Resistance

"As the Strategic Homeland Division continues to threaten the survivability of the hostile factions throughout Manhattan, the Rioters, Rikers, Cleaners, Last Man Battalion, and Hunters decide to, given the circumstances, make peace and join forces under the idea that "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". Groups of mixed forces are abundant in the West Side Pier, and openly ambush roaming agents as much as possible. The agents who wander near certain areas, though, are ambushed by relentless waves of these factions, ending only when they see the agent's demise."

Resistance is a game mode added into Tom Clancy's The Division in Update 1.8: Resistance. As the quote above references, Resistance is The Division's take on a "horde mode" game type. It features every enemy faction joining forces to eliminate the agents of The Division. It should be noted these game modes are considered "Endless" in their difficulty selection. This means that there is no selection of difficulty to make it easier or harder for the agent, except through changing the World Tier.

Gameplay
To begin a Resistance event, the player can activate an event or queue up with other agents from the dynamic map, or travel to one of the three Arena locations in West Side Pier and initialize the event from there by either matchmaking or simply walking into the Arena's entrance. The three Resistance arenas are: Resistance consists of waves of increasingly harder foes. Each wave contains randomly chosen enemy factions and types, while every 5th wave is a time-limited boss wave. Rounds can also contain other "critical" objectives, which, if not completed, fails the mission and ends it for the agent or agents. This includes boss waves, making said boss wave much more difficult if the EMP wave is triggered. Enemies drop SHD credits, which are used to open new areas, purchase ammo, frags, medkits, and other miscellaneous items, such as exotic grenades, along with purchasing and upgrading sentry turrets and pulse/healing stations. Turrets and Pulse/Support Stations can be upgraded to have more various perks such as extra range and more health. Each boss wave has a chance of spawning Hunters instead of a typical named enemy after wave 15. Note that wave 15 has 3 Hunters spawn in every time for the boss fight, while only a single hunter will spawn on boss waves after.
 * Carrier: Farthest south in WSP of the three arenas, takes place on the aircraft carrier Intrepid and its boarding area. Agents start in a small reception room.
 * Pier 93: Midway between the other two arenas. Players start in a small room of pipes, with the outside having many containers.
 * Powerhouse: Farthest north in WSP, this arena takes place in the sewers.

Fortifications
Around Resistance maps, crates containing fortifications are found. Fortifications are used to assist agents during waves. There are currently 3 types of fortifications: Pulse, Turret, and Support Station. It costs 500 SHD tech to activate a fortification. Each time a fortification is upgraded, it boosts range, its ability, and health of the device.
 * Pulse Fortification: Functions similar to an agent's pulse, but keeps enemies pulsed for as long as the fortification is online.
 * Turret Fortification: Functions similar to the agent's turret, Last Stand turrets, and LMB turrets. It targets enemies with a blue targeting laser. Upon an upgrade, its range and damage are increased. The turret can also fire shock darts and incendiary bullets.
 * Support Station Fortification: Functions similar to the agent's support station. It will provide a faster healing speed and range upon an upgrade. The fortification also supplies ammunition to agents.

Critical Objectives
During most waves, a critical objective occurs. Almost all critical objectives need to be completed before their time runs out. If agents fail to complete the objective within the time limit, the agents fail the mission. There are currently five critical objectives:
 * Offline SHD interacts: All map technology that requires the SHD tech currency are not able to be upgraded, repaired, and/or purchased.
 * EMP: Agent technology is periodically disabled by an EMP.
 * Contamination: Agents are exposed to a virus strain above level 5. Most unprepared teams fail in Contamination waves. Dead agents cannot be revived during this critical objective. The wave will end when all enemies, or agents, are dead.
 * Data breach: Agents need to hack a laptop leaking data to the enemy by standing in a zone around the laptop. Data Breach is timed and will cause agents to fail if the breach is not stopped.
 * Kill bosses: Agents are tasked with eliminating mission, freeroam, Dark Zone, and/or Resistance unique boss(es). Kill bosses is timed and causes agents to fail if the boss(es) are not killed within the time limit.

Rewards
Rewards gained from Resistance come in 3 forms; one in the form of boss drops, consistent with the rest of the game, Resistance Caches earned from specific wave completions, and the Resistance Reward cache, located physically on the map itself.

The Resistance Caches come in 3 tiers. Tier 1 is awarded for completing wave 5. Tier 2 is awarded for completing waves 10 and 15. Tier 3 is awarded every 5 rounds after 15. Tier 1 awards 2 High-End or Gear Set items, with the possibility of getting a Classified item. Tier 2 has an increased chance of Classified Gear Set or Exotic items. Tier 3 has the highest chance of Classified or Exotic items.

Located in every Resistance Arena is a Resistance Reward cache. The Resistance Reward cache is a loot crate found in a specific location(s) in the Arena that requires SHD credits to be opened. When the required amount of credits are deposited, a random weapon or gear item will be dropped on the ground in front of the cache. Players can open the Cache as many times as they want, so long as they have the required amount of credits to deposit; but with each time the Cache is opened, the cost also increases. The Rarity of the loot dropped from this cache is determined by the difficulty the game is being played on:


 * World Tiers 1 and 2: ', ', and  rarities.
 * World Tier 3: ' and ', with a low chance of getting a .
 * World Tier 4: ', ', and ', with a chance of getting an ' item.
 * World Tier 5: Guaranteed either a ' item or an ' item.

In terms of how quick all of these rewards are earned, there are better options to choose from should one be looking to get a lot of items in a short amount of time. However, if one is looking to farm Classified Gearsets or Exotics specifically, grinding World Tier 5 Resistance Caches is a decent route, so long as they have the ability to survive long enough to do so.

Appearances

 * Tom Clancy's The Division