Red Moon Rising in The Division 2: Vertigo, Sarru and the Recruiter Mask
What the event is and why it is worth your time
Red Moon Rising is the event of Title Update Y8S3.1 (patch 2.37) in The Division 2. It runs in the PvE Dark Zone from September 24 to November 3, 2026, so about 17 days remain. The main prizes are two new Exotics, Vertigo and Sarru, the Recruiter mask, and an expanded Exotic pool with Named items.
The whole event is built around Red Moon stacks: the longer you stay in the zone, the stronger both the bonuses and the drawbacks get. A well-planned route matters more here than nonstop fighting. Below you will find how to enter, how stacks work, where Vertigo and Sarru come from, and how not to lose your loot on the way out.
The Twitch Drops campaign is already over, but everything else is available right now.
Entering the PvE Dark Zone and what to bring
Open the Washington map and look for the zone marked PvE. According to player reports, the PvE slot rotates weekly between Dark Zone East, South and West, with South hosting the first week. The other two zones reportedly keep PvP rules, so check the label before you go in.
A short checklist for your first run:
Bring a PvE build whose damage and survivability you already know well.
Clear inventory space ahead of time and decide which items you will definitely keep.
Enter through the nearest checkpoint and check where the extraction points are.
According to player reports, talents, weapons and skills in the PvE Dark Zone use their PvE values, gear is scaled to level 40, and Prototype gear is normalized too. If you need levels or rank quickly, Dark Zone leveling helps, and Dark Zone resources farm covers crafting and upgrade materials.
Red Moon stacks: how they build and when they reset
Red Moon stacks build up while you stay in the zone outside safehouses. Each stack strengthens both the benefits and the drawbacks of fighting Black Tusk. Ubisoft has not published per-stack numbers, so judge by how your build feels rather than by figures.
The rules are easy to remember by situation:
Outside a safehouse - stacks keep growing.
Inside a safehouse - accumulation pauses, giving you time to rethink the route.
Death, leaving the PvE Dark Zone, or securing contaminated loot - stacks reset.
There is no official statement that more stacks raise Exotic drop chances, so do not count on a long chain of fights to improve your loot. It is more practical to judge each next fight by your remaining ammo, consumables and the value of what is already in your bag. If the bag is worth more than the risk, extract and start over.
What drops: Vertigo, Sarru and the wider reward pool
Event rewards include Exotics, Dark Zone Named items, curated Named items and Prototype gear. Two items are new, the rest are familiar to players.
Reward group | Contents |
|---|---|
New Exotics | Vertigo, Sarru |
Other Exotics | Steel & Sons, Fafnir, Iron Will, Bighorn, Eagle Bearer, The Ravenous |
DZ Named (examples) | Dark Winter, The Apartment, The Gift, The Hollow Man, Emperor’s Guard |
Curated Named (examples) | Fox’s Prayer, Contractor’s Gloves, Chainkiller, Picaro’s Holster, Keeper |
Extra | Prototype gear |
Vertigo is a GR9 Exotic LMG. Its Startling talent applies Disorient when you suppress an enemy, and you and your allies gain +30% damage to targets out of cover for 15 seconds. Its mods: optic +15% critical hit chance, magazine +50 rounds, underbarrel +15% reload speed, muzzle +10% rate of fire. Players report that it drops only from the Phoebe Marauder, and it is not guaranteed.
Sarru is an Exotic backpack with the Decoy King talent. In combat the moon cycles through 8 phases, each lasting 5 seconds. Amplified damage starts at 5% on the New Moon and climbs in 5% steps to 25% on the Full Moon, then falls back: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 20, 15, 10. A full cycle takes about 40 seconds. Deploy a Decoy at Full Moon and it gains Overcharge while the cycle pauses for 10 seconds, so it pays to time your throw to the peak. Sarru has no blueprint and vendors do not sell it.
If you are building around the new items and need missing pieces, look at the Named weapons farm in the Dark Zone and the Named armors farm in the Dark Zone. Prototype cores and random Prototype gear can fill the remaining slots.
Phoebe Marauder: where Vertigo and Sarru drop
According to player reports, the event boss is the XB-35 "Phoebe" Marauder, which appears in the active PvE zone. Its base respawn is 60 minutes, and every cleared Landmark cuts the remaining timer by 20%. When the boss is ready, you get a notification and a map marker.
Phoebe has four rotors with three shielded at any moment, so shoot the exposed one. Players note that the Resolved talent on the Iron Will chest piece lets you bypass the shield phase. The boss drops Vertigo or Sarru at random, so plan for several attempts. Go with a squad, bring plenty of ammo, and agree beforehand who revives teammates.
A separate goal is the Recruiter mask. To get it, defeat the event Recruiter in the PvE Dark Zone. Players say he can show up during extraction, but Ubisoft has not detailed the exact spawn conditions. So before calling the helicopter, take cover, check your ammo and armor, and stay close to your squad.
How to farm efficiently
Spend your first run scouting: judge incoming damage, ammo use and how your build behaves with a few stacks. After that you can build a repeatable route.
Set close goals instead of sweeping the whole zone.
Decide in advance which drop is worth changing your route for.
Watch your bag space between fights, not when an Exotic drops.
For Phoebe, assign positions and roles ahead of time.
Change one part of your build at a time so you can see what works.
Solo farming is possible, since the PvE Dark Zone is playable alone, but a squad makes the Recruiter and the Marauder easier. Progress in Proficiency Rank Expertise and SHD Watch levels runs alongside the event, while an Exotic Cache farm and Exotic components farm cover what the boss does not drop.
Twitch Drops: the campaign has ended
The Twitch Drops campaign ran from September 24 to October 6. Watch time stacked across channels, and you had to link Twitch to Ubisoft Connect to receive rewards. For reference, this was the reward ladder:
30 minutes - Red Moon Marauder Arm Patch.
1 hour - Named Cache.
2 hours - Red Moon Black Tusk Arm Patch.
3 hours - Exotic Cache.
4 hours - Red Moon Rising Weapon Skin.
The additional Legacy Twitch Drops campaign, which ran from October 6 to 13, is closed as well. The in-game rewards of the event itself stay available until November 3.
What to finish before November 3
The event has about two and a half weeks left. If Vertigo or Sarru is your goal, plan sessions around Phoebe's respawn rather than random fights. For the Recruiter mask, be ready to fight during extraction too: players say that is where he can show up. The neighboring events Rage Harvest and Dark Zone Surge have already ended, so there is no boosted XP in the zone right now.