The Division 2 features three Dark Zones - DZ East, DZ South, DZ West.

This guide shows you how to unlock all Dark Zones step by step.

Step 1: First you must recruit a staff member called "Senait Ezera". She is recruited from the Theater settlement. Keep doing main missions and side missions until she becomes available (this happens rather automatically from story progression). Then you can talk to her in the alleyway of the settlement (ground level).

Step 2: Talk to Senait Ezera back at the White House. She's on the top floor.

Step 3: She will give you a quest that leads to DZ East Main Entrance (gate icon). Complete this quest. It's simple enough and guided by waypoints as usual. In this quest you have to open the gate to the Darkzone for the first time and extract a weapon. It's like a little tutorial. At the end you unlock the full DZ East Map with all its entrances. You also get the next mission to the South Dark Zone.

After you're done with this, play the DZ South mission (again marked by gate icon). After that do the DZ North mission. Each of these missions is like a little tutorial that opens up the respective Dark Zone.

Dark Zones contain some of the best loot in the game. The missions will teach you the basics to survive in these contaminated zones. Other players can be encountered there and enemies are tougher than usual. Extracting gear can be risky because other players might try to shoot you, but the good rewards make it worth the risk.