The Division's game-breaking Competent DPS exploit gives players super-powered weapons

A new exploit has been discovered in Tom Clancy's The Division which allows players to temporarily boost the stats of certain weapons to incredibly high, game-breaking levels. Ubisoft has yet to comment on the latest in a string of bugs and glitches discovered following the game's 1.1 update, which launched on 12 April.

To utilise the exploit, players must own a weapon with the "Competent" talent, which boosts the gun's DPS (its damage stat) for a brief period when a separate ability is triggered. The player then needs to equip said weapon, switch to another weapon and then switch back.

This needs to be done for around five straight minutes, causing the Competent talent's DPS boost to build up, so that when you next trigger an ability the damage points of the weapon in question will go from the hundreds of thousands to the millions. Gamers can potentially use the glitch before fighting a high-end boss or take it into the Dark Zone player versus player area to wreak havoc.

A weapon capable of using with the glitch – a high-end AK-47 – is available to buy from the special gear vendor found in the game's base of operations, meaning anyone with enough Phoenix Credits to purchase the gun can make use of the exploit.

YouTube channel Simplified has explained the exploit in a video embedded below.

This latest exploit comes just days after Ubisoft fixed an exploit that allowed players to cruise through the game's new Incursion encounter Falcon Lost.

Although it isn't unusual for an online game like The Division to experience such glitches and exploits post-launch, Ubisoft's shooter has encountered more than most. On the game's official forum and its fan-run subreddit, many players are threatening to quit the game due to its numerous issues.

"The shame of it is that [developers Ubisoft] Massive created a really special game here, but it's technically broken on many levels allowing it to be exploited, glitched and cheated with great ease," one player wrote.

Last week, Ubisoft community manager Natchai Stappers said they were "looking into what can be done in terms of punishment" for players exploiting the game and linked to the game's Code of Conduct which states "exploitation of any new or known issues or bugs is forbidden and may result in account suspension or revocation."

On April 20, he added, "I understand you're all frustrated with it, but do understand that we are actively dealing with cheaters, we are banning them, permanently as well, but because so far it's been a decision not to communicate on numbers and the likes, this has gone largely unnoticed and makes it seem like we're not doing anything."