 9 and the Knock Knock Gang.
Dark Zone overhaul
- The season adds the Blackout Dark Zone, a new PvP Dark Zone variant.
- The PvE Toxic Dark Zone returns with changes, giving players a non-PvP Dark Zone alternative.
- Dark Zone variants will rotate weekly among DZ West, DZ East, and DZ South. Ubisoft intends to keep one PvE Dark Zone and two PvP Dark Zones active at all times.
- The PTS included Toxic, Blackout, and Balanced Dark Zones for testing.
- Beginning with Red Horizon, the inventory interface will display PvP weapon damage directly beneath PvE weapon damage. Stats will automatically show PvP values while a player is in a PvP area.
- Players will also be able to check PvP normalization statistics and balance overrides at the Shooting Range through PvP switches. Ubisoft is temporarily removing the Inventory Normalization button while it updates the UI.
Gear and combat changes
- Ubisoft plans significant buffs for marksman-rifle builds, including Hotshot and Aces & Eights gear sets, plus increased MMR Damage bonuses on relevant brand sets.
- Airaldi Holdings’ PvE two-piece Headshot Damage bonus is set to increase from 13% to 26%, while Grupo Sombra’s PvE three-piece Headshot Damage bonus is set to rise from 13% to 39%.
- The Determined weapon talent is being changed so a converted headshot kill will no longer retrigger it. Its former chaining functionality is instead moving to the Iron Will Exotic Chest, enabling MMR players to use other weapon talents or weapons such as Regulus and The Harvest.
- The Iron Will Exotic Chest’s cooldown was increased from one to two seconds in PvE and from two to three seconds in PvP, following testing feedback.
- The Incinerator Turret’s base cooldown is being cut from 60 seconds to 30 seconds.
- The Ember Engine gear set and Fafnir Exotic Shotgun are both receiving stronger Burn-based effects. Ember Engine’s Spontaneous Combustion Burn application chance increases from 20% to 40%, while Fafnir’s Dragon’s Breath Burn chance rises from 10% to 40%.
- The Boiling Point weapon talent will have a smaller portion of its magazine affected by its -100% Critical Hit Chance penalty: 53% for the standard talent and 48% for Perfect Boiling Point.
Modifiers and loot
- Ubisoft adjusted the seasonal Pressure gauge so it begins decaying later and less aggressively. Several actions that build Pressure were also improved.
- A new Group Kill action grants 1% Pressure whenever another member of the player’s group earns a kill.
- Several modifiers were rebalanced after the PTS. For example, Achilles’ Heal now loses 5% Pressure when armor or a weak point is broken, down from 10%; Draining Presence’s radius is reduced from seven meters to five.
- Prototype Gear and Weapon drops are planned for Normal, Elite, and Boss enemies. The listed chances range from 0.2% for a mid-roll drop from a Normal enemy to a 2% chance of a high-roll drop from a Boss.
- Ortiz: Reficere, Caduceus, and Nurse’s Kneepads are being added to the special Dark Zone loot pool.
Testing status
- The PC Public Test Server was available through Ubisoft Connect from August 14 to August 17, with a roughly 100 GB test build.
- Ubisoft explicitly states that PTS feedback changed its final plans, including reversing the Murakami Industries brand-set adjustments tested during the PTS. Its two-piece bonus returns to +35% Repair Skills and its three-piece bonus returns to +18% Skill Damage.
- The details above reflect Ubisoft’s post-PTS developer notes and may still be superseded by final launch patch notes.
