Many Division 2 players are reporting a bug that causes their skills to immediately deactivate and enter a 15-second cooldown. This makes many skills completely unusable, however, the skills Pulse, Chem Launcher, and Firefly appear to be unaffected.
The bug seems to have appeared with yesterday's patch, and is not tied to any specific in-game activities.
Reddit user u/TheBalance1016 posted yesterday after the patch to report the bug, and got hundreds of comments from other players saying they'd been experiencing the same issues. The good news is, after experimenting and sharing their results, players on r/thedivision were able to find a workaround. It's not exactly convenient, but it should help players continue with the game until Ubisoft is able to fix the issue.
According to the post's final edit, after players activate a skill they should remove all armor and mods that affect skill cooldown time. u/TheBalance1016 reported that they could trigger the bug by having a +29% or higher cool down modifier on their skills. However, the user added that removing the modifier isn't always effective.

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If this method doesn't work, users should fast travel or log out and then back into the game after removing their gear. This will cause a session change, forcing the game to update the player character. The game is supposed to update the player character after changes are made to that character, but sometimes it doesn't happen, so changing sessions will force it to do so.
u/TheBalance1016 also recommends that players get the Chem Launcher healing grenade for instant-cast healing. This will provide players will three charges that refresh half their ammo with a 19 second cooldown. Hopefully, some extra healing will help players survive even if they are being affected by the bug. [caption id="attachment_362468" align="alignnone" width="1045"] Ubisoft hasn't made an official statement, but employees have said they are working on the issue[/caption]
In addition to Reddit, there are also players posting about the bug on the official Ubisoft forum, so the developer is definitely aware of the bug at this time. Although Ubisoft has yet to release an official statement on when the bug will be fixed, their employees have replied to players' comments saying the developer is investigating the problem.
If you are currently experiencing the skills bug, you can make a report by commenting in the Reddit thread or on the official Ubisoft forum. Next: Apex Streamer Shroud Likely To Require Second Surgery On His Arm After Accident