“ Survive the cold. Survive the hunger and the thirst. Survive the disease. Survive the night. Survive the hunt. - Tom Clancy's The Division: Survival DLC Update - Expansion II Trailer”
Survival is the second downloadable expansion for Tom Clancy's The Division, added into the game with Patch 1.5 on November 22, 2016.
Taking place in a modified version of the base game's Manhattan, Survival strips agents of their existing gear and challenges them to improvise, adapt, and scavenge resources to reach the Dark Zone, secure a cache of antivirals, and extract via helicopter to safety. Sealed Caches are awarded based on an agent's performance (measured as Survival Rank) after either dying or extracting.
The game mode offers both Player vs. Environment (PvE) and Player vs. Player (PvP) modes, and can be played solo, in a pre-made group, or a match-made group for both game types. Up to 24 agents can participate in a single session. Agents must first unlock the Base of Operations to play Survival.
Overview[]
In Survival, the player assumes control of a Strategic Homeland Division agent sent to retrieve a lost case of experimental antivirals from the Dark Zone; en route, their helicopter crashes, leaving them stranded in a blizzard and suffering from sepsis. They must reach the Dark Zone and complete their mission before their infection kills them.
Agents can access Survival from the Terminal, and can choose either PvP or PvE modes, along with playing solo or matchmaking to play with others as a team.
- In PvP, combat between players is enabled outside of Hideouts without penalty; the Rogue system does not exist in Survival, even in the Dark Zone. PvP applies a x1.2 multiplier to a player's final Survival score.
- In PvE, combat between players is disabled, but there is still competition over scavenging resources.
A typical Survival match involves the following steps:
- Craft a Virus Filter
- Enter the Dark Zone
- Retrieve the antivirals (optional)
- Craft a Flare Gun
- Call for extraction & defeat a Hunter
- Board an extraction helicopter
Each player starts the game in a Hideout near the edge of Manhattan with a set of Standard gear, a Standard sidarm, a medkit, and a torn hazmat suit as clothing. Players must then find and craft better weapons and equipment, warmer clothing, and consumables to contend with Survival-exclusive mechanics such as warmth, hunger, thirst, and infection.
Items and materials in Survival are NOT shared, even among party members; only one person can pick up any given item, forcing agents to either distribute loot amongst themselves or simply compete for limited resources. Equipment and crafting materials can be found at new locations such as Helicopter Crashes and Landmarks, and players can stay warm at Fire Barrels, Shelters, or Hideouts. Enemy difficulty, available blueprints, and loot quality increases as agents approach the Dark Zone; however, agents will only find items up to Superior rarity in the open world. High-End items must be crafted using 
Division Tech, a material found exclusively in the Dark Zone.
Combat is slower and deadlier than usual, as agents are often poorly-equipped and do not fully heal between fights. However, they can also use Medkits to self-revive if downed in battle; otherwise, they will fall 'unconscious' and must be revived by another agent within five (5) minutes. If the timer expires, the player leaves the session, or another agent finishes them off (in PvP mode) , they will drop everything in their inventory, which can be claimed by others. The locations of unconscious agents are marked on all players' maps.
Once inside the Dark Zone, agents can opt to collect Sealed Caches and retrieve the antivirals from a randomly-chosen location, but they will ultimately need to procure a Flare Gun and proceed to one of several Extraction Zones. Firing the Flare Gun will attract a Hunter, a powerful Elite enemy with access to SHD Tech and the ability to execute downed foes; more agents present will result in additional Hunters. All Hunters must be killed before any agents can board the helicopter and return to the Base of Operations, successfully completing the mission.
Mechanics[]
Hideouts[]
These are where an agent's Survival journey will begin. Hideouts are Survival's equivalent to Safe Houses, providing a safe haven from not only the storm, but other players, as well. PvP is disabled within Hideouts. Each one contains a Crafting Table and refills an agent's health bar and Temperature meter upon entering. Hideouts have multiple entrances, which are bathed in the glow of bright orange circles 
above them.
At the start of a Survival session, each agent begins inside a random Hideout near the borders of Manhattan. All Hideouts that are potential spawn points have loot containers providing 1x Painkillers and 1x
Fabric.
Shelters[]
Shelters such as apartment buildings, storefronts, and subway tunnels offer some brief respite from the storm and perhaps lootable containers. These indoor/underground areas are denoted by the warm glow of electrical lights against the snow. Entering a Shelter will begin refilling an agent’s Temperature meter. However, enemies may also have the same idea, so stay alert when entering indoor areas.
Disease[]
Due to their injury from the helicopter crash, agents are infected with sepsis, giving them a life expectancy of just over one hour (62 minutes). This is Survival's primary limiting factor--if their infection timer expires, an agent will die and cannot be revived.
This timer can be temporarily paused by using Medicine (for five minutes) or Painkillers (for two minutes). Both can be found from enemies or by looting red medical bags typically found near Landmarks, pharmacies, and ambulances throughout the city.
With efficient use of these items, the infection timer can effectively be extended well past two hours (120 minutes). However, they are not a permanent solution--with every use, Medicine and Painkillers become less effective as the agent's system builds tolerance, eventually adding mere seconds to the timer near the end of a long session.
Cold[]
The storm has plunged Manhattan's climate deep below zero, sapping an agent's body heat. This is denoted by the Temperature meter in the upper right of the screen: the top left number is the total Cold Resist of the agent's clothing, while the top right tracks the ambient temperature outside.
The Temperature meter will constantly drop while outdoors, but can be refilled by standing near burning wreckage and Fire Barrels (which must sometimes be lit first) or entering an indoor Shelter or Hideout. If the meter is empty, the agent is considered Freezing and will begin losing health; anyone who dies while Freezing cannot self-revive, and must hope for timely rescue by another agent.
In Survival, Vanity items in the Appearance tab gain a "Cold Resist" statistic. The higher the total Cold Resist of an agent's equipped clothing, the slower the Temperature meter will drain; reaching a Cold Resist of -22°C/-7°F will prevent the meter from draining at all, allowing unhindered exploration. Warmer clothing items can be crafted at Hideouts using Fabric or looted from enemies, cabinets or suitcases.
Hunger[]
Hunger is linked to an agent's health regeneration. In Survival, health will only naturally regenerate up to the nearest third of its maximum, even outside of combat. This can leave an agent weakened unless they enter a Hideout, activate a healing Skill, or use a precious Medkit. Eating food will allow an agent's health to regenerate fully, even in the midst of combat.
Hunger can be reduced by consuming Energy Bars or Canned Food; however, there is a lengthy cooldown between uses, so they are best saved to replenish health, rather than simply to sate Hunger. Food items can be found in refrigerators, ice chests, and backpacks throughout the city. A player cannot die from being Hungry, but may have to contend with chronically low health.
Thirst[]
Thirst is linked to an agent’s awareness of their environment, which aids in detecting lootable containers in the world. The normal mini-map is disabled in Survival, forcing players to rely on their own senses to scavenge. Thirst is decreased by drinking Water or Soda, causing containers within a radius to glow as orange wireframes--even through solid obstacles. The lower an agent's Thirst, the wider the radius grows.
Like Hunger, players cannot die from being Thirsty, but managing it can help locate resources agents may otherwise overlook.
Crafting[]
Agents start with only a sidearm, basic equipment and clothing, and no Skills. Aside from looting, better gear can be crafted at Crafting Tables located in Hideouts (which act like Safe Houses in the base game).
Enemies, containers, and deconstructed items provide materials such as 
Tools, 
Electronics, 
Weapon Parts, Fabric, and Division Tech; each of these come in three rarities (Standard, Specialized, or High-End), while Division Tech is always High-End. These are used to craft important items that improve an agent's chances of survival, with more advanced blueprints available in Hideouts closer to the Dark Zone. Lower-tier materials can be converted to the next tier at a ratio of 3:1, and Division Tech can be converted to any other High-End material at a Crafting Table.
Certain Skills, such as First Aid or Support Station, require Medkits each to craft, in addition to other materials.
Craftable items include:
- Medkits
- Weapons
- Armor
- Clothing
- Skills
- Flare Guns
- Virus Filters
The only items required to complete a Survival session are the Virus Filter (to enter the Dark Zone) and Flare Gun (to signal an extraction helicopter). An agent may also scavenge a Flare Gun from an unconscious agent, or extract on another agent's helicopter (provided there is space available).
Landmarks[]
Like in the normal Dark Zone, Landmarks denote where groups of Veteran or Elite enemies can be found. If an agent is prepared, clearing one of these points can provide a wealth of weapons, items, and materials. Beware, however--the sounds of battle may attract more enemies or, in PvP Survival, hostile agents. A Landmark appears on the map as a purple fist icon; a gray icon indicates it has already been cleared.
Dark Zone[]
The Dark Zone is the ultimate destination of any Survival match, as it contains Division Tech caches needed to craft High-End items and, more importantly, a Flare Gun to call for an extraction helicopter.
Once the first agent enters the Dark Zone, an alert will be sent to all others within the match. Inside, the weather becomes clearer, but enemies are stronger and more numerous. A cache of antivirals will be marked at a random location in the Dark Zone for each agent; retrieving them is not necessary to complete the mission, but greatly boosts an agent's Survival Rank and provides 1x Division Tech, ensuring they can at least craft a Flare Gun if other sources have been been exhausted.
Enemies and lootable containers in the Dark Zone may drop High-End Weapon, Gear, Mod, or Survival Sealed Caches. Besides Sealed Caches awarded post-game based on Survival Rank, these are the only items that transfer to the base game; all other weapons and equipment obtained during the match will be lost. For optimal rewards, agents should try to obtain the maximum of six (6) sealed caches before extracting.
Hunters[]
Survival introduces the Hunters, a deadly new enemy type. Once an agent fires a Flare Gun in an Extraction Zone, a three-minute timer heralds the arrival of the extraction helicopter; more pressingly, a Hunter will spawn nearby, accompanied by an EMP burst that disrupts an agent's HUD and Skills.
Hunters are among the deadliest foes in Tom Clancy's The Division. Their AI behavior mimics a human player's, such as using Skills, rolling out of danger, and accurately blind-firing from cover. They can also hack deployable SHD Tech, such as Turrets, turning them against their users. While they aren't especially durable, they will use Medkits to heal themselves while behind cover, and can instantly down an agent with a melee attack. This is typically followed by a gruesome execution using their crash axe, preventing the victim from being revived.
The amount of Hunters that appear corresponds to the number of players present when the Flare Gun is fired; if more agents arrive at the Extraction Zone afterwards, additional Hunters will spawn to compensate. All Hunters must be defeated before extraction is possible.
Afterwards, all that remains is to board the waiting helicopter, completing the mission. The vehicle will only stay for thirty (30) seconds and can seat a maximum of four; all other agents will have to call for another helicopter, although they can re-use the same Flare Gun and will not need to fight more Hunters.
Rewards[]
- Main article: Survival Scoring
Rewards from playing Survival come in two forms:
- Sealed Caches awarded based on Survival Rank, an aggregate scoring of an agent's performance (regardless of outcome). There are six possible ranks, with the highest (Master) awarding four (4) Sealed Caches.
- Any Sealed Caches in an agent's inventory at the time of extraction. Agents can carry up to six (6) Sealed Caches at once.
Sealed Caches[]
Caches can be found in the Dark Zone from fallen enemies, Landmarks, and loot containers. There are four varieties of Caches:
- Weapons Cache
- Gear Cache
- Mods Cache
- Survival Cache
Weapons, Gear, and Mods Caches can be found anywhere in the Dark Zone, while Survival Caches can only be obtained from Named enemies at Landmarks and, very rarely, from slain Hunters. Survival Caches have a ~10% chance to contain Classified Gear Set pieces.
Gallery[]
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Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Survival uses an older version of the in-game map from Patch 1.5, which means areas added in later title updates are not present. Examples include West Side Pier and the rooftop shortcut between DZ02-DZ03.
- Certain Elite enemies' weapons have unique flashlight attachments, instead of their usual laser pointer attachments. These are exclusive to Survival, and neither seen nor obtainable in the base game.