The Division 2 status effects - burn, bleed, disrupt, shock explained
That Shocked, Burned and Blind kid sure plays a mean pinball
Status effects are easy to ignore in The Division 2 - until you come across them, that is, and realise just how powerful and debilitating they can be. Different forms of skills and ammunition can cause you to bleed, burn, become poisoned, and just generally die in a magnificent variety of ways, so it's important to know what's what when it comes to all these different debuffs. Our The Division 2 status effects guide will walk you through every status effect we know about, and how they can be used against both NPC enemies and other players.
If you're after a more general overview on Tom Clancy's latest open-world loot-and-shooter, check out our main The Division 2 guide, which is packed with beginner's tips and links to our sections of our guides series, from stats and explanations of the different The Division 2 weapons/guns to all The Division 2 best builds, and much more.
The Division 2 status effects guide
As far as we're aware here in the office, there are seven primary status effects it is possible to come across in The Division 2. Below we'll walk you through each one in turn, explaining what it does both to players and to NPC enemies, and some of the ways in which they can be applied. Click on any of the links below to skip to a particular section.
| Burn/On Fire | Bleed | Poisoned | Blindness |
| Disorient | Disrupt | Shock/Paralysis |
Burn/On Fire status effect
The Burn status effect is fairly easy to understand, and its function very obvious. If you are set on fire, either through a flamethrower-wielding enemy or an exploding flammable canister (or some other means), you will take a certain amount of effective health damage (first to Armour, and then once Armour is depleted it will move onto Health) every half-second or so until the effect wears off.
Setting NPC enemies alight will cause them to do the funky chicken as they attempt to put out the fire before they die. As is often the case with these status effect, Burn is far more effective on NPCs than on yourself, and you can take advantage of this either by destroying flammable canisters near enemies or by unlocking the Incendiary Grenades for the Survivalist Specialization.
Bleed status effect
Bleed is very similar in nature to Burn, dealing damage over time to you until the effect wears off a few seconds later. Bleeding also renders you unable to regenerate your Health for the duration. There is additionally a slight visual distortion as you are bleeding, making it slightly more difficult to spot and deal with enemies.
You'll most often come across this effect when you find yourself up against the blade-touting remote control vehicles that enemy Wireless Operators may send your way. These vehicles won't explode like the first of their kind that you come across; instead they're content with running through you and dealing considerable damage, plus a hefty Bleed effect that can be extremely painful depending on your current level and the enemies you're facing. The good news is you can easily repay the favour either with Piercing Ammo or with the Demolitionist Specialization's Frag Grenades.
Poisoned status effect
Poison inflicts a very powerful damage over time when it is applied. Often, this can be enough to one-shot you, which makes it very important that you try to deal with threats that can cause poison as quickly as possible. Certain enemies have access to Poison Ammo, while grenades can disperse a transparent cloud of poison that applies the effect if you are caught in the AoE.
Certain Talents can help you to deal with Poison damage: one example is Stop, Drop, and Roll, which enables you to roll to remove poison, burn, and bleed effects once every 60 seconds.
Blindness status effect
Blindness is something you'll often come across with enemy sharpshooters who shine lights as they're aiming, so that you become blinded when you aim down sights towards them. As a player, your screen will turn momentarily white and your hearing will be muffled for the next second or two. Your accuracy will be lowered, and you'll become unable to suppress enemies until the effect wears off.
With enemies, the status effect is far more severe, holding them still as they sway on the spot like a drunken Jack Sparrow trying to rid the spots from their eyes. It's effectively a paralysis effect against enemies, making skills such as the Blinder Firefly and the Sharpshooter Specialization's Flash Grenades very powerful in certain situations against NPC enemy factions.
Disorient status effect
The Disoriented status effect is something you encounter very early on in The Division 2, and its effect is straightforward and rather debilitating. Against players, the Disorient status effect lowers your accuracy and scrambles your controls, making you move erratically until the effect wears off. This makes it best not to move out from cover until the effect has worn off, because while Disoriented you are not in full control of your agent's faculties.
Against enemies, Disorientation will stun them as they waver around much like Blindness and various other of these status effects.
Disrupt status effect
Disruption is an effect which you may remember from a certain Side Mission against the True Sons in the earlier parts of The Division 2. In that case, You were made aware that this effect was rendering you unable to use any of your Skills until you dealt with the source of the disruption.
Disrupt is therefore very similar in The Division 2 to how it worked in The Division 1, silencing current Skills and preventing the use of future Skills until its effect wears off.
Shock/Paralysis status effect
Shock is one of the most powerful PvP effects currently in The Division 2, and one of the only effects that is as perilous for players as it is for NPC enemies. The Shock effect completely paralyses a player, causing them to stand up out of cover and remain still and defenseless for the duration of the effect - about 3 seconds.
That's a tremendously dangerous amount of time to be forced out of cover and held still if there are any enemies nearby, so it's no understatement to say that Shock is probably the strongest debuff in The Division 2 if you have something, such as Shock Ammo, which can apply it to your opponent(s).
And that's all you really need to know about the different debuffs and status effects you can dish out or receive in The Division 2. Hopefully this has given you an idea of what to expect, so you don't panic too much the next time one of them happens to you during your travels.