The Divison 2: Everything You Need To Know About Tidal Basin Stronghold

The Tidal Basin and World Tier 5 have arrived in The Division 2. The last of the four strongholds (so far) pits you against the high-tech Black Tusk mercenary group, and leads to a pretty big story reveal. It’s also easily the most difficult stronghold so far, with lots of tricks and challenges awaiting your plucky team of agents. Here, I’m going to break down everything you need to know about the Tidal Basin stronghold — including secrets like a bonus Black Tusk faction chest, and a hidden method to acquire an exotic component.

Completing the Tidal Basin unlocks World Tier 5, which in turn reveals lots of new content. You’ll have to deal with weekly ‘invasions’ as Black Tusk retakes portions of the city. If you want to replay the Tidal Basin, you’ll need to recapture one of the three strongholds the group has invaded, along with three main missions. You’ll also unlock the ability to travel with the captured helicopter and pilot that appear in the White House. The chopper is specifically made for the incoming 8-agent raid that releases later this month.

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Everything You Need To Know About Tidal Basin Stronghold

#1. Beware Invincible Turrets

When you first enter the Tidal Basin, you’ll encounter killer turrets at the front gate. Stay back! The turrets can only be disabled by shooting the yellow power panels — you can’t shoot the turrets themselves.

Eventually, you’ll need to take down turrets in combat. Weave through cover to find the exposed yellow panel, destroy it, and you’ll disable each turret. There’s one yellow panel for each turret.

#2. Find A Secret Faction Chest

In the third combat encounter, you’ll meet the first turret you can disable outside the communications building. Inside, you’ll need to interact with the laptop to open the doors leading to a passage full of portable toilets.

In the communications building, there’s a secret stash of lootables on the second floor. Go outside and look at the second level — there’s a yellow power panel connected to the locked door on the balcony. Climb onto one of the machines to the right of the two-story buildings and shoot the yellow panel.

That will unlock the door — there’s a faction chest and a weapon case on the ledge.

#3. Replay To Find An Exotic Component

In the same building as the secret faction chest, you can actually acquire begin a hidden exotic component quest. To reach the second balcony, you’ll need to replay the Tidal Basin on Normal / Hard / Challenging — this is not available in Story Difficulty.

Once you replay the stronghold, go upstairs and collect the keycode / keycard. Take the code to the Hovercraft near the end of the mission. In the control room at the back of the main ‘hall’, use the code on the keypad on the door to the back-left.

Go inside, and you’ll find the ‘Adrestia SR1’ Sniper Rifle. If you dismantle the gun, you’ll get an Exotic Component. It isn’t exactly clear what you need to do next to get the actual Exotic gun. Check here for a full guide!

#4. Take Down The Antiviral Carriers

In the second half of the mission, you’ll have to hunt down and disable two antiviral carrier robots. After coming under attack, the carriers will retreat — don’t worry, they can’t escape. They’re stuck in the arena, so just follow them and shoot them down when they’re cornered. There’s no need to focus on these carriers.

Clear out the room then destroy the carrier. When the carrier is destroyed, don’t forget to call in your allies with a flare gun.

#5. How To Survive The Final Battle & Stop The Rocket Launchers

The most difficult part of the mission is at the end. Like any other mission, you’ll have to fight waves of enemies and defeat an elite boss at the end to complete the stronghold. What makes this challenge trickier than most are the rocket launchers.

There are three rocket launchers in the area — each of them activates at the beginning. You’ll have about 2 minutes to disable all three launchers by shooting the yellow panels on the three generators in the center.

After taking out all three generators, each of the rocket launchers will randomly begin their launch sequence. There are two back-up generators on each of the launchers — one is located in the front, below the rockets, while the second is on the raised radar in the back. If you shoot both, you’ll permanently destroy the rocket launcher.

That’s the best way to clear this challenge — focus on fighting enemies and destroying the launchers, then you can focus on the boss to complete the stronghold.

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