Agents in Ubisoft's The Division 2 can pick the Demolitionist Specialization to add heavy firepower to their arsenal. After, unlike clandestine missions prior to the Dollar Flu outbreak, The Division's post-apocalyptic setting needs Agents to be firmer with their approach against hostile forces. Interestingly, the Demolitionist turns up the firepower to 11 with their penchant for mayhem and sheer destruction.
As a result, Agents work best with the Demolitionist Specialization if they need to wipe out the floor with enemies in quick succession. Unlike other Agents, Demolitionists want to get the job done as quickly as possible, no matter how messy things get. Interestingly, players who understand the Demolitionist well can undeniably transform their Agents into behemoths in combat. However, how should players approach the Demolitionist skill tree?
First Things First: Bombs Away
Operatives reviewing the Demolitionist might feel confused when its skill tree branches outward across all directions, instead of the usual top-down approach in other MMOs. In turn, players should learn how to navigate the skill tree first before proceeding. Essentially, the Demolitionist skill tree "branches out" for players to create builds depending on what aspects of the Demolitionist they want to focus on. As such, based on this division, the Demolitionist specializes in the following areas:
M32A1 Grenade Launcher: The Demolitionist gains the M32A1 Grenade Launcher as their signature weapon. With it, players can deal AOE damage to enemies over long distances. Moreover, its quick-fire nature and magazine size enable the Demolitionist to rain hell quite frequently.
Explosive Damage Increase, Resistance: The Demolitionist specializes in increasing the overall explosive damage of weapons, skills, and effects, as well as grenades. Moreover, the Demolitionist may gain resistance to burn damage.
Small Arms Specialty: The Demolitionist also gains modifiers that increase the potency of smaller but quick-fire weapons. These include a .357 Magnum Revolver (Diceros Special), and improved SMG and LMG damage.
Grenade Artillery: The Demolitionist can now entrust its artillery turret to launch grenades over targeted locations. This gives the Demolitionist a handy companion against large enemy clusters.
Signature Weapon: M32A1 Grenade Launcher
As with other Specializations, the Demolitionist receives their own Signature Weapon that reflects their nature. Thanks to the M32A1 Grenade Launcher, the Demolitionist can launch more powerful grenades at a distance and in quick succession. Unlike other weapons, the burst damage of the M32A1 makes it perfect for incursions involving groups of enemies.
Great For Bypassing Defense
Unlike other Signature Weapons, the M32A1 perhaps boasts the best damage options against defenses. As a combination of both grenade and revolver, the M32A1 amasses the decent firing rate of a speedy shotgun with a punch of a hard-hitting grenade. Essentially, the M32A1 can tear through most armored combatants with ease.
Moreover, its burst damage allows grenade rounds to bypass cover, provided players have a general idea of where their opponents are. This surpasses most Signature Weapons in terms of enemy accessibility. With the right skill combinations, the Grenade Launcher can easily eliminate squads of opponents. Here are its base statistics:
Damage: 949.5k
Rate of Fire: 98
Magazine: 6+1
Range: ~50 Meters
Fire Mode: Double Action
M406 HE Grenades (Weapon Talent)
The M32A1's efficiency lies in its M406 HE Grenades Talent, which reflects its unique yet deadly grenade rounds. Essentially, the M32A1 fires 40x46mm grenades. These have an effective blast radius of 5m, easily capable of ripping through a squad of enemies. However, it does deal reduced damage to Named enemies, meaning Demolitionists need to follow up their grenade rounds with a finishing blast.
Signature Weapon Damage (Passive)
Players can improve the M32A1's damage output across the three tiers of the Signature Weapon Damage Talent. When maxed out, the weapon will get (Tier 4) 145-percent increased damage.
Skill Modifiers: Ordinance To-Go
Demolitionists also gain a number of Talents and Perks to further personalize their robotic drones to their advantage. Essentially, the Demolitionist gains an Artillery Turret that enables them to fire grenades on a targeted location.
Artillery (Item, Turret)
As mentioned, the Artillery Turret enables Demolitionists to launch grenades to other targeted locations. Essentially, Demolitionists can deploy their Turret to the battlefield and direct it to launch smaller versions of the M32A1's grenades to the player's chosen location. In theory, the Artillery Turret can provide much-needed cover while the squad recovers or while the Demolitionist plans their next approach, especially when taking control points against many enemies.
However, some players might feel like the Artillery Turret is an added baggage in high-intensity situations. Having to separately aim the Artillery Turret to fire in a specific direction might be impractical, especially when opponents are also moving continuously.
Cyclone Magazine (Mod)
The Cyclone Magazine Talent simply increases the total ammunition count of the Artillery Turret.
SHD CPU V.2 (Mod)
The SHD CPU V.2 Talent simply increases the overall damage output of the Artillery Turret.
General Modifiers: Everything Goes Boom
Given its namesake, the Demolitionist specializes in making things go "boom" as frequently and efficiently as possible. In turn, the Demolitionist has four modifiers specially designed to maximize their damage output in high-intensity firefights.
Demolitionist Tactical Link (Talent)
With Demolitionist Tactical Link, the Demolitionist and their squad members gain 5-percent increased damage to targets out of cover. This Talent seems straightforward enough, but it has huge implications in combat.
Essentially, the Demolitionist and their team members have increased damage to all enemies outside cover. These include enemies transitioning from one cover to the next, or unfortunate enemies who expose themselves to the players. This advantage might seem minuscule, but rapid-firing with a 5-percent damage increase can get fatal for enemies real quick.
Explosive Ordinance (Passive)
Demolitionists love to make things go boom, and Explosive Ordinance amps that boom to 11. Maxing out this Talent grants (Tier 3) 25-percent increased explosive damage. In turn, Explosive Ordinance affects not just grenades, but also effects and skills that trigger explosions. This Talent comes in handy, considering the number of flammable materials that Demolitionists can trigger to damage opponents.
Moreover, the added kick of Demolitionist Tactical Link can make explosive effects much deadlier against opponents.
Vital Protection (Passive)
As a frontline specialist, the Demolitionist can get itself out of trouble even in the midst of firefights. Thanks to Vital Protection, Demolitionists receive 20-percent reduced chances of critical hits in Conflict. At first glance, this Talent might seem situational at best. However, in the Dark Zone and in difficult raids, receiving less critical hits can be a godsend for Demolitionists. In turn, this easily becomes a must-have Perk for newbies aiming to become a Demolitionist.
Incombustible (Passive)
Demolitionists love playing with fire, so it makes sense for them to be a bit resistant to it. Incombustible grants a 20-percent burn resistance boost to Demolitionists. This allows them to withstand burn damage better, allowing them to take on mild grenade hits and return a bigger one of their own.
Stimulant Patch (Talent)
Demolitionists can't avoid getting a bit of damage as they make everything go boom around them. Thankfully, their repairs greatly improve their performance in battle. For instance, the Stimulant Patch Talent lets their armor kits repair 100-percent damage. Moreover, armor kits now grant a 30-percent weapon handling increase for 15 seconds.
This might not seem a lot, but getting that 15-second weapon handling increase enables players to maximize more volatile weapons such as LMGs and SMGs.
Weapon Modifiers: Small Packages, Big Punches
Given the wide blast radius of the M32A1 Grenade Launcher, Demolitionists work best with small but quick firearms to finish the job for them. In turn, much of their weapon-related modifiers focus on improving their burst damage capacity or boost the efficiency of their quick-fire weaponry.
While the Demolitionist can specialize in any number of weaponry, the burst damage focus of the M32A1 Grenade Launcher works best with LMGs, SMGs, and assault rifles. The faster firing rate of these weapons coupled with their decent damage make them great finishers to opponents hit by the Demolitionist's grenades. Likewise, the slower and extremely-ranged nature of rifles, marksman rifles, and shotguns make them unideal to handle.
Fragmentation Grenade (Item, Grenade)
As with other Specializations, Demolitionists also get their special grenade. The Fragmentation Grenade, as with other FPS, deals burst damage and this time inflicts the Bleed status. As a result, targets receive damage-over-time, weakening them for the Demolitionist's allies to finish.
Unfortunately, the Frag Grenade isn't that useful a grenade compared to other grenades from the other Specializations. After all, players may as well just use their Signature Weapon to rain hell on opponents instead of relying on the subpar damage of the Frag.
Onslaught (Passive, LMG)
For Demolitionists who want more punch than speed, then the heavier LMG might be up to their alley. With the Onslaught Talent, Demolitionists get (Tier 3) 15-percent increased LMG damage.
In turn, this essentially makes the LMG almost as brutally-efficient as the go-to Assault Rifles of most Agents. Moreover, LMGs boast a lighter load and middling handling compared to other primary weapons.
Small Laser Pointer (Item, Attachment)
Demolitionists can also acquire an exclusive weapon accessory in the form of the Small Laser Pointer, which they can attach to short and long rails. As a Talent, it grants an additional 10-percent Critical Hit Chance but has a trade-off of a 20-percent decrease in Critical Range.
Essentially, this attachment decreases the overall range of critical hits by 20-percent. Players might think this is extremely detrimental. However, this attachment is one of very few that grants additional critical hit chance. As a result, at the right range, the Demolitionist with this attachment can hit with more damage.
Spray And Pray (Passive, SMG)
Demolitionists who want an alternative to the M32A1 Grenade Launcher can rely on the fast-firing SMG for their offense. With the Spray and Pray Talent, Demolitionists can further improve the potency of their SMGs with (Tier 3) 15-percent increased damage.
In turn, this makes the SMG a reliable close-to-mid-range weapon for Demolitionists. This also makes the SMG a great close-combat option to alternate with the long-range nature of the M32A1.
E.M.I. (Passive, AR)
Demolitionists who want a heavier finisher that still packs a quick punch, perhaps an Assault Rifle would do the trick. Thanks to the E.M.I. Talent, Demolitionists can get their ARs a (Tier 3) 15-percent damage boost. This is perfect to finish off opponents right after damaging them with the M32A1 in the beginning of combat.
Essentially, the AR helps balance the range limitations of the Grenade Launcher, giving the Demolitionist extended range than the SMG and more control compared to the LMG.
Diceros Special (Item, Sidearm)
Interestingly, even Demolitionists need a trusty sidearm that packs a lot of punch. Thanks to the Diceros Special, players get a special 357 Magnum Revolver that adds immense stabilization compared to their counterparts. It has decent accuracy and stability, making it a great sidearm to pair with other heavy-hitters.
Essentially, the Diceros Special might work for Demolitionists who want to make a side-arm centric build. However, considering how most enemies tend to come packing serious gear, Demolitionists might want to focus on their big guns as well. At the hands of an expert, though, the Diceros Special can make for a mean enemy to encounter.
Gunslinger (Passive, Sidearm)
Demolitionists who want more reliable sidearms can use the Gunslinger Talent. At its maximum, players can get a (Tier 2) 10-percent boost in sidearm damage.
This Talent works best with the Diceros Special, or if players have other preferred sidearms to go with their builds. As mentioned, players may instead want to focus on improving their primary weapons. However, a good sidearm can always come in handy in sticky situations.
Miscellaneous: Explosive Power-Ups
Outside additional weapon specializations and general improvements, the Demolitionist has a number of extra Talent and Perks that further boost their survivability throughout any encounter. Players should consider picking up any of these for specific builds they want to approach:
Group Signature Ammo Supply (Passive)
Demolitionists have a way of thanking their allies for letting them rain hell on the battlefield, and that's through Group Signature Ammo Supply. This Talent takes advantage of potential multi-kills with explosive damage, as this Talent grants chance that multi-kills with explosives will return Signature Weapon ammo across all members.
This is extremely efficient in intense firefights, as multiple kills via the M32A1 or other explosives can help the party get back to the fight with their own Signature Weapons.
40mm Grenade Acquisition (Passive)
Demolitionists love to make things go boom - so the bigger the explosions, the more motivated they become to fire again. In the game, this is represented by the 40mm Grenade Acquisition Talent. Essentially, this Talent gives Signature Weapon ammo for explosive kills that aren't done with the M32A1.
In turn, Demolitionists get an incentive to make use of flammable objects and other opportunities to make explosive attacks to regain precious Signature Weapon ammo.
Crisis Response (Passive)
Demolitionists have a way to make a comeback in dangerous situations, especially when they have their ever-reliable heavy weaponry. With the Crisis Response Talent, main weapon ammo gets instantly refilled when Armor becomes 0.
As with Group Signature Ammo Supply, Crisis Response easily becomes a godsend to Demolitionists stuck between a rock and a hard place. Even with Armor 0, full primary weapon ammo can give Demolitionists enough room to reach for cover and recover.
X-Stat Armor Kit Supplementary (Talent)
Demolitionists stay longer in the frontlines primarily due to their bulky nature. In the game, X-Stat Armor Kit Supplementary Talent boosts the potency of Armor Kit repairs. Essentially, this Talent further enhances Armor Repairs by granting a 70-percent damage boost and 100-percent increased weapon handling for 15 seconds. Moreover, players get 30-percent more repair once the effect dissipates.
In turn, the X-Stat Armor Kit Supplementary incentivizes Demolitionists going to cover to recover and make repairs. Moreover, the increased damage and accuracy can help Demolitionists pick off harder opponents from cover before going back to the frontlines.
Braced For Impact (Talent)
What good is a Demolitionist if explosions kill them, too? Thankfully, the Braced For Impact Talentgives Demolitionists a degree of immunity to explosions, at least for a short period of time. With this Talent, Demolitionists ignore explosions once every 60 seconds.
This might not seem like a lot, but being able to ignore fatal explosions is a big deal during boss fights with high-powered bosses and annoying battle mechanics. Moreover, chaotic environments where grenades go off everyone can see this Talent saving a lot of Demolitionists.
Demolitionist Uniform (Item, Outfit)
Just because The Division 2 is set in post-apocalyptic Washington DC doesn't mean people don't get to dress in style. Demolitionists identify themselves with an exclusive outfit, which is more or less a novelty piece that they can unlock for the Specialization.