Gear 2.0 is upending everything you thought you knew about loot in The Division 2, including how Gear Sets and how their bonuses work. With talents now only on backpacks and chest pieces, the perks to running a full Gear Set have been adjusted to fit this new design mantra. So, what exactly changed?
Gear Sets still have a four-piece bonus that chest and backpack talents now supercharge.
With Warlords of New York and Title Update 8, all Gear Sets have been overhauled to work within the new Gear 2.0 system. That means backpacks and chest pieces in a Gear Set now have talents that make the four-piece set bonus more powerful. The four-piece bonuses have also been revamped to be more impactful than they were before the update, with the three-piece bonuses becoming a flat statistical buff.
As seen in the image above with the new Striker and System Corruption Gear Sets both the backpack and chest piece confer a unique buff to the four-piece bonus. So, if you want to maintain your Striker’s Gamble buff with less chaff you’d equip the backpack.
The chest piece and backpack still contribute towards the set bonus as well, meaning players have a few ways to mix and match their Gear Sets. They can focus on optimizing one set by using the backpack, chest piece, and two other items from the set, then pair it with two items from a second Gear Set for its two-piece bonus. That, or players can opt out of the chest and backpack altogether, and use talents found on High-End gear instead.
Throw in Brand Set bonuses, double three-piece bonuses, triple two piece bonuses, and Exotic armor and you’ll find Gear Sets remain flexible to build around, but now they carry some added punch with a more focused final set-bonus that should drive players towards specializing in a set or two.
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