Once you hit the highest level in The Division, that’s when the end-game starts — and that’s when you’ll spend pretty much all your time in World Tier 4. If you’re a fan of The Division, you probably already know what that means, but for the uninitiated, the “World Tier” is the global level you experience in-game. Lowering the “World Tier” effectively lowers the level of all equipment and enemies.
World Tiers are meant to make life easier, but they’re not usually changed to provide great (and cheap) gear options. Thanks to some clever community members diving in the 1.4 update for The Division, players have found some cool ways you can take advantage of World Tiers. Check out all the reasons why you’ll want to lower World Tier in the list below.
How to Exploit the World Tier System
NOTE: These world tier tips come from Youtuber Arekkz Gaming and his superb The Division series. Check him out here.
The new 1.4 Update to The Division adds so much new stuff, you’ll have to use your Phoenix Credits wisely and prioritize what you want to spend points on. Weapons and gear will always be first priority, and if you’re looking to min/max your stats completely, some of these tips won’t help — but, if you’re looking for cheap and efficient ways to boost your stats while saving Phoenix Credits, these are some good reasons why it’s actually helpful to lower the World Tier.
#1: Set to World Tier 1 For Easy Phoenix Credits
The first way to exploit World Tier will help you earn fast Phoenix Credits — about 100 PC per run. This is the most straightforward strategy here, and any post-game player can handle it.
- Go to the Map and Set World Tier 1
- Start the “Clear Sky – Challenging” Incursion
- Bring a team of 4 for best results.
- Crush it and collect your 100 Phoenix Credits.
If you’re fully-kitted out, this incursion should only take 7-10 minutes to complete per run. Maybe even less than that if you’re fast. Finishing it will drop a guaranteed 100 PC reward, so there’s no randomness here.
Rinse and repeat for an hour or more to earn 1,000+ Phoenix Credits. This might be the safest, most reliable method for farming PC currently, so get in on it while you can.
#2: Mods at World Tier 1 are Cheaper and Just as Good
This isn’t true of every single mod, but many gear or weapon mods sold by Phoenix Credit vendors in The Division offer much, much lower prices on World Tier 1 goods — especially compared to World Tier 4 items.
- Note: The level of a mod does not change the stats; the level only means that the item will feature potentially higher stats.
For instance, a performance mod sold by the Special Equipment Vendor has a skill attribute. For this example, the mod has a +7% Support Station duration skill attribute and costs 487 Phoenix Credits. Now let’s compare the World Tier 4 version with the World Tier 1 version:
- World Tier 4 – Class Mod: +7% Support Station Duration (487 Phoenix Credits)
- World Tier 1 – Class Mod: +7% Support Station Duration (56 Phoenix Credits)
See the difference? There’s no reason at all to purchase the more expensive World Tier version of certain class mods. Weapon Mods don’t fare as well — you’ll see that the Major Attributes of Weapon Mods are lower in World Tier 1 vs World Tier 4, but the benefits often outweigh the costs.
World Tier 1 Weapon Mods are significantly cheaper and can still give you strong bonuses. They aren’t as useful when it comes to min/maxing, but if you’re in a rush to save PC and want to kit-out your weapons and abilities with mods, it’s always worthwhile to check both versions at all World Tier levels and see which price is the best fit.
That way you can save you Phoenix Credits for the truly worthwhile items — weapons and gear.
#3: World Tier 1 Gives You A Surplus of Crafting Materials
The best way to get crafting materials is by dismantling items, and the best way to get crafting materials on-the-fly is to purchase weapons / gear from the Vendors at HQ and dismantle. It’s a basic strategy everyone knows, and most veterans are swimming in extra crafting materials.
But, World Tiers make this whole process much easier. Now you don’t have to swap to lower-level characters and trade to get lots of low-level junk — now you can just lower the World Tier level.
- Get Blue Crafting Materials from the Weapons / Gear Vendor (For Credits)
- Get Purple Crafting Materials from the Special Weapons Vendor (For Phoenix Credits)
The rarity of materials won’t change from World Tier 1 vs World Tier 4 — only the cost changes. If you’re looking to get fast materials and want to save cash, always lower the World Tier first or you’re throwing credits away.
#4: Lower Weapon Talent Unlock Requirements
Here’s a useful trick for high-level play — weapons from the Special Weapons Vendor (and many other drops) feature a slew of talents you can unlock. Many of these weapons aren’t very good — they’re not useful as a primary weapon for dealing damage, but they do come with awesome talents you can swap to on-the-fly before unleashing your special abilities.
Talents often have painfully steep requirements to unlock, but there is a way to get around that hurdle — lower the World Tier before purchasing from the Special Weapons Vendor.
- Weapons from the Special Weapons Vendor will feature all the same talents (with slightly weaker bonuses) when lowering the World Tier from 4 to 1. The major difference is the talent unlock requirements.
A weapon with great talents is useless if you can’t meet those unlock requirements, so it makes more sense to get a weaker version with talents you can use rather than an expensive hunk of junk. These weapons aren’t designed for DPS — all you’re after here are the talents, and lowering World Tier is a great way to make these ability-only-weapons a viable option.
Got your own World Tier exploits? Let us know in the comments!
