open/close all folders
Enemy Factions
The Hyenas
In General
Hyenas' Icon
A gang of lawless bandits who only live to pillage and steal from the remaining survivors in Washington D.C.- Addiction-Powered: Hyena melee units and some of their named bosses can power up by snorting down drugs, significantly increasing their damage resistance.
- Ambiguous Situation: The Hyenas are the most ruthless of all of the factions. Yet for unknown reasons, they didn’t torture President Ellis while they were holding him hostage.
- Apunkcalypse: While the apocalypse is still very recent and the first game's factions didn't have much of it, it is in full effect for the Hyena gang. They dress in punk fashions, tag everything in graffiti, and murder indiscriminately anyone they encounter in order to live wild drug-fueled lives of hedonism. At least until the Sheriff puts them all down.
- Army of Thieves and Whores: An army of raiders that has become powerful enough to finish off the JTF before the Sheriff rescues them.
- Ax-Crazy: They're cartoonishly evil, sometimes just running at the player while screaming "Aaaaaaahh! I want blooooood!"
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each faction has its own aesthetic. Hyenas wear black pants and white shirts under black body-armor and gas masks, spray-paint their logo onto their gear in green, and at night they wear sickly-green flashlights.
- Drugs Are Bad: The Hyenas are all high as a kite on a strange green drug called "spice" that seems to function like a combination of PCP and meth.
- Expy: The Hyenas are clearly meant to be second game's equivalent to the Rioters and Rikers; a loose coalition of criminals and bandits who are more interested in pillaging and terrorizing survivors than having any sort of long term goals.
- For the Evulz: They take great enjoyment in preying on other survivors.
- Gangsta Style: Hyenas are notably the only faction of enemies who like to do this, popping out of cover and shooting at you sideways while strolling casually to the side.
- Gas Mask Mooks: They all wear gas masks, while all the other factions go by fine with just bandanas. This may be because they're the only faction to use gas weapons in combat.
- Leeroy Jenkins: As a whole, Hyenas are more likely to charge directly at the player to engage them in melee combat.
- Rape Pillage Burn: Their MO is to simply prey on all the other survivors indiscriminately.
- Sigil Spam: Buildings claimed by the Hyenas will have their emblem spray paint stenciled on every surface, usually with green paint. Barring that, cans of paint are usually haphazardly spilled around elsewhere.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: A lot of the Hyenas run directly at the heavily armed player, sometimes just armed with a baton. Justified as they're all on drugs.
- Teens Are Monsters: A substantial number of the Hyenas are fairly young, being in their late teens to early twenties compared to the Outcasts and True Sons.
- Villain Respect: Whether it was out of respect or something else, the Hyenas didn’t torture President Ellis while they holding him hostage.
- We ARE Struggling Together: The Hyena 'faction' formed out of various scavenger-gangs that realized that getting organized was their only chance of keeping the better-armed and -disciplined True Sons from wiping them all out piecemeal. Even so, there's still a lot of bickering and backstabbing (often literal) between and within the various Hyena sub-groups.
The Council
The Council
The highest command within the Hyenas, they made up of the smartest and strongest pack leaders from various clans that make up the Hyenas. They are led by the Assembly Supervisor, Books, making him the defacto leader of the Hyenas entirely. Other members of the council are Dime, Diesel, Saint, Roach, Rebound, Coyote, Mayhem and Zodiac.- Authority in Name Only: Despite Books's supposedly being the "leader", he's the first one who gets taken down in the District Union Arena. In fact, the game's subtitles don't even bother mentioning his name, instead only calling him "Hyena Boss". Likewise, audio logs indicate that Coyote was essentially the founder of the Hyenas, but she gets killed relatively early on in the main quest too without much fanfare.
- Applies to their udnerlings as well. One of the found audio logs mentions that the Hyena fighters barely fear disobeying their leaders.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: They all hate each other, and would gladly stab each other in the back when the opportunity presents itself. The only reason why they’re working together is so that they wouldn’t get overrun by the True Sons. This becomes rather obvious the more Council members the Agent kills at District Union Arena, as the final boss of the mission, Dime, reacts in annoyance rather than concern at his fellow Council members' deaths.
- Wolfpack Boss: Surprisingly, averted. They're all fought one at a time as you move through the Stronghold. Ironically, their stronghold's mission briefing has Council members Zodiac and Mayhem railing on the Council's supposed "strength in numbers" strategy (and neither of them were dumb enough to hole up with the rest of the Council at their HQ).
The Outcasts
In General
Outcasts' Icon
A group of crazed, fanatical survivors who were quarantined and subsequently abandoned by the federal government during the outbreak. As revenge, they seek to spread the Green Poison infection to all survivors.- Accomplice by Inaction: Why they're doing everything to kill random citizens. In their eyes the random person on the street should have taken action to prevent the Federal Government from quarantining them. And this also means their abandonment and suffering when the Federal Government broke down is also their fault.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Mission Control pretty much says this word-for-word in their final Stronghold mission. "What happened to them was wrong... but what they did afterwards was worse."
- Ax-Crazy: The Outcasts include suicide bombers, flame thrower goons, and guys with sledgehammers that just exist to kill as many people as possible before being put down.
- Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: The Outcast 'tank' unit is a heavily-armored behemoth wielding a sledgehammer that can one-shot Agents who get too close.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Judging by their chatter, the Outcasts don't buy the 'story' that Gordon Amherst was behind Green Poison; they think it was actually released by the 'World Government' to destroy America, and said World Government then sent in its foot-soldiers (the Division) to take over what was left."If they can fake the Moon landings, they can fake anything."
- The various descriptions of their named Bosses are quite telling — an enormous amount of them continue to believe they're the victim of a social experiment, conspiracy or other underhanded event. Further still, some of them believed in these things even before the Green Poison hit!
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each faction has its own aesthetic. Outcasts drape themselves in yellow plastic taken from their quarantine camp, and at night they wear sodium-yellow flashlights.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: They're more or less slaughtering everyone and everything with plans of releasing the Dollar Flu again.
- Homemade Inventions: Lacking the other factions' access to modern weaponry, the Outcasts have had to go Macgyver. Apart from their penchant for flame-weapons (see below), their 'controller' archetype uses an RC-car fitted with skillsaw-blades.
- Kill It with Fire: Outcast grenadiers carry bags full of Molotov cocktails, and their crowd-control trooper totes a flamethrower.
- Insane Equals Violent: The majority of Outcasts are not well in the head and are the most mindlessly monstrous of the Washington DC factions.
- Misplaced Retribution: Antwon Ridgeway stole all of their supplies for himself and his troops. However, the Outcasts are indiscriminately targeting the public.
- Never My Fault: One of the reasons it got so bad on the Island was that the rioters opened fired on any JTF personnel attempting to delivered supplies. But they blame the Government for stopping the supplies.
- Revenge Before Reason: Once out of quarantine, instead of going their own ways and focusing on surviving, these idiots banded together to basically try and murder the world out of spite.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The Outcasts roam the city and indiscriminately kill and infect other survivors as revenge for the mistreatment they suffered at the hands of the government while forcibly quarantined.
- Shadow Archetype: Their use of flamethrowers and gas masks and fanatic beliefs makes them similar to the Cleaners. However, their motivations are the polar opposite, where the Cleaners sought to exterminate the infection at any cost, the Outcasts seek to spread it.
- Sigil Spam: A good way to spot an Outcast territory is by all the yellow warning tape and dangling glass they decorate their territory with.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Every single 'named' Outcast boss goes by an epithet - "the Archduke", "the Owl", "the Corpulent" and so forth.
- Suicide Attack: The Outcast 'rusher' archetype is armed only with an explosive vest. The elite version also sets himself on fire before making his last charge.
- The Straight and Arrow Path: Instead of rifles, Outcast Snipers use mechanical longbows with explosive arrows.
Emeline Shaw
Emeline Shaw
The charismatic, bloodthirsty leader of the Outcasts who believes everyone is complicit and urges her followers to punish the guilty by spreading sickness and murdering indiscriminately.- And Then What?: Answers this question by saying there's no after. She's going to keep killing people indiscriminately until she or everyone else is dead.
- Ax-Crazy: Wants nothing more than to see the rest of the world die.
- Bait-and-Switch: Pretty much all the cutscenes or audio logs with her in them go like this, as she will start off sounding reasonable, then flip to something hostile and deadly.
- Cool Train: Most of her encounters in the Manning National Zoo involve her holing up in a heavily armored monorail train equipped with a Gatling gun, with the Division trying multiple times to knock it down by blowing up support columns.
- The Corruptor: An audio log has her coax a Outcast into murdering a guard who killed a woman.
- Death Seeker: When you destroy her monorail, she dares you to kill her. She also makes similar threats to herself.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: An ECHO at the end of the Manning National Zoo mission reveals that she had a daughter who passed away from the Green Poison while they were both in quarantine.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Emeline Shaw has no motivation other than to kill as many people as people.
- Kick the Dog: Emeline Shaw's recordings have her using slave labor, murdering surrendering prisoners, and trying to terrify the survivors of Washington DC with indiscriminate violence.
- The Immune: Shaw is a rare asymptomatic carrier of the Green Poison virus. She doesn't suffer from the side effects of the virus, but still carries it within her body. This naturally makes her the core of the Outcasts' strategy since she is essentially an infinite source of Green Poison virus they can weaponize.
- Mama Bear: Her post-mortem ECHO has her talk about this to her daughter. It's implied her insanity is due to viewing herself as this but failing to protect her child.
- Praetorian Guard: Similar to LaRae Barrett, she has a pair of Heavily Armored Mooks as bodyguards, in Shaw's case a pair of boss-level Outcast Heavies armed with sledgehammers known as The Basilisk and The Craven.
- The Unfought: Shaw is the only faction leader that you don't directly fight. She will instead barricade herself inside a boat and your mission becomes to destroy the boat with her still inside it. Averted by the Episode 1 DLC, where she gets her just desserts at the Manning National Zoo, although she doesn't go down without a fight.
- Would Hurt a Child: Poisons a bunch of children in order to terrorize her enemies.
Harlan Lloyd
Harlan Lloyd, "the Strategist"
Emeline Shaw's right-hand man and 'general'. Capturing him is the objective in the Potomac Event Center mission.
- Dirty Coward: Sends all of his enemies out to oppose you but is one of the few enemies to outright surrender. This is especially notable given the Outcasts are more suicidally brave than most of the factions in the game.
- The Dragon: Serves as this to Emeline and helps her carry out her evil plans despite no real belief in what she does.
- Mission Control: Spends the entire mission directing his troops over the PA system, even using it to trick the Agent about his location.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: His audio conversations with Emeline are primarily him sucking up to her and enacting whatever insane plan she's come up with.
- Smug Snake: Lures the Agent into a trap, then spends the entire ensuing battle gloating about it over a live video-feed on a Titantron... right up until Kelso puts a gun to his head.
- The Unfought: There are two Named bosses in the mission's climactic fight, "The Owl" and "The Corpulent", but Ellis himself remains well clear of where the violence happens. Indeed, the instant Kelso gets her hands on him, he can't surrender fast enough, begs for his life, and freely offers to tell the Division anything they want to know.
The True Sons
In General
True Sons' Icon
A paramilitary force primarily made up of rogue JTF veterans who intend to rule Washington D.C. with an iron fist and ensure their own survival above all others.- Armies Are Evil: A group of brutal soldiers extorting the local population for goods.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each faction has its own aesthetic. True Sons wear blue scarves and sleeveless Dress Blue tunics under their body-armor, and at night they wear white flashlights.
- Elite Mooks: Their Heavy Weapons units are well-armored and equipped with LMGs; one or two Heavy Weapons units are usually seen leading a group of regular Assaulters. The enemy dossiers mention that the Heavy Weapons guys are actual military combat veterans while many of the regular True Sons troops are first responders or reserves who never saw combat before the outbreak.
- Expy: They're the actual one for The Last Man Battalion, being trained soldiers versus the disorganized mobs of the Hyenas and Outcasts. They're also led by a charismatic leader who has gotten sick of what he views as government incompetence.
- Fake Ultimate Mook: Though they're stated to be the most powerful faction operating in D.C., they're nowhere nearly as dangerous as the LMB from the first game. Because they're actually ex-JTF rather than a PMC, they don't have access to Division-level tech and it's mentioned that many of their troops are first-responders or reserves who haven't seen combat before the outbreak. In fact, if you take the missions in suggested order you actually fight the True Sons several levels before you even encounter the Outcasts. The real equivalent of the LMB in this game are the Black Tusk, the surprise post-game enemy faction.
- Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: They're an organization of super patriot deserters that are operating independently and in outright treason to their government. They also espouse a "survival of the fittest" mentality. They even have their own flag and compounds.
- Sigil Spam: Buildings and objects claimed by the True Sons will be spray-painted with a symbol resembling a vertical US flag, except the stars are replaced by black bars.
- Social Darwinist: Their entire ideology stems from the belief that the sick and weak deserve to die, and the survival of the strong must be prioritized above all others.
Antwon Ridgeway
Antwon Ridgeway
The smart, organized leader of the True Sons and former JTF officer whose ruthlessness and combat prowess make him and his combatants a horrifying force.- Affably Evil: A renegade paramilitary field officer with no regards for civilian life? Absolutely. But he still maintains a polite, well-spoken demeanor when hassling civilians for tribute and when speaking with his men. That being said, he varies between this and being Faux Affably Evil.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: When the Division finally comes for him, he's not afraid to face them mano-a-mano with a rocket launcher and an assault rifle.
- Bald of Authority: Ridgeway is bald and a self-styled general.
- Bling of War: In his introductionary video, he shows up to a quarantine camp wearing his fancy dress uniform jacket over his uniform.
- Evil Is Petty: He destroys the Castle settlement for no other reason than it was founded by a deserter from his organization.
- General Ripper: Ticks all the boxes, by willing to kill everyone infected with the Dollar Flu, everyone willing to help people infected with the Dollar Flu (like the doctor in the recording that introduces him), everyone unwilling to submit to him (like the Theater envoy from the audio recording you can find in the Air and Space Museum) and making himself a general after being unceremoniously booted out of the Army.
- Hypocrite: Claims traitors don't deserve to be called by rank, but not only keeps his own after being discharged from the service for his betrayal, but promoted himself to General.
- He also demands absolute loyalty from his troops but is, himself, a deserter.
- Claims to hate "Degenerates" but is responsible for the creation of the Outcasts.
- In one audio log, he stresses to new recruits the need to be ready and sober at all times, and that his rules apply to everyone. In another, he's drunk and lambasting JTF Command's inability to see the factional violence as warfare.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: After his death, his subordinate General Anderson proceeds to re-envision him as a tragic martyr.
- Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Unlike Colonel Bliss, who was at least responsible for the attack on the Division at the beginning of the first game, General Ridgeway has zero ties to the game's over-arcing plot and is only the main campaign's Final Boss because he happens to be unfortunate enough to be sitting on top of the Presidential briefcase that the Division needs to access the cure for Green Poison.
- One audio log reveals that his men were stealing supplies from Roosevelt Island and were responsible for running it. So his actions might have indirectly lead to the creation of the Outcasts.
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- Ridgeway may be a ruthless tyrant, but is pragmatic enough to be running a protection racket with the civilian settlements in his territory rather than just terrorizing and murdering them for no reason like the Hyenas and Outcasts do.
- Subverted in his murder of the Castle residents, which was pure petty spite.
- Pride: His Pride motivates a huge number of his actions with his murder of the Castle's residents done just because it was one of his rank that deserted him leading it.
- Rage Against the Legal System: During the outbreak, Ridgeway was arrested and court martialed by the JTF for slaughtering civilians. However, when his loyalists broke him out, Ridgeway subsequently captured all of the JTF officers responsible for his arrest, put them through a one sided military tribunal, and executed them all.
- Shoot the Dog: As the outbreak worsened, Ridgeway took it upon himself to enforce quarantine with lethal force, often resorting to gunning down unarmed civilians attempting to flee the quarantine zones.
- Southern Gentleman: He has a heavy southern accent and affects a Faux Affably Evil attitude when shaking down his civilian vassals.
- Villainous Valor: Antwon is a murderer and a scumbag but he's not a coward. Unlike a lot of the enemies you face in the game, he goes out to fight you directly. Of course, that just gets him killed.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Initially, Ridgeway was only doing what he felt was necessary in order to maintain quarantine as a JTF officer. Even as the leader of the True Sons, he's convinced he's still doing the right thing by making sure the True Sons come out on top. Subverted with the destruction of the Castle as that was just a petty act of mass murder motivated by Pride.
General Anderson
The chief strategist of Ridgeway who takes over the True Sons after his death.
- Bad Boss: Intended to do a mass execution of a hundred True Sons to stamp out Lewis' rebellion.
- Bling of War: Actually goes so far as to wear Ridgeway's jacket.
- Big Bad: Of the "Price of Power" storyline. The attempt to take him down is the goal of the Division before rescuing Lewis takes higher priority.
- Deal with the Devil: Makes an alliance with Natalia Sokolova as ostensibly equals but eventually gives her full command of his forces.
- Demoted to Dragon: Eventually becomes nothing more than Natalia Sokolova's minion.
- Dragon-in-Chief: He was already running much of the True Sons by the time that Ridgeway was killed.
- Inadequate Inheritor: Wally of the True Sons defectors believes him to be someone just obsessed with power, unlike Ridgeway, who she felt was at least trying to rebuild the world.
- Insult to Rocks: Anderson effectively does this to himself while trying to awkwardly flirt with Natalia. Even she's embarrassed for him.Natalia: I like a man who can admit he's wrong.Anderson: Then you may fall in love with me.
- Meet the New Boss: General Anderson is every bit the Smug Snake ruthless jackass that Ridgeway was.
- No-Respect Guy: General Anderson is treated with barely concealed contempt by Natalia Sokolova. Even his own men don't like him as they compare him disfavorably to Ridgeway.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Rose to the rank of general this way, never being charismatic or skilled but always able to help those who were. He eventually returns to this role when he effectively sells the True Sons to the Black Tusks.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Flees the battle site rather than engage the player characters.
- Visionary Villain: General Anderson envisions the True Sons spreading across the former United States.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Betrays the Black Tusk after forming an alliance with them. Amusingly, he recants this after discovering they no longer have enough supplies to battle both the Division and Black Tusk.
The Black Tusks
In General
Black Tusks' Icon
A mysterious, but extremely well armed and equipped private military contractor that attempts to invade Washington D.C. and seize it from the other factions for unknown purposes.- Attack Drone: Heavy use of bleeding-edge technology is a big part of the Black Tusk schtick. Their snipers use drones for spotting (and stunning) targets; their 'rusher' archetype hides at the back of the fight and sends exploding suicide-drones after enemies; they have two different types of autonomous ground-combat drones; and they even have air-support from large UAVs that carry miniguns and guided missiles!
- Badass Army: Pretty much the LMB on steroids; after all, while the LMB only had their small little section of Manhattan, the Black Tusk literally takes over the entirety of D.C within basically no time at all.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each faction has its own aesthetic. The Black Tusk wear head-to-toe black uniforms, with light-blue LED panels (bearing their diamond-logo) on their left pectorals.
- Combat Medic: The Medic archetype carries a defibrilator capable of reviving downed Black Tusk along with a drone that can do the same. Warlords of New York introduced a Support archetype that takes after LMB Medics from the first game, laying down a support station that fires Hive-like repair microdrones at nearby allies.
- Composite Character: A minor example: the Black Tusk Rushers archetype was renamed to the Drone Operator archetype after Warlords of New York, with a more traditional Rusher armed with a KSG shotgun taking up the old name. In Legendary missions, Rushers are actually both archetypes at once, and they change their weapons and tactics depending on their distance from the player.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: They appear immediately after securing the Capitol Building, and take over all of D.C in the blink of an eye. However, no one knows exactly what their motivations are or who is leading them.
- Early-Bird Cameo: There are a few ECHOes that can be found in DC that reveal that they've been there before. including one that reveals that they were the ones who crashed the SHD network. And they most likely were the ships in the opening cut-scenes.
- Elite Mooks: The most technologically advanced and tactically skilled faction in the entire game. Even their basic grunts have the ability to launch drones to flush you out of cover, an ability which the grunts of all other factions lack.
- Evil Wears Black: All of their troops are distinguished by their black armor. Did the name give that away?
- Future Copter: The rarely occurring free roam activity "Aerial Recon Drone" has players fight against this oversized monstrosity of a drone
. - Gatling Good: Well, certainly not "good," but their Tanks carry straight-up Miniguns as opposed to other factions, who have LMGs, Grenade Launchers, Flamethrowers, and Sledgehammers.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The more you read into the various collectibles, the more you start to realize the Tusks - and
whoever's paying them - might be behind all the events in Washington DC. One of the cards of the Hyenas says that they have way too many grenade launchers even if they stole every single piece of Police and military surplus. And only the Tusks would have the military hardware capable of shooting down Air Force One. And that's not even getting into their on-screen actions with shutting down the Network. It gets even worse if that was them in the boats in the Prologue. - Humiliation Conga: The BTSU can't seem to catch a break after the events of Tidal Basin, with the Division practically steamrolling them at every turn. Pretty much the only victory they pulled off since then was at Camp White Oak, where the normal version of the mission has them make off with the turncoat President Ellis. The unit's leader, Bardon Schaeffer, even lampshades their general decrease in competence in one mission, telling his higher ups to "stop sending me fucking idiots". By the time the events of the Coney Island missions come around, the BTSU have gotten to the point where they're having trouble dealing with bog-standard Cleaners, much less rogue Agent Aaron Keener.
- Humongous Mecha: The final boss of the Operation: Dark Hours raid is one of these, the DDP-52 "Razorback". It's a monstrosity of a machine that's almost as tall as the airport the raid takes place in, and it's equipped with a ton of micro-missiles and Striker drones. It shows up again at the end of Warlords of New York, albeit nerfed.
- The Man Behind the Man: In the first Black Tusk echo log, Bardon Schaeffer is seen being recruited by an unidentified bald man with a distinct drawl, who believes the outbreak in New York is going to spread and wants to exploit the chaos for unspecified nefarious reasons. The bald guy might not even be the ultimate leader of Black Tusk, as his voice is clearly not the same as the mysterious voice that issues the order "terminate all Division agents with extreme prejudice" in the story trailer.
- Mecha-Mooks: They have two different robots and many different drones at their disposal.
- Metal Slime: A weird case in that the whole faction becomes this over time. Once they're driven out completely from Washington D.C., it becomes increasingly harder to find them out in the field, and they're the only faction that drops Gear Sets and crafting materials related to those sets. Fortunately, Black Tusk Bounties and weekly Invasions mitigate this.
- Mythology Gag: In Legendary difficulty missions, the Black Tusk sport white outfits, giving them the appearance of the Last Man Battalion from the first game. Lore found outside of the game states that ex-LMB soldiers are found amongst Black Tusk's ranks, so the costume change makes some sense in-universe.
- Nebulous Evil Organization: The Black Tusk are officially Private Military Contractor types. However, their motivations don't seem to be mercenary in nature and they've been following orders that would go against a monetary motive. Later information reveals that they're closer to being motivated by a desire to Take Over the World.
- Nonstandard Character Design: While Black Tusk's technology such as the quadrupedal Warhound drone and the flying drones has its basis in reality, the Tidal Basin stronghold and the DDP-52 "Razorback" looks like something out of Metal Gear Solid series.
- Obviously Evil: Lampshaded by Kelso; a mercenary company who dresses in dark colors and call themselves Black Tusk don't exactly do friendly.
- Outside-Context Problem: Unlike the other three factions, we have no idea what they want. They're a group of Private Military Contractors, so someone is probably paying them. But who would have the money and the inclination to convince them to sabotage the SHD network, supply the Hyenas with grenade launchers, orchestrate the "suicide" of the President, and shoot down Air Force One? The other possibility is that they're not working for a paycheck, but then why are they doing all this?
- Power Nullifier: Their Medics have access to throwable jammers that prevent you from using your skills until destroyed. The Elite version even damages you directly!
- Private Military Contractor: They're "officially" a mercenary company but have evolved into something more post-Dollar Flu. They have taken over large parts of the United States' infrastracture and seek to eliminate the Division.
- Sigil Spam: While playing the Invaded versions of story missions, ultra-thin flexible TVs are strung about absolutely everywhere, and a majority of them bear the Black Tusk logo. They take it to such an extreme, that even their latrines have the Black Tusk logo painted on them. Also, the player can loot Exotic BTSU gloves that have miniature monitors on them displaying the Black Tusk logo.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: According to a conversation between Schaeffer and Faye, Black Tusk and its clients are similar to the Division in that they are working to rebuild society. However, unlike the Division, Black Tusk is willing to resort to any means necessary to achieve their aims.
Natalya Sokolova
The benefactor of the BTSU, and current CEO of Russian military manufacturer Sokolov Concern.
- Big Bad: Her activities are chiefly responsible for the Dollar Flu ending in The End of the World as We Know It instead of simply massive numbers of deaths.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: The daughter of an oligarch and half-sister of a Division agent, Felix "Kestrel" Sokolova.
- Corporate Conspiracy: Was not involved in Amherst's plot to poison the world with a disease but had her forces ready in preparation for the outbreak.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Natayla is the leader of the ruthless PMC and architect of its conspiracy to Take Over the World.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Natalya assassinated the US President, Vice President, and attempted to use Ellis as her Puppet King.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Nobody knows why she wants the Division gone, not even the BTSU.
- Man Behind the Man: Revealed to be the one pulling the BTSU's strings during the Season 3 Manhunt.
- Mysterious Employer: As of the end of Season 3, pretty much nothing is known about her other than her name, her voice, and the fact that she lent the aid of the Hunters to assist Schaeffer in taking down the Division.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Despite her Russian name and Russia-based company, she speaks in perfectly neutral American English.
- Sensual Slavs: Is quite beautiful and Russian but lacks the accent.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Season 9: Hidden Alliance reveals that the Hunter that showed up at Coney Island with the BTSU wasn't working for her — they were working for the Secretary of Homeland Security, Calvin McManus. Natalya also isn't too fond of this arrangement — the best thing she could say about the Hunter was that they're entirely unprofessional and borderline irresponsible with their Nothing Is Scarier act.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Schaefer speculates that everything she's doing is to impress her late father.
- Woman In White: Natalya enjoys wearing all-white business suits.
The Black Tusk Special Unit
General
The Special Operations branch of the Black Tusk PMC.
- Achilles' Heel: Kelso spots their major weakness right away. The Black Tusk Special Unit is trained as a bunch of commandos and being out in the open as well as holding territory is not in their wheelhouse. It's what allows the Sheriff to strike back at them directly. Eventually, Natalya Sokolova compensates by reassigning the True Sons on guard duty instead of wasting her troops on the same.
- Badass Army: They manage to take over all of the spots in DC you secured with no resistance as well as all Control Points overnight. Justified as you've weakened all the other factions and the JTF is still rebuilding.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: The Black Tusk Special Operations unit is the elite of their organization. Interestingly, this means that the player never actually fights the rank and file of their organization as the BTSU is sent to handle the conquest of Washington DC by themselves. This proves to be a mistake as they are ill-suited to guard duty.
- Faceless Goons: They all wear balaclavas or helmets.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The organization attacks DC with almost no warning whatsoever except a hidden camera footage and speculation about someone behind Air Force One being shot down.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Are far more dangerous than the Outcasts, True Sons, and Hyenas. But are less skilled than the White Tusks.
- Villain Decay: An in-universe example. The Black Tusk Special Unit eventually gets replaced by the White Tusk organization, made of former Last Man Batallion members and other recruits. This implies that their own bosses have stopped believing in their elite status and created a rank above them.
Bardon Schaeffer
Bardon Schaeffer
The leader of the Black Tusk Specialist Unit (BTSU), an elite group of Black Tusks who were responsible for sabotaging the SHD network at the start of the game. While he might not be the overall leader, he is still very high up in the chain of command.- Animal Motifs: One ECHO has him tell Odessa that his mother always likened him to a cockroach, thinking she meant how he's unkillable. Odessa wastes no time in using the other definition of "cockroach" to insult him.
- Convenient Coma: Bardon's severe injuries primarily exists to keep him from immediately revealing the Black Tusk's secrets.
- Defector from Decadence: Bardon Schaefer was working with Fae Lau to take down President Ellis and Calvin McManus. His exact motives are unclear, though.
- Demoted to Dragon: The Manhunt-related audio logs reveal that, after the BTSU's defeat at Camp White Oak, he's basically been operating as a logistics officer — or an "errand boy", as some of his colleagues derisively call him. It isn't until the Season 3 Manhunt that it's revealed who he's a dragon of: Natalya Sokolova, CEO of Sokolov Concern and the new head of the BTSU.
- Did Not Think This Through: His plan to defect to the Division involves him fighting them beforehand. It ends up putting him into a coma due to his severe injuries.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Thinks Wyvern deciding to order a missile strike on the White House is going too far, repeatedly telling her to stand down.
- The Ghost: For the main game. He appears in person at the end of the season 3 manhunt, where he is the final target.
- Heel–Face Turn: Bardon eventually gets fed up with the Black Tusk's idiocy and defects to the Division but is severely injured in the process.
- The Heavy: He's not even the Tusks' leader, just the captain of an Elite Mook squad, but he's the highest ranking member and most plot-important in the core game.
- Poor Communication Kills: Got himself put into a coma due to injuries sustained fighting the Division—despite secretly working with them.
- Prince Charming Wannabe: In the lead-up to Tidal Basin, he makes a comment to his subordinate Wyvern suggesting he'd be open to her Sleeping with the Boss. Even though she makes it instantly and utterly clear she's not interested, he's clearly upset when she goes off the air, and possibly not just for the loss of a skilled professional operative.
- Surrounded by Idiots: With the way the Agent tears through BTSU teams, Schaeffer finds himself needing a lot of replacement troops. At the end of the Invaded Camp White Oak mission, he radios his boss and (to the delight of the eavesdropping Manny) rather disgustedly remarks on what this has done to Black Tusk's recruitment standards."... if you want me to rebuild this unit, stop sending me fucking idiots. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go shoot myself in the fucking head."
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Various Manhunt audio logs reveal that he's really not fond of the Rogue Agents Faye Lau assigned under his command. Lau insists that it's all a Secret Test of Character.
- We Can Rule Together: Makes an offer to Odessa Sawyer to join the Black Tusks, which she instantly declines.
Petrus Brenner
Petrus Brenner
A senior member of the BTSU and one of Schaeffer's hand-picked specialists. He later commands the Black Tusk operation at the Pentagon and appears as the final boss of the DARPA Labs mission.- Amoral Afrikaner: Has a South African father and has been operating as an especially ruthless PMC member for ten years.
- Brutal Honesty: Doesn't mince words when he tells his men anything such as just saying when a commanding officer of a unit has been killed, "He's gone." His orders also are short, curt, and without sympathy.
- Jerkass: A mercenary outfit named 'Black Tusk' isn't exactly big on warm-fuzzies to start with, but even his colleagues think Brenner's kind of a sourpuss.Jack Bonney: "Jesus, Brenner, why are you so pent up all the time? You need to unclench your ass-cheeks!"Elijah Sumner: "He would, but he's afraid his batteries would fall out."[Both laugh.]
- The Neidermeyer: Petrus shows no regard for his soldiers and sends them as cannon fodder to slow the Division agents down. His bio also says that he never showed any real leadership qualities despite his experience.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Petrus is with the Black Tusk because they paid well and otherwise has no ideological beliefs.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Even by the standards of a unit recruited to be 'scoundrels and scum, cutthroats and killers', Brenner is kind of trigger-happy.Schaeffer: [dealing with two patsies] "You boys certainly earned yourselves an express ticket out of this predicament."Schaeffer: "I think you got 'em, Brenner."Brenner: (Still more gunshots.)Schaeffer: "Yup. You got 'em."Brenner: "I had to be sure."
- There's No Kill like Overkill: Unlike most Black Tusk, he decides to take you down with mortar fire that he points at you with.
- We Have Reserves: His strategy throughout the Pentagon mission is to send wave after wave of his men to destroy you.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: A close up look at the game files reveals that he looks like Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.
Jack Bonney
Jack Bonney
A senior member of the BTSU and one of Schaeffer's hand-picked specialists.- Deadpan Snarker: In the ECHO recordings, he's the one to prod his teammates.Jack Bonney: "Jesus, Brenner, why are you so pent up all the time? You need to unclench your ass-cheeks!"
- The Pig-Pen: One of the ECHO recordings has a member of the team complain about Bonney's hygiene.Galveston: "They're an indication of how bad you stink, Bonney. Flies are more attracted to you than to dead things."
Elijah Sumner
Elijah Sumner
A senior member of the BTSU and one of Schaeffer's hand-picked specialists.- General Ripper: Does not hesitate to launch mortar strikes on The Agent, even though there is an extremely high chance of his own men being caught in the blast radius.
- Properly Paranoid: When introduced in the Coney Island mission, he's rather unsure if it's wise to trust Aaron Keener. He's totally correct, as Aaron Keener sells out the Black Tusk to the Cleaners as soon as he no longer has any use for them.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Dolores Jones when they have to run a joint operation in Coney Island. It's very clear that the two of them hate each other's guts.
Ellis Galveston
Ellis Galveston
A senior member of the BTSU and one of Schaeffer's hand-picked specialists.- Punch-Clock Villain: One ECHO portrays Galveston about to "interrogate" a Division Agent about the location of a certain key facility. He expresses honest admiration for the man's dedication to duty and seems to truly regret that the Agent can't (or won't) say anything to forestall the coming unpleasantness."I admire righteousness - even if I rarely partake.""See, that's where you're wrong. Doin' your job is never a waste of time. Especially when you do it with pride and conviction."
- Southern-Fried Private: Speaks with a distinct Southern accent, including the stereotypical "y'all", but don't let it fool you: he's no dumb hick.
- Worthy Opponent: Galveston always treats the Division as fellow professionals doing their jobs to the best of their ability; they just happen to be working for different sides. During his Last Stand at Camp White Oak, he's vocal about his respect for the Agent's skills."I've been looking forward to a stand-up fight with one of you fuckers. Don't disappoint me!""Damn! You don't fuck around, do you?"
- Villainous Valor: During the Camp White Oak mission, Galveston is the leader of Ellis' protective detail. True to his duty, he hustles his charge onto the evac helicopter, then turns to fight the Agent to buy time for the man's to escape."That's the job, sir!"
Harper "Heads" Price and Teagan "Tails" Price
Harper "Heads" Price and Teagan "Tails" Price
Twin sisters working as snipers for the BTSU. They appear as the last two bosses of the Invaded Camp White Oak mission.- Creepy Twins:Harper: "This is Heads -"Teagan: "- and Tails -"Together: "- all targets down!"Schaeffer: "I hate it when you two do the 'creepy twin' thing."
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: When the Agent kills Heads, Tails goes apeshit.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Being a good sniper takes some moral detachment, but judging by their radio-chatter, these girls throw a dollop of sadism into the mix, as well.
- Villainous Breakdown: When her sister is killed, Tails throws away all sense of discipline and the mission to get revenge.
Stan "Chunky" Dawson
Stan "Chunky" Dawson
The leader of a Black Tusk sub-unit tasked with securing the Air & Space Museum.- Large and in Charge: "Chunky" is a Named version of the Black Tusk 'Heavy' archetype, which means he tops seven feet tall, has ridiculous amounts of armour and health, and carries a gatling gun.
- Memetic Mutation: Thanks to Alpha-version footage by Youtuber theRussianBadger, 'the Chunkster' was a minor legend even before the game released.
- Sergeant Rock: In the lead-in to the mission, Dawson praises his men for accomplishing their task in record time, then reminds them the job's not over yet.
Milla "Wyvern" Radek
Milla "Wyvern" Radek
The leader of a Black Tusk sub-unit tasked with stealing the anti-virals and getting them out of Washington.- BFG: Carries a grenade launcher, much like other Thrower-type Black Tusk enemies. Unlike the others in said archetype, however, she's got an itchy trigger finger with it and isn't content with waiting for the first grenade to land before firing another.
- Blood Knight: Seems to actually like the fact that someone's currently putting a wrench in her plans at one point in her boss battle.Wyvern: I'm gonna remember killing you. It's been a while since I've said that about anyone!
- Cold Sniper: Wields a sniper rifle during her boss fight, at least at first.
- Dark Action Girl: A beautiful blonde mercenary and a stone cold murderer.
- Dispense with the Pleasantries: Destroy enough of her missile batteries, and she says this:Wyvern: Come to save the day, huh? Oh, you're a real goddamn hero. Enough small talk.
- Early-Bird Cameo: You can find Body Cam footage early in the game of a mysterious woman killing Division Agents. It's Wyvern.
- Faceless Goons: Averted in her case. Unlike most of her fellow Black Tusk soldiers, she doesn't wear a balaclava, and it's possible with some effort to see her head underneath her full-face helmet◊, should it get broken.
- Final Boss: Wyvern is the last enemy in the main game to face.
- Informed Attribute: Her in-game bio mentions that she's very professional and always follows orders. However, towards the end of Tidal Basin, she disobeys a direct order from her superior, Bardon Schaeffer, to retreat after she loses the anti-virals from Division Agents. Granted, this might be a result of her Villainous Breakdown.
- Made of Iron: One of the toughest bosses in the entire game, and she also has the ability to become totally immune to damage for brief periods of time during her Boss fight.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Her forces manage to shoot down the JTF helicopter providing the Agent air support, but it results in the helicopter crashing into her hovercraft, disabling her last avenue of escape.
- Powered Armor: Unlike the rest of her fellow Black Tusk soldiers, she wears one of these. It even allows her to become temporarily invincible for a short duration.
- Revenge Before Reason: After the Division Agents slaughter their way through the Black Tusk stronghold and take back the anti-virals, she decides to not retreat and live to fight another day. Instead, she stays and tries to, in her own words, "blow up the motherfucking White House."
- Sleeping with the Boss: Unequivocally defied. During the lead-up to the Tidal Basin mission, Schaeffer hints he might be open to this, and Wyvern shuts him down cold."Uh, how about you go fuck yourself?"
- Sociopathic Soldier: When the Agents (and fate) take away all of her escape-plans, Wyvern decides to get a little payback on the Agents by launching a missile-strike on the White House. Even Schaeffer thinks she's going too far.
- Villainous Breakdown: Prior to the Tidal Basin, and even during the first half, Wyvern is very professional, detached and coldly accepts setbacks and failures. By the time you're facing her directly she's dropped all pretense of this, and excitedly talks about how she's happy to kill you.
Dolores Jones
Dolores Jones
The commander of a squad of Black Tusk soldiers based in Coney Island. She was tasked with keeping Vitaly Tchernenko out of Division hands.- Blood Knight: If her boss battle drags on long enough, she says the following in a tone of voice that's less angry and more joyous/pleasantly surprised:Jones: Oh, you one of them resilient motherfuckers, are ya!?
- Brooklyn Rage: Manhattan Rage, at any rate, considering where she claims to be from during her boss battle.Jones: Bitch, I'm from Harlem!
- Hair-Trigger Temper: it does not take much to set her off.
- Lady Swears-A-Lot: After Keener betrays her, she begins screaming out swear words left and right at everyone, including her own men.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Elijah Sumner. They're tasked with working together to keep Tchernenko out of Division hands, and it's clear from the outset that they are just barely tolerating each other's presence.
The Underground Faction
In general
A 5th faction that, as their name implies, mostly resides underground in the sewers of D.C.
Their faction logo◊ is three links of a chain, with the middle one being broken.
Their faction logo
◊ is three links of a chain, with the middle one being broken.- Chained by Fashion: As indicated by their logo. Their Mooks also have several chains wrapped around their backpack.
- Chainsaw Good: Although "good" is debatable, the underground Tank archetype carries chainsaws in combat.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: They don't have much presence in the main storynote , nor do they have any collectable lore surrounding them, making them even more mysterious than the Black Tusk.
- Nothing Is Scarier: As a side effect of the trope below. Most Agents won't be aware of their flanking attempts, other than the clinking of their chains (or the idling motor of the Heavy's chainsaw), and by then they're probably too close for comfort.
- Outside-Genre Foe: Between their strange patchwork outfits, remaining dead silent while fighting, lumbering chainsaw using Elites, lack of information and general creepiness, they seemed to have been ripped straight out of a survival-horror game and put in The Division 2.
- The Speechless: Much like the Division Agents themselves, they never vocalize, not even in reaction to pain.
- Underground Monkey: No pun intended. Design-wise, their clothing seems to be a mish-mash of other factions' styles (see the link in Chained by Fashion above), with the most obvious similarity at a glance being the yellow light strapped to their shoulder, much like the True Sons.
The Ambushers
In general
A 6th and, so far, minor faction that can be encountered scavenging in some areas of D.C. and New York.
Their faction logo◊ is a head wearing a cap, and the lower half covered in a bandana/scarf.
Their faction logo
◊ is a head wearing a cap, and the lower half covered in a bandana/scarf.- Booby Trap: Their encounters are often kicked off by their targets running past a tripwire and getting blinded by flashbangs.
- Evil Wears Black: In a darker shade than the Black Tusk, to boot.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: There is no collectable lore about these people, and they don't get any appearances in story missions at all (unlike the Underground), so who they are and what they want is anybody's guess. On the other hand, they at least speak in battle and scream when they die, so they're notably less creepy than the Underground.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Possibly. One voice-line overheard when Ambushers encounter rival groups raises the disturbing possibility that they might well be attacking other survivors so they can eat them.
- Improvised Armour: Their Rushers use (surprisingly effective) shields made from trash-can lids.
- Metal Slime: Hoarders, who are signified by their oversized backpacks, mid-battle taunting animations and use of conventional firearms. Downplayed in that they don't drop much of anything useful, only an extra piece of gear before their death occasionally. However, on Christmas they drop the Sleigher Tommy Gun, which fires snowballs that confuse enemies on a headshot.
- The Straight and Arrow Path: Ambushers use mechanical longbows as their ranged weapons.
- Underground Monkey: Like the Underground faction above, the Ambushers seem to be comprised of recycled animations and models, with the main difference being their outfit color. Assault Ambushers◊ look like the True Sons with an added baseball cap and sunglasses, while the Rusher Ambushers◊ look like palette-swapped versions of Outcast Mooks.
Spoiler Faction
In general
When the Agent investigates an abandoned Control Point in search of a MIA comrade, they find that the Hunters are active within D.C.
Twelve of his comrades are Optional Bosses, becoming active when the Black Tusk invade the city.
——
Twelve of his comrades are Optional Bosses, becoming active when the Black Tusk invade the city.
——
See their entry in the first game's character sheet for more info.
