Strega

title: "Strega" description: "Exotic AR built around kill-chain stacking — the highest peak DPS Exotic AR in TU22.1 for glass cannon Strikers and Negotiator builds." slug: strega weaponType: AR rarity: Exotic baseDamage: 57646 rpm: 700 magazine: 20 reload: 1.95 headshotMultiplier: 1.65 lastReviewed: "2026-04-25" patch: "TU22.1"

At a Glance

Strega is the kill-chain Exotic AR. Where the Bighorn rewards you for tagging targets and the Eagle Bearer rewards you for headshots, Strega rewards you for one thing only — finishing the job. Every kill stacks +20% Total Weapon Damage for ten seconds, and the buff caps at five stacks for an absurd +100% TWD. It is one of the very few weapons in The Division 2 that can effectively double your damage purely through play, with no gear-sourced multipliers required.

The catch is that you need to keep killing. The buff timer is generous at ten seconds, but it does not refresh — it has to be re-stacked through new kills. Once stacks drop, you are back to a relatively unremarkable AR with a small magazine. This makes Strega the textbook glass cannon weapon: terrifying when you are winning, awkward when you are not.

If you have ever wanted an AR that scales with momentum, this is it.

Stats

Handling Profile

Strega has the highest base damage per bullet of any AR in the game right now — 57,646 per round. That figure on its own already puts it above most Legendary ARs before any talent or build modifier kicks in. The trade-off is the magazine: 20 rounds is small for a 700 RPM weapon, giving you under two seconds of trigger time per mag. The 1.95s reload is fast enough to cover that gap, but it means your build needs to handle reload uptime carefully.

Recoil is moderate-to-high. The first six or seven rounds track cleanly, after which the muzzle climbs aggressively. Burst-firing rather than holding the trigger preserves accuracy and the kill-chain stack count better than full-auto sprays.

Damage Floor and Ceiling

At gear score 60 with a 4-piece Strikers build, the per-bullet damage at 0 stacks lands around 240k–260k on body shots in optimal range. With 5 stacks of Striga active, individual rounds crack into the 700k–900k range, and headshot crits with the x1.65 multiplier comfortably exceed 1.5M per round. A full 20-round mag at peak stacks can deal 30M+ in under two seconds of trigger time — which is why this weapon is the highest peak DPS Exotic AR in the patch.

Talent — Striga

Killing an enemy grants +20% Total Weapon Damage for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times (+100% TWD).

Striga is brutally simple. Every kill gives you a stack. Five kills inside ten seconds gives you maximum stacks. Stay killing and the buff stays up.

How to use it correctly

The opening of every engagement is the most fragile moment for a Strega user. With zero stacks, the gun is just a high-base-damage AR with a small magazine — fine, but not exceptional. The trick is to ramp into stacks as fast as possible. Open every fight by deleting red bars first; even on Legendary, a Strikers + Strega build melts red bars in two or three rounds. Hit five kills as fast as you can and only then start switching to elites and yellows.

This is why Strega is so often paired with skill-driven builds (Negotiator's Dilemma, Coyote's Mask) — those handle red bar cleanup automatically and let you stack Striga without burning a full magazine on trash.

The 10-second buff window is generous but unforgiving. If a fight has a 10-second pause — for example, between waves on a Control Point or while moving between mission rooms — your stacks drop to zero and you have to ramp again. Smart Strega players plan their rotations so that they never spend more than 8–9 seconds without a kill.

What breaks the rotation

• Killing through reflected damage (Coyote, Reflective shield) does not always count
• Skill kills (Negotiator notwithstanding) do not feed Striga directly
• Killing during a reload animation can sometimes drop a stack — save reloads for after the kill registers
• Long traversal between rooms loses stacks; chain rooms instead

Top Builds

Strega × Strikers Battlegear (peak DPS)

The most damaging legal build in The Division 2 right now.

• Brand: 4-piece Strikers (Battlegear)
• Chest: Bullet Hell — magazine refill on missed shots, partially solves the 20-round problem
• Backpack: Vigilance brand backpack with Spotter or Glass Cannon
• Talents: Vigilance + Spotter for pure WD, or Glass Cannon for max ceiling
• Specialization: Gunner (+10% WD signature passive, AR damage attribute)
• Skills: Striker Drone + Restorer Hive
• Attributes: max WD on every roll, AR damage on chest/backpack
• Stat priority: WD > AR damage > CHC > CHD

Multiplicatively this build runs Strikers (+60% WD at full), Striga (+100% TWD at 5 stacks), Vigilance (+25% WD), Spotter (+15% WD on marked), Glass Cannon (+25% damage out, +25% damage in). Combined sustained DPS sits in the 7–9M range, with peak burst values north of 12M against marked elites. There is no higher-damage AR setup in the current meta — but you will die in two seconds if anything sneezes at you.

Strega × Negotiator's Dilemma

A more forgiving build that uses Negotiator marks to feed kills into Striga while keeping AoE damage online.

• Gear: 4-piece Negotiator's Dilemma
• Chest: Negotiator's chest (Negotiator talent)
• Backpack: any high WD backpack with In Sync or Spotter
• Specialization: Sharpshooter for crit damage, or Technician for skill damage
• Skills: Striker Drone + Reinforcer Chem Launcher
• Attributes: balance WD with skill tier 3+ for marks

Negotiator marks chain damage on kill, which means even a single Strega trigger pull on a marked target can detonate three or four red bars in a chain — instantly stacking Striga to five. This build is significantly more survivable than full Strikers and is what most players settle on for Heroic-level solo content.

PvE Performance

Strega is currently the highest peak DPS Exotic AR in the game and one of the top three damage weapons overall. In raid environments, in Heroic Summit, and in any extended engagement where kills come fast, it sits comfortably at the top of the meta. In TU22.1 it gained a small reload speed buff (from 2.05s to 1.95s) and the buff window changed from 8 to 10 seconds, both of which pushed the gun from "strong" to "S-tier."

Where it dominates

• Heroic and Legendary group content with multiple red bar waves
• Raid encounters with constant add spawns
• Summit speedruns
• Countdown high-difficulty pushes
• Any DPS phase with adds available for stack maintenance

Where it struggles

• Long pauses between encounters (stack drop)
• Cover-heavy encounters with limited line of sight
• Extended single-target boss fights with no adds
• Solo Legendary openings (initial ramp is dangerous)

PvP Performance

In Conflict, Strega is dangerous in chained kills but mediocre on a fresh life. The first kill is honest — high base damage, fast time-to-kill — but after that, stacks make Strega disgusting. A player who wins one duel often wins the next two trivially because Striga has carried over. This makes Strega a strong "snowball" pick in 4v4 modes.

In the Dark Zone, Strega is genuinely terrifying because PvE kills count toward the stack, meaning a rogue agent can ambush other players already at full +100% TWD. Anti-rogue squads in particular fear a Strega user mid-clear. It is the closest thing to a "feels-bad" weapon in DZ at the moment.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Highest base damage per bullet of any AR
• Highest peak DPS in the AR class with full stacks
• Fast 1.95s reload
• Strong synergy with virtually every offensive brand set
• Snowball potential in PvP and DZ

Cons

• 20-round magazine is punishing
• Stacks drop fast outside active engagements
• Glass cannon by design — no inherent survivability
• Recoil ramps quickly under sustained fire
• Demands ramp time at the start of every encounter

Comparison

Strega beats every other AR on raw per-bullet damage and on talent ceiling. It loses to the Bighorn in pure multi-target chain damage and to St. Elmo in single-target sustained boss DPS, but the fact that it competes meaningfully in both lanes is what makes it the best all-around DPS pick.

FAQ

Do skill kills count toward Striga stacks?

In TU22.1 the rule is: damage you dealt directly with the Strega counts as a kill, even if a teammate's skill landed the killing blow within a small window. Pure skill kills (you did not shoot the target) do not count. This was a quiet improvement in the patch and made Strega much more reliable in group content.

How do I keep stacks alive between rooms?

The most reliable trick is to leave one red bar alive at the end of an encounter, drop their HP low, and finish them as you enter the next engagement. Many speedrun groups deliberately tag a low-HP enemy at the doorway to bridge stacks across rooms.

Is Strega worth the reroll grind?

Yes — but only if you have a Strikers or Negotiator build to back it up. On a low-WD build, Strega's small magazine becomes a liability. With a properly tuned 4-piece Strikers, it is the single biggest DPS upgrade you can install.

Does Striga work in Conflict?

Yes. Player kills count, and the buff persists into the respawn for the duration of the timer. This is the core reason Strega is feared in 4v4.

What attributes should I roll on Strega itself?

Weapon Damage, Critical Hit Chance, Critical Hit Damage. Magazine size on Strega itself is the only place that meaningfully helps — you cannot patch the small magazine with brand sets alone. Some min-maxers run Optimist instead of Strikers attributes to push CHC values higher, but the stock damage roll is fine.

Can I solo Legendary with Strega?

Yes, but it is not the easiest pick. Strega rewards aggressive play, and Legendary punishes aggressive play. Hunter's Fury is more comfortable for solo Legendary; Strega shines in group Legendary or in Heroic solo.

Will Strega be nerfed?

Probably not in TU22.1, given the buff window was just lengthened. Massive's pattern with Exotics is to leave them strong unless they break PvP — and Strega in PvP is strong but not broken.

Closing

Strega is the kill-chain weapon. It demands aggression, rewards momentum, and punishes hesitation. Pair it with a 4-piece offensive brand, walk into the densest red-bar pack you can find, and ride the +100% TWD wave through the rest of the room. When the stacks are up, nothing in the game outdamages it. Just remember to bring a healer.

Last reviewed: 2026-04-25 · TU22.1 · Verified vs in-game