Tom Clancy's The Division
65 Achievements
1,450
75-91h
Hardened Combatant
Complete a mission in Challenge mode.
20
13.4%
How to unlock the Hardened Combatant achievement in Tom Clancy's The Division - Definitive Guide
Once you unlock "On the Level" you'll have access to challenge mode. Enemies will be Elites and Level 32, making this quite difficult. You should have purple or yellow items in every slot, and definitely be in a group of four. The easiest mission will be the Lincoln Tunnel, as there are no Cleaners (stupid flamethrower dudes), and many enemies only have pistols. Rather than type up a long list of tips for this, I'll point you to Maka's video below, where he runs down a quick 30-minute run of the mission with a basic overview of the loadout and strategy in the beginning, and a commentary of the harder parts of the mission as well if your squad gets stuck.
Challenge mode is a mission difficulty where enemies are all elite ranked golds with armor. This is one of the more difficult things to finish in the game, especially for a new 30 character, but it awards Phoenix Credits used to buy the best gear in the game. This mission difficulty does not scale for the amount of players in your party, and is equally difficult regardless with enemies ranging from level 31 to 32. Even if you don't have a group, it's possible for matchmade parties to complete the mission. Also note that you can play challenging difficulty on any of the few missions it's available for at any time. These missions are those that have an orange beam coming from them on your map.
For the purposes of this trophy, the easiest challenging mission to complete is Lincoln Tunnel Checkpoint, because it does not feature Shotgun or Tank-type enemies.
Daily Mission resets are at 8pm EST every single day day. The picture below is example of what a daily mission will look like on your map:
Using any of the recommended builds below will ensure that you are an asset to any party you join up with.
Recommended Builds
Low Skill Power (Below 18,000) Crowd Control
Skills: First Aid (Mod - Overdose), Sticky Bomb (Mod - Flashbang), Survivor Link
Talents: Triage, Combat Medic, Critical Save, Strike Back
Notes: This set up allows you to self-heal without using Medkits, heal any party members close to you, and regain cooldown abilities quickly. The sticky bomb with the flash bang mod is very useful for stunning shotgun enemies; enemies that rush your group; or temporarily removing a target from cover so that your party can kill it more quickly. The Survivor Link is used to help you or your party members survive the more close skirmishes within a mission. The 80% incoming damage reduction insures that the entire team can unload massive damage without concern of their own safety. Just keep an eye on when Survivor Link's effect ends, and use Sticky Bomb as liberally as you can.
Low Skill Power (Below 18,000) Gun-focused DPS
Skills: Pulse (Mod - Tactical Scanner), Support Station (Mod - Ammo Cache), Tactical Link
Talents: Tech Support, Combat Medic, Stopping Power, Precision
Notes: Pulse is really effective for locating enemies and increasing team gun damage. The Tactical Link signature skill is used for moments when it's important for the group to kill an enemy or a group of enemies quickly. Support Station with the Ammo Cache mod insures that no one in the party is going to run out of ammo for their favorite weapons before a fight is over. As long as they're in your area, reloading their guns is free. Your talent set up is built around keeping your skills up and raising the benefits for headshots, which is very important for gun damage players.
Moderate Skill Power (Over 18,000) Revival
Skills: Smart Cover (Mod - Recharger), Support Station (Mod - Life Support), Recovery Link
Talents: Triage, Battle Buddy, Tech Support, Combat Medic
Notes: This set up is far more team oriented than the previously suggested build. Support Station is modded towards making sure that all of your party members are on their feet throughout the fight without putting yourself in harms way to revive them. Your signature skill, Recovery Link, is geared towards the same thing. You will want to keep your group as topped off as possible so no one is struggling to help the party progress. The Smart Cover ability is used to help yourself and your party shrug off more incoming damage, as well as lower cooldown times so you can keep everyone's abilities coming back faster. As long as everyone is using abilities liberally, the mission will go a lot smoother.
Achievement video from PowerPyx using the Lincoln Tunnel mission as an example.
At the time of commenting online, level 30 is alive and the group is in less than a minute.