The real challenges in Operation Dark Hours, the massive (and massively difficult) raid for The Division 2 are the boss encounters. There are multiple bosses you’ll have to defeat to progress through the Black Tusk controlled D.C. Airport, and each one requires a very specific strategy. Whether you’re using turrets to weaken bosses, use panels to raise up lifts, avoid purple gas immunity, or balance a pair of robot health bars, these encounters are punishingly difficult.
There’s a reason why Ubisoft hasn’t included matchmaking for this raid. You’ll need eight players, and you’ll need to communicate with each other for every single encounter. If you don’t, you’ll get creamed by the overwhelming odds. Each boss encounter is unique — like a puzzle, and there’s nothing like it in the main game.
It’s exceptionally hard, and below you’ll find how to actually defeat each boss. We’ll provide a few tips, but this is mostly about the required strategy; what you need to do to actually damage and defeat the bosses. Keep scrolling for the info.
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Operation Dark Hours – How To Beat Every Boss Encounter | Raid Guide
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To access Operation Dark Hours, the new raid, you’ll need to use the yellow helicopter located in the White House Base-of-Operations. Only an 8-player team can tackle this titanic challenge, and there is (currently) no matchmaking system.
You’ll need to join up with 8 friends and stay in constant communication with each other. You’ll see why with the boss strategies described below. Every encounter is unique, and difficult.
Boss #1: Max ‘Boomer’ Bailey
Boomer will appear after destroying the ‘Signal Sources’ that make enemies immune. Destroy them all, and Boomer will spawn — he’s immune to damage at the start of the fight. Enemies will constantly spawn into the room. You’ll need to defend the turrets from enemies — assign players to deal with reinforcements, and assign players to turret duty. A red eye will appear on the screen; that means Boomer is coming for you.
To damage Boomer, use the turrets to shoot the red weak point on his back. When he takes enough damage, he’ll be stunned. Drop off the turrets and shoot him to deal damage.
Boomer will heal between DPS phases — have the bait player shoot the green healing point on Boomer’s chest as he’s lured around the room. The signal sources from the previous step will also begin recharging — destroy them when they reactivate.
You can stop reactivation by interacting with the corresponding defense system laptops in the area.
Boss #2: Ben ‘Dizzy’ Carter & Carl ‘Ricochet’ Dawson
To activate this boss, split into two teams of four and go to each side of the plane in the arena. There are three displays on each side. One of the displays will be green on one side — interact with this screen on both sides at the exact same time to activate the boss.
A boss will drop on both sides of the arena. Watch the display screens and interact when they turn on — keep doing this to raise the plane platform, turning the split arena into a single arena.
There is no trick to this pair of bosses. Avoid their grenade attacks, stay spread out, and keep doing damage. When one of them dies, a harder boss will spawn in the arena. Try to avoid killing one before the other — try to defeat them at about the same time to make the next encounter easier.
Boss #3: Oliver ‘Weasel’ Gordon
A much more difficult boss will spawn when you defeat either ‘Dizzy’ or ‘Ricochet’ in the plane arena. Weasel is surrounded by purple smoke that makes him immune to all attacks.
To damage Weasel, you need to wait for the purple smoke to turn orange. Shoot him when the smoke is green, and he’ll take damage. Take cover when he’s emitting purple smoke, and coordinate so you’re all shooting him when he’s orange.
Reinforcements will continue to spawn during this fight. Keep on them and try to keep the area as clear as possible so you’re free to shoot Weasel when he’s weakened.
Boss #4: Lucy & Buddy
This pair of linked robots are extremely dangerous, and you’ll only have a short amount of time to defeat them. A timer in the arena will show you the time — you have about six minutes.
Lucy and Buddy take damage normally, but you’ll want to watch how much damage you do to them. If one of the robots takes too much more damage than the other, they’ll gain a powerful buff. Try to keep their health bars at about the same level — definitely within the same block.
Listen for a ‘Massive Overcharge’ warning. When this happens, you’ll need two players to rush to two computers in the area and interact. This will disable the attack. You’ll also want to watch out for their spin-shot attack. You’ll know it’s about to happen when one of the bots crouches slightly.
Boss #5: DDP-52 Razorback
This massive drone-spawning vehicle requires multiple steps to clear. There are four generators, and four missile launchers — assign players to use the generators and watch the missile launchers. Elite enemies will rush the launchers and try to initiate a missile strike. Your goal is to charge the four generators from the corresponding panels until they’re at 100%.
Once the generators are charged, the vehicle will release a swarm of drones. Target the weak points on the front / back of the vehicle, then throw grenades into the holes that appear. Shoot the weak points on the back of a huge panel that rises up out of the vehicle — finally, another panel will appear. Shoot this last panel to actually damage the boss health bar.
Drones will constantly spawn into the arena. You’ll need to manage them, and stay inside circles — you can leave the circles when the giant panel rises up out of the boss.
Repeat the process (charge generators, shoot both weak points, throw grenades into the two holes, shoot the panel weak points, shoot the final weak point) three, four or five+ times to defeat the boss.
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