The most recent update to The Division 2 brought the Episode 2 narrative missions along with the massive Title Update 6 patch. And what new update is worth its salt without some new gear to get your hands on.
The most sought after is the new exotic item, Sawyer's Kneepads, named after the leader of the Theater settlement. It's a pretty decent item to have in your arsenal and looks utterly brilliant, you know, if you're into the cosmetic side of your agent.
Like all exotics in The Division 2, you'll have to work to get your hands on the loot. Unlike some exotic items, however, there's no 100% certainty on acquiring Sawyer's Kneepads. Here's how you can give yourself the best chance.
How to get Sawyer's Kneepads
Unlike say, the Diamondback, there are no specific mission requirements to acquiring Sawyer's Kneepads. Instead, you have to pray to the gods of RNG at least a little. The item will drop eventually, and it might not be as hard as you expect it to be.
First, here's how I acquired Sawyer's Kneepads. Using the new loot targeting map view, I simply completed a random activity, in this case a Propaganda Broadcast, in an area on the map with a higher chance of scoring kneepads. And that's it. Upon completing the activity, Sawyer's Kneepads dropped as a reward. I've even snagged a second set from opening the loot box in the supply room of a control point in a similarly targeted area. And I hadn't even taken over the control point first.
So that's the easy way to try and get them. The loot targeting changes every day, but if kneepads are designated to a region, it's worth a shot, because it takes only a couple of minutes to do each one, and you can easily complete multiple activities in the same time it would take to complete a mission.
The other method that seems to be paying off is by completing invaded missions. Again, there doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule beyond that they're invaded and on the challenging difficulty. Some have had success on Grand Washington Hotel, others on Jefferson Trade Center, but in each case if you get lucky, Sawyer's Kneepads may drop upon killing the final boss.
Each of those missions would be a good place to start, and if they're not currently live on the rotation of invaded main missions, you can simply toggle it on yourself and try as many times as you like. Either at the start of the mission or on the world map, you can toggle invasion in the same screen as you change the difficulty. As long as you've played the mission through already as invaded you'll be able to toggle it on using G on PC or Y on Xbox.
Challenging isn't that difficult, either, assuming you're on World Tier 5 with a decent build you can fairly comfortably burn through the mission without help. But there's always the call for backup option if you do start to struggle.
And that's all there is to it. If you happen to get Sawyer's Kneepads to drop in an area of the map not mentioned, drop the details into the comments below.
Title Update 6 is now live to all players, with the Episode 2 narrative content launching to all from October 22.
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