Who are the Hunters?
The Hunters are among the toughest enemies you’ll face in The Division 2, and are much harder to kill than their namesakes from the first game. Not much is known about their motivations or backstory other than the fact that they hold a strong grudge against Division agents and go out of their way to brutally murder any they find. Players are introduced to the Hunters during the side mission “Agent Edwards Support” where you will encounter the first of these opponents, who had already slain Edwards. To establish the threat these enemies pose, the mission ends with your agent being beaten within an inch of their life before the Hunter decides to leave without killing you for… uhh, scriptwriting reasons, apparently. This unlocks the other Hunter encounters.
Tactics Against Hunters
Actual encounters that allow you to kill and loot Hunters need to be triggered by going through a set of clues for each one, so they won’t get the drop on you out in the open world without warning or by chance (making them rather poor hunters, but we digress). This gives you the advantage of being able to prepare for the fight - and trust us, you’ll need to. The Hunter clues all cause your HUD to become temporarily distorted, so look out for that telltale sign. You probably shouldn’t even be thinking about going after the Hunters until you are level 30 at least. Having some friends along during the fight is going to increase your chances dramatically, and make sure that you always stay a decent range away from the Hunter at all times. Getting too close to the Hunter will activate their Execution Mode, wherein they’ll stun your character with a sticky grenade and proceed to hack your head off with an axe unless some squad mates provide ample distraction. This instakill attack makes the fights nearly impossible solo and revivals tricky. Sniping hunters at a distance is your best bet, but even then you’ll need to stay mobile. These enemies have ridiculous amounts of health and armor and will certainly close the distance before going down. Each Hunter has a unique loadout, stats and tactics, so make sure to do your research and check a guide - like this one! - about the best methods on taking down the one you are facing at the moment.
Hunter Locations
Demon
The first Hunter is triggered by shooting four targets set up in the windows of a large building in Downtown East. Shoot them in descending order, and the Hunter will spawn in a puff of smoke. This Hunter immediately spawns a drone and triggers an EMP burst, so before you spawn him you should set up a Flame Turret and launch your own drone. We suggest stocking up on Incendiary Grenades for this fight. Make sure you take out the drone ASAP because it lays down serious damage.
Ghost
This Hunter is pretty complicated to spawn - and was outright impossible due to a bug prior to the Invasion update. First off, head to the Washington Monument and capture the Control Point, which will reveal a marker to a Supply Room. This room is actually a hideout for one of the Hunters, and has a special switch that can only be flipped at night. This will update your map with three gravesites where you have to use the Salute emote between 6 AM and 3 PM. Once you have all three, head back to the Supply Room and hit the switch again, which will highlight another switch. Once you activated that one too, stepping back into the SHD circle around the first switch will spawn Ghost. This is the easiest Hunter fight because you can rely on your NPC friends at the Control Point to chip in. Ghost doesn’t have any fancy equipment like Demon, so it’s just a question of laying down consistent damage.
Wraith
Wraith is found near a War Memorial in the Southwest region of the map. You need to head in here after 9 PM, shoot out the single lightbulb illuminating the memorial, stand behind the US flag and use the Salute emote to spawn Wraith, who’ll pop and EMP and immediately hit cover. Wraith isn’t as durable as the other Hunters and will hug cover throughout the whole fight. The tactics to use here are whatever explosives and abilities you have that pop enemies out of cover so you can lay down damage.
Ghoul
This is another Hunter with a nice little scavenger hunt needed to woo them out. Your first stop is the safehouse in West Potomac Park from where you’ll navigate into the underground to find Ghoul’s hideout. There is a large map on a wall in a room with an ECHO. Activating the laptop sitting below the map will illuminate invisible ink markings on it, including a large X. This location marks a tacked together watchtower with a single lightbulb. If you head to the area at night, the bulb should be lit - this indicates you are there at the right time - and shooting it out will spawn Ghoul right there in his little watchtower. This is one of the toughest Hunters you’ll face, and that’s saying something. He really likes popping his Seeker Mines and Drones, both of which have dramatically shorter cooldowns than anything players have access to. He is super fast, is constantly on the move and has high-damage weapons to boot. Even with a squad, you’ll need some help here - which is why it’s a stroke of luck that The Division 2’s enemies sometimes hate each other more than they hate you. If you trigger an enemy patrol nearby while Ghoul is on the move, they’ll likely pay attention to him instead, whittling down his health and drawing his mines. Even so, the fight is a tough one and there is extra risk involved due to the patrol!
Crimson
Crimson is fairly easy to spawn, but he won’t go down easily. If you head to the large building with the courtyard in Downtown East you’ll find two offices on either side of it, one with a laptop and the other with a phone. Both need to be interacted with to trigger Crimson, but you have to be quick since you only have a few seconds to get from one to the other. Having squad mates helps. Having squad mates also helps because this Hunter spawns right out in the middle of the courtyard and will have laid traps by the time you reach the door of whichever office you were in. We can’t offer too many tips here other than stay mobile and hug cover. Coaxing him out of the courtyard and into an enemy patrol is a viable but risky strategy.
Specter
This Hunter isn’t available until you can access the eastern Contaminated Zone in World Tier 1. You need to climb up on top of a van near the Department of Agriculture and face a building wall covered in 16 windows with 13 intact ones. You have to shoot out all of these one by one, at night, from left to right starting with the bottom row. The 8th window is partially covered, but make sure you don’t miss it because Specter will only appear if you get them in order. You should summon your drone and plate turrets on the top of the van before you actually spawn Specter for a better chance at killing him.
Midas & Revenant
In case you thought the earlier ones were tough, this double bill will surely give you trouble - and wait till you see the finale. Spawning this duo is both easy and whimsical, but the ensuing fight will wipe the smile off your face - or your head off your neck. Head to the wellness complex in West End, stand in the putrid swimming pool after dark and use the Jumping Jacks emote. Midas and Revenant will both spawn on you instantly. This isn’t something most players should attempt solo, so lay down turrets and get ready to beeline it to cover. Explosives are you friend in this encounter.
Phantom, Diamond, Cross & Death
If you ever think you’re good at The Division 2, try this fight for a reality check. You’ll be facing down four Hunters simultaneously. Even with a large squad of well equipped players this is going to be tough and you’ll likely need NPC support. Head on over to the café north of the Sinkhole Control Point after 9 PM to flip a switch on the side of the counter, lighting up the Christmas Tree in front of the café. When you walk out and approach the tree, three Hunters will appear. The fourth spawns nearby on the road, which is where the suppressive fire of the first three will herd you. The crossfire is going to shred any Agent caught in it. The tactic here is to only cause the fourth Hunter to spawn once you aren’t between him and the other three, and then pull them to the control point which, if you are lucky, is under attack. This will lead both enemies and friendly NPCs guarding the control point to join in on beating the Hunters. This is likely your only chance, and even so the fight will be a long one.
