In The Division, we explore the question: Is it worth buying the named sniper Historian?
The Historian is a new high-end sniper rifle, introduced with update 1.2 in The Division. Currently, the special equipment vendor in the base of operations has it available. If you have the required Phoenix Credits, you can purchase it there. But is it worth buying at all? Or are the Phoenix Credits better spent elsewhere?
What makes the Historian special in The Division
The Historian is based on the Classic M1A sniper rifle (not the First Wave M1A, currently the best sniper in The Division) and has an elegant appearance with its dark wood design and gold-silver highlights. Since it is a named weapon, you cannot apply any other skin to it.
The Historian has a fire rate of 300 and a magazine size that holds 10 rounds. Following are the stats (with mods!):
Additionally, the sniper has a damage bonus on critical hits of 157%.
For the mods, YouTuber Arekkz Gaming recommends increasing the magazine size. This way, you can reach 20 rounds. Since the Historian is an M1A, it falls under the category of rapid-fire sniper rifles that benefit from extended magazines.
Overall, the Historian only has three mod slots: you can only modify the magazine, the scope, and the muzzle.
As a named weapon, the Historian comes with fixed talents. These are always:
- Prepared: At a distance of over 40 meters from the target, damage is increased by 13.5% (Requirement: 2579 firearms). This is a useful talent for sniper rifles, but there are better alternatives.
- Intensive: The first round of a magazine has a 13% chance to ignite the target (Requirement: 1547 firearms, 2579 electronics).
- Painful: Every hit has a 13.5% chance to leave a bleeding wound on the target. This talent is always active.
In short: The Historian is a sniper rifle with the ability to inflict both bleeding and burning status effects on enemies. And as Arekkz states: Unfortunately, that’s just not good enough! The Historian is another named weapon that should be discarded.
With sniper rifles, most agents are looking for different talents, and the Historian is strictly fixed on these average benefits. It has no chance against M1A snipers with strong rolls.
Additionally, it currently costs you 886 Phoenix Credits at the special equipment vendor. If you already have a strong sniper and want to be frugal with the Phoenix Credits, it’s better to invest them elsewhere: for example, you can purchase parts of the new gear sets in The Division.
But the decision is entirely up to you as to what to do with your credits. The Historian is probably not an OP weapon. Even in the comments, users are skeptical about this named weapon. Therefore, at this time, due to better alternatives, no purchase can be recommended. A detailed weapon review is still pending.
What the vendors have in The Division since update 1.2, you can find out here.
