Operation Iron Horse is the second 8-player raid in The Division 2. Set in the United Ironworks foundry, it is significantly more mechanical than the first raid (Dark Hours). You aren't just shooting targets; you are managing heat levels, reading codes, and operating heavy machinery.

The True Sons have seized a massive steel foundry to manufacture a railway cannon called the "Earthshaker." Your objective is to infiltrate the facility, sabotage the production line, and destroy the cannon and its commander, Colonel Morozova.

The raid is broken down into four major boss fights, each with unique mechanics and puzzles. Deep communication and coordination is needed for every encounter.

The Mechanic: Gray spawns with three shielded guards. He is virtually immune to damage while they are alive.

The Strategy: Focus fire on the shield guards first.

Blue Glow: Watch Gray’s backpack. If it glows blue, shoot it immediately; if you don't, he will grant his entire team a massive bonus armor bar and heal them.

The Trick: Try to "stagger" the deaths of the shield guards to keep Gray vulnerable for longer.

The Setup: One player (usually a Healer/Tank) stays in the Control Room upstairs to read codes. The rest are on the ground.

The Codes: The person in the Control Room calls out icons (e.g., "Wash," "Coffee," "Fire") seen on monitors. The ground team must find and shoot the matching Red Junction Boxes to move a giant crucible of molten steel.

The Wipe: A buzzer will sound, and the room will start to overheat. A ground player must grab an RPG from a dead "Chungus" and shoot the cannon inside the forge to prevent a team wipe.

The Kill: Once the crucible is full (100%), it must be poured onto the cannon. Only then can you damage Fieser directly.

The Arena: A circular room divided into three color-coded sections: Blue (Steam), Yellow (Electricity), and Red (Fire).

The Diagnostics: You must interact with yellow boxes around the room to perform "diagnostics" while fighting off waves of snipers and ads.

The Slag: Williams will eventually use a "foam" attack that freezes players in place. You must shoot the foam off your teammates.

The Kill: After the diagnostic phases, the center furnace opens. Focus all DPS on Williams, but be ready to interact with the emergency shutdown panels if the pressure gets too high.

The Train: You aren't just fighting Morozova; you’re fighting the armored train. It has turrets and a massive railgun.

The RPGs: "Rocket NPCs" will spawn. Kill them and use their RPGs to shoot the red circular weak points on the train's turrets.

Tunnel Phase: When the siren blares, the entire team must huddle in the center "trench" under a healer's hive to survive a massive mortar barrage.

The Final Shot: After Morozova is defeated, the train will attempt one last "Wipe Shot." You must have one RPG saved to shoot the main cannon one final time to finish the raid.

The Ravenous (Exotic Rifle): A unique double-barrel rifle.

The Mechanic: It uses a "Binary Trigger." Pulling the trigger fires from the right shoulder (offensive primers); releasing it fires from the left (defensive primers). Hitting the opposite primer detonates the charges for massive damage or bonus armor.

How to get it: 10% drop chance from the final reward chest or a 1% drop chance from any of the four bosses.

The Regulus (Exotic Pistol): A massive revolver that creates headshot explosions.

The Mechanic: Headshot kills deal 400% weapon damage in a 5m radius and apply Bleed to all enemies hit.

How to get it: This is not a random drop. You must complete a multi-week crafting project that unlocks after your first successful clear. It requires donating specific gear and collecting parts from each boss.

In addition to the high-tier exotics, Operation Iron Horse contains a massive library of "status symbol" items that show off your mastery of the raid.

Backpack Trophies:

There are 5 unique trophies hidden throughout the foundry. Unlike boss loot, these are physical items you must find and "pick up" during the raid.

Breakthrough: Found after Boss 1 (Gray). Look for a blue shipping container on the right before entering the forge; the trophy is inside.

Molten: Found after Boss 2 (Fieser). Located in a bucket near a prison bed in the hallway leading away from the forge.

High Ground: A secret trophy found before Boss 3 (Williams). In the circular diagnostic room, you must shoot several red hexagonal cogs on the walls to unlock a pale blue tool chest containing the trophy.

Iron Horse: Found after the final boss (Morozova). Once the massive train cannon explodes and its barrel drops, walk into the mouth of the barrel to find the trophy.

Old Guard: Awarded automatically to your inventory upon your very first completion of the raid on Normal difficulty.

The raid has 11 specific commendations. Completing each one grants a unique Arm Patch, and finishing all 11 unlocks the Agent on Duty Distinction.

Boss-Specific Commendations (Normal Difficulty Only):

Nutcracker Merit (Gray): Let Gray reach a full blue "Ironclad" bonus armor bar before killing him.

Hot Foot Merit (Fieser): Defeat Fieser only after all four metal molds in the corners of the forge have been filled with molten iron.

Hex Machina Merit (Williams): Destroy all of Williams' mounted turrets before fixing the steam pipes, then kill him.

Unfriendly Fire Merit (Morozova): Kill a Heavy (Chungus) using the train's own autocannon.

General Commendations:

Gourmand Merit: Find and shoot all 45 Gingerbread Men hidden throughout the raid in a single run. (This is a major team effort!)

Flawless Distinction: Complete the entire raid without a single agent being killed (fully downed/dead). This is the "ultimate" flex.

There are 10 Audio Logs to collect that flesh out the lore of why the True Sons took the foundry.

Boss Drops: 5 logs are guaranteed drops from the bosses upon their first defeat.

Hidden Logs: 5 logs are hidden as physical pickups in the environment (e.g., in the locker rooms, the bridge area, and the train yard).

You must be Level 40 (or Level 30 if you dont own the Warlords of New York expansion).

Difficulty is set to “Normal” at default (Which is quite hard), but there is a “Discovery” mode if you want to learn the mechanics without the brutal difficulty.

You can “Matchmake” for Iron Horse, but it is not a recommended way to go about it as you need to have alot of communication with your team throughout this encounter.

We have a team ready for you if you want to test your skills in this Raid. Sign up with Scruff Necks today and take part of the scheduled raid calendar in our discord server.