The Showstopper review: we tell you how to get The Division's hot new shotgun, but is it worth it?
The Division has a new unicorn. Should you bother tracking it down?
The Division Underground update 1.3 finally delivered on that new named High End weapon we've been waiting on since a long ago tease - the Showstopper.
The Division expert Arekkz has tracked down one of these hot new boomsticks, and has all the details for you.
You can pick up the Showstopper from drops in the Dragon's Nest Incursion, or in boss drops during the The Division Daily Missions on Heroic difficulty - which isn't much harder than Challenge mode, apparently, so may be a better option.
Is it worth the effort? Well, it drops at 229 which means it's top tier goods right out of the box now that The Division's gear score cap has increased - and it also has a hefty Stagger attribute, which is a huge help against rushing shotgunners.
Moreover, it has the fastest fire rate of any shotgun in The Division, and a nice magazine of 20 to back it up.
What makes the Showstopper a bit chancy is that it doesn't come with fixed Weapon Talents - unlike all the other named High End weapons in The Division to date. Luckily, you will be able to reroll the first two talents at the Weapon Recalibration table once Massive fixes a bug.
The third talent, Showstopper, is the key one. It increases accuracy as the ammo count in your magazine goes down - so your 20th shot is significantly more accurate than your first. This is fantastic for really targeted shots, although at present it seems you can get the same accuracy boost - or at least, the same small reticle - just by standing in cover (which, obviously, you should be doing a lot in The Division anyway).
One other last little note regarding the Showstopper is that you can change the weapon skin. Nice.
All-in-all, it's a fun weapon to use if you have a synergistic build, but its use is really restricted to PvE, since stagger doesn't work on PvP enemies. It's not really a worthy rival to the current The Division meta favourites, but if you don't have a go-to secondary yet, you might get some good value out of it before something better turns up.
Need some pals to run Dragon's Nest with? Check out The100's The Division matchmaking service.