What are talents in Tom Clancy's The Division?

They're one of the three different types of abilities you use to specialise your Agent (the other two being skills and perks, which you will note we also have comprehensive guides on. You unlock talents by expanding your Base of Operations down each of the three paths. Medical, Tech, and Security each has its own set of talents associated with it, and you can have four of them selected at once. You don't have to actually activate them to receive the benefits, though, and they don't have cooldown timers: they're passive abilities that activate in certain specific situations - for example, if your health is really low, or if you're moving from cover to cover.

Medical Talents in Tom Clancy's The Division

Medical talents are mostly geared towards buffing your healing and defensive capabilities, which will make you a better combat medic for your squad, but there are a couple of useful ones if you're in the habit of getting stuck into a fight in a big way, like Strike Back and Shrapnel.

Adrenaline

When you use a medkit and your health isn't full (and when would you be using a medkit if your health was 100%? That's just bad inventory management) then you'll receive an overheal.

Shock and Awe

If you suppress an enemy - suppressing means your mighty onslaught has forced them to take cover and stay there, as in the popular military phrase 'suppressing fire' - your movement speed is buffed by 24% for the next ten seconds, which means you can move up quickly and take the fight to the enemy. Some high level enemies can't be suppressed, however.

Critical Save

If you use a medkit while your health is low you'll get a 40% increase to your damage resistance while you run the heck away from whatever hurt you that much.

Combat Medic

If you use a medkit in combat near an ally they and any other allies within 20 metres will be healed by 40%. It's like the first aid skill but without having to use the first aid skill.

Strike Back

Your cooldowns will speed up (by 20%, no less) but you have to be at low health before this kicks in. It's kind of a last stand dealio.

Shrapnel

If you manage to make a target bleed (meaning the status effect where they slowly drain health, not just shooting them which presumably makes them bleed in a regular way) then there's a 30% chance that any other enemies within 10 meters will start to bleed to. Sympathy bleeding.

Battle Buddy

If your mate gets taken out in a fight, and you manage to revive them in time, then both of you get a 50% increase on your damage resistance for the next 10 seconds, so you don't immediately get taken out again.

Triage

If you heal an ally with a medical skill you'll then receive a 15% reduction on the cooldowns of your skills. Because the harder triage nurses work the faster they can work, we suppose.

Tech Talents in Tom Clancy's The Division

Most of the tech talents kick in when you use your skills, and apply buffs to them rather than to you. This means they're more useful if you use the aggressive skills a lot - the explosives, the turret - rather than the defensive ones.

Tactical Advance

This is a pretty great one. When you complete a cover-to-cover move your weapon damage is increased by 2% for every metre you moved. This is great because (depending on how you spec your character) you're probably going to be moving cover a lot, and if you're not then this talent might encourage you to do so.

Demolition Expert

Kill a hostile target with an explosion and receive a 40% buff to subsequent explosion damage, for 15 entire seconds. This is mostly useful if you're tooled up with grenades and mines, that kind of thing.

Police Up

If you kill an enemy with any of your skills then there's a 25% chance that all your ammo will be refilled. All of it. Every type. To capacity. That's pretty useful. Although we're not sure how it relates to the police at all.

Fear Tactics

If you shock a target (that's a status effect from some skills and other malarkey) then there's a 30% chance all enemies within 10 metres will also be shocked (which does kind of make sense if we accept the electricity could jump between bodies, like static or whatever).

Evasive Action

While you're moving cover (which can leave you vulnerable if you are e.g. being repeatedly shot at) your incoming damage is reduced by 30%, making moving around a more attractive prospect.

Tech Support

If you kill a hostile target while you've got a skill deployed (and chances are you will, because they're useful) then said active skill will have its time increased by 10%. This is good for skills with a limited life span, like the turret.

Wildfire

When you burn a target (i.e. set that sum'bitch on fire), and because terrorists are so flammable, it triggers a 30% chance that other targets within 10 metres will also be burnt.

Death by Proxy

If you manage to take out an enemy's deployed skill, your own skills will become 20% more powerful for the next 30 seconds.

Security Talents in Tom Clancy's The Division

These talents are focused on making you, yourself, a better and more useful agent of the Division, rewarding skill in combat with better skill in combat. With security talents you can improve the power and accuracy of your attacks and keep better tabs on your enemies at the same time.

Steady Hands

If you enter cover - that's any cover, whether it's smart cover you deployed yourself or a burnt out car on the street - then the recoil on your weapon is reduced by a quarter for the next 10 seconds.

On the Move

You, in your supreme skill, will undoubtedly be able to kill enemies while you're moving, which is great because this talent gives you a 30% reduction on damage for 10 seconds after you do so. Run, shoot, kill, beast to cover.

Precision

Get a headshot on a target to pulse them (i.e. see them on your radar and HUD) for the next 10 seconds. The fact that enemies can survive for that long after you've shot them in the head is a basic illustration of the shooting in The Division.

Chain Reaction

Damage from explosions that hit multiple targets will be increased by 40%, so time your detonations carefully with this one, gang.

Desperate Times

If you health gets low then your accuracy when blind firing will increase by 25%. It's the old pray and spray technique when your back's to the wall.

Stopping Power

Suppressing a hostile (forcing them to duck and cover, basically) will increase your headshot damage for 10 seconds. This is very useful, because headshots are basically the only way to get shit done in The Division.

Repo Killer

Take out an enemy with your sidearm to gain an extra magazine for your main weapon. Good if you're running low on the old bullets.

One is None

When you dust off a successful headshot on an enemy it's 50/50 that you won't actually expend the ammo, which is incredibly helpful when you're fighting a higher tier or boss type enemy and you have to unload entire clips into their face to make a dent.