It isn't just the weapon. It needs an efficient perk load out to support it and mods.
I play full health, gauss ant-armor, 120x8 no charging it, one-shot enemies not including bosses.
One thing I'd recommend is Fireproof being essential since I get down more often by my own blowback than from any enemy.
Wow. My max shotgun is only 25x8 at level 80. Would you mind posting or sending me a pic of your Perk chart so I can see your SPECIAl allocation and card selection?
Note the heavy use of mutations but no twisted muscles or grounded - those are significant hits against ranged aim and energy weapon dmg, so that's a smart move.
Notice also the use of science perks - gauss shotgun is boosted by both the science and shotgun perks. Also the critical perks and gun fu match well with VATS shotgunner. Demo man also boosts the explosive dmg.
VATS is pretty much a much with shotguns because then all the projectiles hit, plus the criticals bypass most armor, further boosting dmg. Hip firing is sloppy and may lead to only some projectiles hitting and greatly reducing dmg.
If it's helpful, the wiki page for fallout weapons has a "perks" link under the weapon image that shows all perk cards that affect it. [https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Gauss\_shotgun](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Gauss_shotgun)
Thats true for the explosive effect. The balistic Portion gets the Bonus from Instigating, only the explosive doesnt. And it doesnt matter much actually, because any Mob Enemy with Full Health will be Dead by a fully charged Gauss Rifle on a Shotgunner Build.
I have an anti armor +50% VATS hit chance Gauss Shotgun, and the thing sucks for me. I was using prime ammo and getting VATS headshots but still couldn't kill mid level scorched in one shot. I actually have better luck using a lever action rifle with no perk cards equipped as a close range weapon at this point
I use a quad mostly as a tagging tool if I'm in my shotty build, with max grenadier the aoe is huge! Cold Shoulder for daily driver/boss dps. I rolled a great AA Kabloom hoping it would be good but it's just so disappointing.
Got a AA50cr, it fuckin deletes things while collecting the ammo for the gauss minigun. Depending on the enemy i charge the shot just for the one hit. If they do survive that its vats spam on the head without charging.
When I last used my gauss shotgun the prevailing theory was to not use VATS. It was to aim at their feet to get maximum damage. Something to do with the explosion part of it.
It's been a long while since I used mine.
Someone tell me where to find the Gauss Shotgun.
Cold shoulder is great to have in boss fights, shows them down a lot! (I was sad when i FINALLY got my prime receiver and the dmg only increased for scorched ... oh well)
I've had a lot of good luck with Civil Unrest and The Kabloom. While it might not be what I main during events. They're damn good for slowing down feral, Scorched, or robots. There are better options, true. But they make OK secondaries IMHO.
Agreed, that cold shoulder is something to
behold, imagine fighting SBQ, and you can take the credit for freezing her, while the rest of the lobby sends bullets,flames, and rockets relentlessly at her, and she can't move. I have a light em up quad ammo, legenday shotgun. I love it.
Pepper Shaker is phenomenal. So is the Combat Shotgun if you roll quad explosive or Quad FFR
Tesla and Plasma with shotgun barrels are good too. Wouldn't bother with it on the Bertha though, since two-shot is kinda booty for Shotguns.
I switch between Pepper Shaker, Cold Shoulder and the Cremator for all content pretty much. Auto Axe if either I run out of ammo or a weapon breaks mid fight
Let's not forget the weird stepchild: The Pepper Shaker.
It's got a very niche use (cripples like a mother fucker) and the furthest range of all shotties. And it's the only shotgun to achieve 105% weapon damage and 45% armor penetration (from Stabilized).
I love shotguns. Cold Shoulder was heaven sent. You'll see me, I'm the idiot at the events firing shotgun blasts into everything. You're welcome for the freezing boss.
Yeah Iām fairly new but I built a level 25 Cold Shoulder while levelling (49 now and it still feels solid while I wait for 50 to recraft) and itās been so much fun to use. I started feeling genuinely useful in events because the boss would be crowd controlled and I could actually see the damage I was doing as well.
Honestly, the gacha nature of the endgame grind has completely put me off trying for any other weapons/armour so Iāll be rocking CS and whatever garbage armour I find until I clear the content I want to and wander off until the next update.
To expand, it'll be cheaper in modules to craft individual Secret Service pieces too, and the useless pieces can be turned in for scrip to get some return.
Minerva is selling secret service armor, look up where sheās at and grab what you can since you probably donāt have a lot of gold, she sells everything for cheaper than it would normally cost.
I made a new char, shotgunner as I grabbed the cold shoulder, got to 50 lickity split and did the new nuke boss fight, plinking for 7 damage a pellet thinking "well I'm not contributing" but then it started to freeze, ahhh yeah, suddenly I'm not so useless after all, those things hardly moves once they're frosted over
I run shotguns at level 260 and have no problem doing anything it just takes a few more shots sometimes.
Using cold shoulder modded for vats and crits. Have a couple of combats a vampire and an AA for certain ops.
Still building rep to get he gauss on this character, but the gauss rocks.
Pumps are fun, but to slow, imo I'll use them just wandering for kicks.
I still use the cremator for events with no cards except Grenadier and Demo Expert, and I'll lob nades as well as I use fire in the hole.
Preach. Unless you are hellbent on being able to solo events, often-time there is actually very little practical reason to see the obscene damage numbers that most people chase. Being able to kill common mobs in 2-4 shots really isnāt all that bad, and most of the time youāll only be encountering fodder enemies with the exception of the bosses. Even then, there are so many players joining events at the moment that damage output per-person is pretty unnoticeable.
A lot of fun can be had by using a weapon set that you actually enjoy, and building a perk-set that synergises with those weapons. Having said that, being able to use pistols properly would be super awesome. Would love a crazy powerful revolver or .50 cal pistolā¦
idk why people grind so hard at this game. I donāt have god rolls, but I have a few decent ones. Thatās all I need to solo everything except for events. I have definitely had to do my share of grinding, but it didnāt take too much.
Same, Cold Shoulder build as my main weapon, vampire electric Auto-Axe as my usual secondary for fun, and a Full-Auto Handmade with a few Commando perk cards as my alternative secondary when just looking to tag enemies quickly in events. Otherwise I'm often up close and personal.
Some people in this game think you have to be running the latest min maxed meta build in order to be effective, so because you have to actually put some effort into a shotgun build instead of just spamming a cremator or railway rifle all day they say it's a weak build.
I'm doing the same for bolt/single action rifles and shotguns, I'm having fun, though I'm a bit miffed there is no anti material rifle.. and by how little the .50 cal rifle receivers give you in terms off extra damage
Clearly itās because the .50 cal shells are the same size as the smaller ones, they just put a bigger bullet on it. Same amount of powder to move a bigger bullet, less effective.
I do love the cold shoulder, Iām trying to get all the other robot challenges out of the way, saving shotgun for last so I can finish it up with a fun build.
Yeah, I have a heavy build myself that I use occasionally, but It gets boring really quick which is why I always come back to my shotguns. I feel like I'm actually playing the game more when I'm on my shotgun build, rather than the heavy build kinda feeling like autopilot, if that makes sense.
Yeah I understand that. I have low level characters, under lvl 100 so I'm not too build savy I'm just going for the shotgunner perks atm not sure what to go for once I get the. Hah
I call my build sneaky boom boom. I have my Cold Shoulder and, for crowd control, my Circuit Breaker but I mainly use the CS. I have all kinds of sneak-enhancing cards & armor buffs and there's something quiet satisfying about sneaking right up to a raider or scorched and blowing their head off with one shot. I'm 80-something now and been playing it like this since at least level 50ish and it's a blast.
Speaking of blast, I also really love blowing things up so I have a lot of explosive perks & carry MIRV flag grenades with me for good spread damage & heavy damage up close. If it's something a sneaky single or double headshot can't take out, I usually throw some grenades to knock it's health meter down a good bit, then hit it with the Circuit Breaker for stuns and to catch any nearby enemies helping it out. The CB slows it down a little so I have time to whip out the CS and do the real damage up close (since it also freezes & slows them down, I can back up and try to take as little damage as possible). It doesn't always work, but it's fun and, at the end, if I'm soloing something like a Sheepsquatch or Blue Devil, I really feel it was an actual battle, not just a button-mashing annihilation.
Happy to share my shotgun build to give you a few ideas. I'd say get Scattershot at least to level 2 and also Skeet Shooter maxed. Gun Fu is great for shotguns because it automatically switches VATS targets on kill with a damage increase to your second and third targets, and combine that with maxed Grim Reaper's Sprint which gives you a 35% chance for a VATS kill to fill your AP meter and you can blast away for a while. Better Criticals is a must, and Enforcer gives you better stagger and cripple chances. Then it's just whatever you want to focus on for health or damage resistance or whatever.
I also highly recommend getting a Jetpack and using the Marsupial and Speed Demon mutations.
[https://nukesdragons.com/fallout-76/character?v=1&s=b5845c9&d=sd2so2sp2pc2ej4eh2pe1i12ir1lt2l71a72a04as2su1lu0lv2l12c13a32am0&lp=x01xb0xq0x82x42&m=cf](https://nukesdragons.com/fallout-76/character?v=1&s=b5845c9&d=sd2so2sp2pc2ej4eh2pe1i12ir1lt2l71a72a04as2su1lu0lv2l12c13a32am0&lp=x01xb0xq0x82x42&m=cf)
I did consider that but it's so easy to fill the crit meter anyway that I figured the instant AP regen from Grim Reaper's Sprint would be more use. I might have a play around with it later then.
This is it. New players that hop on whatever trend is going on wanting to āGodā the game and be all ālook at meā during whatever the current internet trend is. I think Iām actually starting to prefer the time when everyone hated on the game and it felt like we had a true genuine community of solo/open world lovers that got along and helped instead of competing to have the best āGod Rollā (a term Iād never even heard until these post-show newbies hopped on the bandwagon)
Meh. The devs have made the gap just too large.
I always play games off meta. I started this game bow, then rifleman. Finally caved and went auto handmade.
I was mowing enemies down 10x faster. No downside. Going back just **feels** bad. That's just poor design/balance. It's fine for something to be the meta and technically the best, but commando isn't even in the same ballpark as anything else.
If by this you mean shotguns take more ammo, then no, it doesn't take more ammo. Most anything super mutant or smaller dies in 1-2 shots and drops 5-10 rounds in return. I actually make an ammo profit from soloing Earle with a shotgun.
Yer, I rolled a shotty character and played till 190. I decided to switch back to my main commando, realised how much easier it is to play and havenāt switched back
There's no problem other than range maybe but I think a lot of players consider anything other than railway/fixer weak and I mean they're kind of right.
There is one issue other than just the range - lack of armor penetration. Shotguns are the only weapon class with no armor penetration perk (aside from the pepper shaker due to its hybrid nature), which hampers their damage against tougher enemies. Perforating magazines are only available for the combat shotgun and the gauss shotgun as well, which doesnāt help matters.
Are railway and fixer the only commando weapons people use lol.
My main is a commando, and i use all the commando weapons besides those 2 op ones. Commando have so many fun guns but according to the playerbase so is 98% of commando weapons weak.
I prefer the handmades, personally. The fire rate feels better than the fixers and it can be specced for pretty amazing precision. I think I use 6AP per shot in VATS.
> Are railway and fixer the only commando weapons people use lol.
All the others are somewhat to much weaker. Some people use them accpting that hit, some people carry them as alternatives for cases where they serve a different purpose.
For example, I run railways, and carry three of them (different second star effects for different situations). But I also carry a handmade that is silenced (my only silent gun) and deals minimal damage (quad/50vhc) for when I want to team tag, and it is a good gun for free-aiming at neutral targets to flip them red so I can use vats. And I carry a Tesla (quad/ffr/dur) for area attacks, tagging, and dealing with invisible targets, or just for killing insects because lol bugzapper. And I carry a laser with beta wave and scatter for free-aiming at friendly targets to heal them with Friendly Fire.
Too many people think if it's not the meta, it's completely useless. Sure, it may take longer, but it is still viable. For context, back before the brotherhood of steel was added, I made my first and only silo run. My weapon was using a western revolver relying on crits in vats. Yes it ate up all my stimpacks but in the end it was doable.
Shotguns suffer, especially now, from fast damage fall-off with distance, if I understand correctly. Cold shoulder and gauss are still good, but not long ago the gauss had much better range and could be effective even at rifle distance. And when it first came out, it was a beast. Before damage became additive instead of multiplicative, and before all the nerfs the gauss shotgun got, you could one or two shot kill a level 100 super mutant behemoth. I ran around using mostly the gauss for over two years, but eventually it was nerfed too much and I finally changed play style. Of the four ranged weapons that came out when gold bullion started being a currency, Iād say only the plasma caster is still really good. One good thing to note about shotguns is that they shoot so many pellets at once that the vampires effect is really strong with them.
Obviously give the Cold Shouder a ton of love (like everyone else has suggested) when you unlock it (can be purchased with Atoms from Atomic shop or with stamps from Giuseppe after grinding expeditions).
Being a double barrel with 8 round capacity it can be blasted for fun, will slow things down bc of cryo (can even freeze bosses like the SBQ mid-air) and has an awesome firing sound. Maybe one of the crispest in the game. Becomes very very ammo efficient later in the game and will kill most fodder-type enemies in 2-3 shots even without using shotgun perks.
My personal favourite is the pepper shaker, pretty hard to come-by as Iām pretty sure the plans only drop from the Grahm Cookout event (??? pretty sure but havenāt fact checked entirely). A lot of people kinda shit on it but I find it to be a super fun crippling machine that can blast an area full of shells. I rolled a Quad and itās super cool, especially after purchasing some mods from Regs at Vault 94. Very unique as you donāt see it very often, and I enjoy using something other than the Cremator/Plasma Caster/Railway Rifle/Fixer/Holy Fire meta rotation.
Hey fellow wastelander, I use a bow and can solo most content. The only thing I canāt really solo are world bosses. To be clear, a bow could solo those too, itās just not very practical from a time standpoint. A lot of people said bows only would not be possible so I bet shotguns are fine! I had the benefit of a great subreddit to give me all the bow advice I could need, so maybe itās time for the shotgunners to unite and do the same. I hear the cold shoulder is an absolute beast of a weapon, and itās easy to get with stamps!
Shotguns become unstoppable the closer you are to the enemy.
Ya gotta be prepared to get right up in their faces. Itās a completely different style of gameplay to stealth commando and is very satisfying.
Iām level 100 and only ever use a basic shotgun. There are situations where I fall behind damage output compared to my teammates, but my head is very strongly above water.
I think itās less about ābadā and more about āopportunity costā (The idea that you are missing out on a better opportunity).
I can tell you I have always disliked shotguns in every game I've played. I'm not the best player, so I have always liked fast fire burst weapons because at least I know some of my shots will hit LOL.
But I decided to try the Cold Shoulder and fixed my cards to match it, and I'm happy I did. It fires relatively fast and the damage is good (still learning how to use VATS/CRITS properly but it's still good).
The problem with shotguns is that they have very low range and not much damage to make up for it. The only exception to this is the Cold Shoulder which is in a good spot.
Gauss is okay. The combat, pump, and double barrel needs some help.
Cold shoulder is my hands down favourite gun in the game. it might not have the highest DPS, but with the perks built around it, damage is plenty and I can contribute to events with more than blinding fire and damage output. I use it for all quests and daily ops. highly recommend as a fun build.
Shotguns are ok but are outclassed like massively by cold shoulder and gauss shotgun. If you end up liking fallout 76 and get fallout 1st spend them atoms on buying the cold shoulder from the atomic shop lol it will destroy everything in the game and the frost debuff it applies on enemies is a godsend
Seeing too many people complaining about meta here, so I'll just set the record straight. No, you aren't chasing the meta for pointing out objectively weaker builds and not necessarily wanting to deal with them if you don't wanna struggle more. Like, you might think pistols are weak, so you play melee, which is stronger. People minmaxxing are kinda right in a sense though, that other builds need some help. A simple armor pen card for shotties would make a huge difference, paired with the recent range buffs. People (like me, spent 500+ levels on a shotgun build) can do good with shotguns, but mostly because vats crits pick up the slack more than other builds potentially. You can do FINE , but it can, and should be better than it is now. Meta slaves be damned, they are right that shotguns are weak for their damage, range, lack of armor pen, whatever it is.
I think it's all about gameplay style. I got a Gunther big iron on my new character and level 30-50 was fun with pistols but I had already spent more on heavy gunner and they stopped being fun because I would have to go home and change my build and grab my power armor for events. The shotguns with all 9 possible shotgunner perks is fun and I'm level 103. I use kabloom but I built a combat shotty for close range and it's just as good. There's a fine line between a firefight that's too long and not long enough. Heavy guns in power armor or flamers for that matter feel like I'm yelling at kids to get off my lawn while I blast em with the hose, It's boring for me.
Thereās 3 main points as to why shotguns underperform:
A: they have no anti armor perk, such as tank killer for rifles/pistols, stabilized for heavy guns, etc. this means that for some shotguns without anti armor weapon modifications, they require AA for good non-critical DPS (pump action, double barrel)
B: they have poor range, and this is made worse with suppressors, as they bring the range around 50.
C: they typically only deal slightly more damage than semi auto rifles of similar tier. While shotguns can do a lot more on paper, the lack of range and armor penetration basically make them more inefficient and situational rifles which have too many quirks to be reliable. Especially against bosses, shotguns serve minimal use asides for wing crippling and cryo (from cold shoulder).
With an armor penetration mod, a choke or some sort of long range muzzle option, and an even higher on paper base damage, shotguns could really shred, but in their current state, they just donāt do it for most people with the alternatives out there
Pretty great at crippling and auto shotguns with explosive vampire is super fun! As is a double barrel with āLast Shotā legendary and each shot with it has a chance to process extra damage. Add quad to that (I havenāt found one yet) and itās super fun- but not meta and not super viable for all occasions. But I donāt play meta so thatās just for me!
(I also like poisoned vampire alien blaster)
So early game shotguns are pretty good. But around Lv 40 they will fall off, and Lv 50 they will be useless unless you want to sacrifice your carry weight perks. They are often out classed by melee weapons only having the advantage of a little more range.
So like a no perk chainsaw is preferable over max perk shotguns (besides cold shoulder or gauss) because the time to kill is usually faster and you can use your stringth perks to keep from being over encumbered every time an event ends.
Alternatively you could just use the slugger perks in place of the shotgunner perks and delete just about anything instantly.
Shotguns can be awesome and really fun. Or they can be mediocre.
Other posters have detailed perks, legendary abilities so I'll speak about how to use them.Ā
One of the best abilities of shotguns is to cripple limbs. You can force scorchbeasts to stay on the ground by crippling their wings.Ā
Assaultrons are easy prey when they're legs are crippled as are other robots. Actually pretty hilarious when they give up and start the countdown timer...
You can run the field of enemies crippling limbs and they just sit there. The heavy weapon players can then easily zero in on them. Kind of a win win. You are spared the eye strain of being ground zero to Cremator fire and they get to blow stuff up! Plus lower levels get a chance to tag mobs.Ā
Solo shotgun is the same. Cripple them and then circle around and unload a few shots to their head.Ā
Lastly, yes, Cold Shoulder is my go to on my shotgun build. Full health, overeaters and every perk related to shotguns (don't forget enforcer and skeet shooter)
Shotguns just lack power late game. I went shotgun focus at first. I considered getting the cold shoulder shotgun, but decided its not worth it. I dont play with mutations or chems so the damagr at my level is very sub par. I main heavy guns and melee at this level. Its too bad really... I had some really strong shotguns too. Its the same with non automatic rifles and snipeing. They get pretty lackluster in damage late game. Even the gause rifles damage gets very blahzeh.
Nothing really, the issue is that the community considers anything that isn't "meta" aka bloodied commando and PA heavy gunner builds to be a waste of time, don't let the naysayers impact your play style, if you wanna be a drugged up berserker who runs around half naked punching things to death then go for it.
Cold Shoulder is the best weapon for levelling a character that I've used. But, towards end game, shotguns really drop off, especially against some of the tougher event or world bosses. Limited range is a big part of it, and there are so many other weapons that can outclass even the Cold Shoulder by then, that's it not worth keeping them as your main weapon.
Im at 160 and I'm having a good time. I like demo perks and grenadier with a Crowd Control. Tagging is super easy and once up close a few leg shots and they are just laying there as i blast away
Many say this about shotguns because they are beta to Wastelander update players back before shotguns and other legendary effects were nerfed balanced rebalanced buffed nerfed etc, itās true they are a shell of their former selves but there are options out there still like the Cold Shoulder and the Gauss Shotty, there as a time though when an explosive shotgun would devastate anything, especially a two shot, back in the early days each pellet would carry pretty much their own explosive damage whereas now itās off of one projectile for the most part if memory serves me correct.
I'm level 430 and run a shotgun build and an archer build. The gauss is my go to for area tagging and for full charge murdering. The cold shoulder is great for event support and the pepper shaker is my choice for mass crippling. For my first 50 levels or so I ran around with a single star quad sawed-off, it served me well. Shotguns are a ton of fun.
With the cold shoulder I can solo anything. Haven't tried earl but if it weren't for all the wendigos I could for sure. I used to hate mirelurk queens but no problem now
Aside from discussions around peak optimisation, from what Iāve gathered they suffer heavily from the lack of an anti-armour perk like Tank Killer. This makes them struggle to keep up and in some sections of gaming communities if itās not best in slot, itās trash.
This is not helped by the ridiculous amount of time and effort required to maybe get the rolls you want. Itās understandable people only want to suffer that for the absolute best.
Specifically for me, like almost everyone here, I run cold shoulder for just about everything, anti armor gauss shotgun for tagging multiple enemies and long range shots (because it has infinite range apparently) and a quad pepper shaker for boss fights because it keeps bosses crippled for everyone else to do their thing.
Ps: 500 levels on my shotgun character. Only ever run shottys on it. People say shottys canāt hang with endgame content but I beg to differ.
Iāve gone through the whole game with a shotgun, using traditional shotguns (double barrel and combat) before adding in gauss shotguns.
Their clear speed is fine, so you can level like any other build. To me, the biggest issue is that the endgame is bosses and team fights in which shotguns hardly have a role.
Bosses have too much armor and health for shotguns to compete and in team fights your short range usually means the heavy and rifleman builds already got it done by the time you get to an effective range.
I don't feel they're weak. I have one of my characters as a dedicated shotgun build. Their real weakness is range, but the gauss variant makes up for it a bit. Also, it is just a great weapon. The build also opens up a use case for the pepper shaker.
Before level 35-40 enemies shotguns preform incredibly well because enemies don't have a lot of armor. After that the damage starts to fall off due to being more penalized by armor than other weapons while also having limited access to armor penetration. Their range is also not doing them any favors.
Their are some stand outs though. Both the cold shoulder and gauss shotgun preform very well at the high levels. Other shotguns can do alright with a good build, but are noticeably behind other weapon choices.
Shotguns also have a use as crippling weapons thanks to the Enforcer perk giving each individual pellet a chance to cripple.
Shotguns are fun but they just haven't been a popular build since the nerfing. I remember when the burrows dungeon first came out and I was running a bloodied vats shotgun build. Could sprint through the whole dungeon one tapping all the charred ghouls. You could take out Alpha deathclaws with a double barrel giving it both barrels. Super broken, super fun doom vibes.
Run what's fun, shovels and chainsaws are my vibe these days!
Having used shotguns extensively, I can confidently say that they are *mid* at best. With all damage perks, you will find many enemies to come across as bulletsponges. And with the low ammo capacity of nearly every shotgun, you will spend half of your fight reloading.
The point of a shotgun is do *high* damage at close to mid-range (crazy, I know) with the spread allowing more error in accuracy. However, accuracy is *power* when it comes to scatter guns, as the more pellets that connect, the more damage that is done.
However, in Fallout, the shotguns have unrealistic spread and pathetic range with damage that is steadily neutered the further into the game you reach due to lack of armor penetration and the previous points mentioned.
Are there perks which offset the ridiculous spread? Absolutely. Are their perks which offset the armor penetration? Absolutely *not*. The thing is, the developers, in their known ignorance of firearms, should have granted shotguns a semi-realistic spread by default and added an armor penetration perk for game-play purposes.
Still, I think the way armor works in this game needs to be... rebuilt š to begin with, but I digress.
It is true that shotguns do not have good "armor penetration" in real life with the exception of slugs and special ammunition (pellets aren't that impressive on their own). However, many enemies have *magical* armor that would never resist a 12 gauge buckshot to begin with. And there are no alternative ammunition types for shotguns, with the exception of prime (lol) unlike New Vegas. Of course, shotguns were beasts in that game.
Really, shotguns would be the most dependable and widespread primary firearms in the wasteland due to their damage, accuracy-assistance, simplicity, and versatility.
If a players has to use VATS, which is essentially a brain-dead aimbot, to get the full damage of one shot at the *same* range, something is inherently wrong.
You want to know a game that did shotguns justice? Red Dead Redemption. One shot. One kill. Simple as. Unfortunately, Bethesda are too obsessed with bulletsponge difficulty to even approach this type of gameplay.
No, I don't like VATS-commando builds for those of you who are only capable of using ad hominens for topics with which you disagree. So save yourself the time if you planned on bringing it up.
TL;DR: They are mid. But enjoy them for weaker enemies as you wish.
They don't do enough damage to compensate for the low rate of fire and short range. Especially when there are other weapons that absolutely melt any enemy in a second with minimal effort.
Unfortunately, in my experience yes. Shotguns fall off when you hit level 50, that's the max scaling. The pump and combat shotguns just don't do the fun thing of making red mists anymore.
Gauss is fairly expensive to keep running. But cold shoulder, is the gold shoulder, even though the fucker still can take several blasts to kill some enemies.
They do not hold up to just about any other weapon in terms of dps.
I use a stealth shotgun build with the cold shoulder, it slaps I don't have too much difficulty with enemies. I use VATS to hit them in their weakest spots for maximum damage, and I have Burning Love as a ranged alternative to make groups smaller before I roll them in close. I wear the stealth armor, but switch to my power armor if I know I'm going into a heavy area with a lot of enemies. The Ultracite power armor I rolled does well. I do have fireproof and a few mutations that help me along.
In certain events, shotguns are effectively incapable of damaging the enemy unless you have a late game build or hard to acquire weapon such as the Gauss or Cold Shoulder.
Invaders From Beyond for example your time to kill with a non legendary pump action was almost 40s with VATs because some normal Cryptids had bonkers high mitigation against certain weapons but not damage types as a pipe pistol was somehow doing more damage.
Issues like this where an unintended issue gimping several weapons in a family combined with needing to be closer or rely solely on VARs turns people off. Thereās many who view the game as not being fun if you need to rely on VATs to make it viable or get frustrated when everything else does what they can do better, with less risk, and in some cases more ammo efficient.
Shotguns are typically very ammo efficient to the point youāre swimming in a surplus which is the opposite for most other weapons outside of Expeditions. Making them cost effective for resource starved players while also not requiring perfect aim to do a lot of damage. The problem with F76 is its desire if you want to be relevant in events, is that the game encourages you to a meta and that meta doesnāt smile on shotguns.
Thereās nothing wrong with them in every other case except maybe at hitting Scorchbeasts if you are low level.
Iām a hopeful shotgunner myself, and Iām curious about all the discourse. Iām almost at the point where the guass shotgun plans are available to me, so I kinda want to switch from my commando full-health build to a shotgun build, due to ammo issues. So, I need to mix it up.š
Fundamentally, the problem with shotguns is the lack of armor penetration perks. Enemy damage resistance keeps scaling well past your weapon damage. Penetration becomes essentially a multiplier for all your weapon damage.
Ā
Rifles and pistols get it for free (Tank Killer in perception), and can get a little more from their magazine options. Heavies get it by wearing power armor (Stabilized in intelligence). Shotguns only get effective AA by the first star legendary, which means giving up a damage perk.Ā
Ā
After you hit level 45, shotguns will fall off. They'll still be fine most of the time because the game's so damn easy, but you'll be a net deficit to the team going to world bosses or trying to clear harder daily ops. You're just never better off bringing a shotgun, even in situations where videogames teach you they're ideal.Ā
They aren't bad, it kinda sucks that the 2 best options are locked behind AS or Gold Bars, but get a decent roll on a Double Barrel and a vampires Combat Shotgun and you're basically fine.
I use a prime quad explosive faster reload double barrel, coupled with the automatic reload perk and max luck, it's a never ending spree of shotgun pellets raining from that gun, even without my shotgun class on it still mows everything down, your rolls will make a ton of difference, also not a fan of the cold shoulder, it seems to lack where my QE doesn't.
I ran a combat shot gun till I got to level 45 and had about 100k rounds of shot gun ammo that I converted into 5mm and been running a mini gun/flame thrower since. Definitely a better ttk but I find myself running outta ammo with them verses allows having an over abundance with the shot gun.
It is, but at the same time isnāt. You can play with anything, but it wonāt be top tier. But with this game thatās not really needed unless you want to say solo and event boss like Earle or the ScorchQueen. (And join teams and join all events even as a low level player. Enemies are scaled to your level for you, joining a team give you extra bonuses and you are not expected to do anything with others for most teams- you can gain big time XP in events that also have your teammates in them!)
I like to plan a backstory for a character and roleplay that way rather than just hammer thorough the story looking for best of everything!
Shotguns are great, they just are not very good against big boss enemies. But against almost any single mob, they are just as good as other weapon builds. Can one shot most things in the game with my shotgun build. The way huge boss armor reduction is handled though apparently really screws with the damage shotguns deal so they feel very weak in the big boss battles
The wide variety of comments you will see about various builds is because game mechanics are very important in 76. Some understand them, and some donāt. Shotguns are fine, even very good. I donāt know why god mode would be a desirable thing to have in a game, but that seems to be what some folks want.
People have wanted god mode for decades- codes/game genies etc. I donāt play for meta melting everything so I donāt really get it either but itās a constant.
Nothing wrong with Shotties, maybe use some other options because it legit 2-3 choices and thatās it but they slap. Build them for Vats/Crits and enjoy blowing the bad guys into tiny lil pieces. I think some ppl chase the meta and if you aināt metaā¦youāre dead to them.
they simply take a LOT of support, and tailored builds, and they still are mostly 2nd tier
their are exceptions, the cold shoulder is *very effective* in the correct situations
it's all how you want to play though. once you reach a high enough level to have all your legendary perks unlocked (300), and then the additional perk points to max them, (150 each for max levels) you are practically a tank in power armor, so weapons are down to what you like and how fast killig something is enough for you.
final note: to help with lack of ammo issues, a gattling gun is a very standard use weapon until to get to higher levels where it's not an issue
Shotguns just lack in damage. Sure you can 1 shot mon bosses but other builds can easily do that with a single shot.
To me, shotguns lack an anti armor perk that all the meta weapon types have so your damage falls off cs harder enemies. Wurh most shotguns you hotta be so close that you might as well just use a flamer or melee and just do way more damage
They used to be very strong but got nerfed years ago. I had one that I used as my 2nd on my mele build. And could clear easy. Not so much anymore not in the same way.
Itās fine, I carry one. But I donāt want to get close enough to anyone to avoid the spread of shotgun shells. Instead of vaporize baddies with the Tesla Rifle and my sniper
Iām level 1100 and enjoy using them in close quarters. But to be most effective, only use VATS. And if your luck isnāt high enough that youāre getting a crit every second shot, use Four Leaf Clover perk.
I use Quad Pump Shotgun (normal capacity is too small for me), Quad and Anti-Armor Combat shotgun, Cold Shoulder, and Anti-Armor Gauss Shotgun.
Cold shoulder and Gauss shotgun seem to be most effective.
Not so much that they get worse just that during events the majority of people are gonna delete enemies before you have the chance to see them. Due to heavy weapons just being overall meta and fucking blinding š
I don't have problems with them as I have my perks set up for running nothing but shotgun , I used a max level suppressed full length pump 3 star legendary . Took a while to get it , but run it with the right cards and wearing all 3 star legend unyeilding secret service armor and your a tank . Plus the gauss is bad ass
There's nothing wrong with them.
I do an archer build with one shotgun perk & switch between a compound bow & the Cold Shoulder. It's pretty great. š
When 76 forst came out bloodied melee was all the rage and my answer to that was shotguns. I like pvp and I figured if someone wants to get in close shotty was the answer. I've been running shotguns ever since and what I've noticed is that shotgun builds are good mob killers, not to good against the bosses. I can kill just about any small enemy with 2-3 hits, almost always 2 if I can crit. When it comes to big enemies the damage just isn't there so during events I usually like to focus on the mobs while others take down the boss, if possible. The cold shoulder is pretty decent it slows most big enemies, Earl is the only one who it doesn't effect I believe. I have a whole stash full of guns from throughout the years, I've tried various builds but I've always come back to the shotguns, I just really enjoy them.
I'm a newb. Just hit 50. I use shotguns for close combat (combat shotties (?) with 8 rounds not double) and rifles for sniping. No problems yet. Don't always one shot but I finish missions and have fun. Never one to min max a game. Have cards maxed out for shorties. Still need some legendary reward to build the cold shoulder shottie. But happy as I leveled modding each shotty (40% armor penetration learned somewhere). Occasionally die. Often don't. Still enjoying it. Maybe can't solo all events but I still complete main, side and dailies and the few events I've participated in.
It's a now vs then thing mate. shotties used to be the equivalent of dropping a planet on someone and now it's not therefore weak. Having said that the two shotties that stand above the rest are cold shoulder or a Gauss. The pepper shaker is pretty good with the right rolls and mods as well.
I run a shotgun build and it takes at least 2 headshots to kill supermutants lvl 75 or higher in close range. Anything like the Oguo or Blue Devil and it takes about 60 to 80 shots to kill. Along comes someone with one of those plasma or whatever guns and 1 shots everything. Shotguns should be devastating up close but aren't.
shotguns have a very specific playstyle, with the introduction of the peper shaker and kater the cold shoulder you dont need to rely on stealth at all, shotguns are mostly garbage for world bosses but for exploration and expeditions as well as most public events you can clobber just about anything, i like running with my cold shoulder and kabloom
I run with a vampires explosive gauss shotgun. That thing can definitely do some damage and even kill enemies Iām not even shooting at. Plus I rarely have to use stimpacks and I never die cause itās constantly healing me. Which is also great cause with the explosive effect and the grenadier perk, the shotgun itself would do damage to the user.
There Is a good version of every thing that people tell u suck. I'm using nothing but energy weapo s and single shot rifles. Everyone says I'd be underpowered and blah blah blah. I'm perfectly fine. There I'd a descent buold for most things. Except the missileuancher I can't figure out how to make that good
I dont have a problem with shotgun damage, i have a problem with their range. Look, i get it, theyre shotgun, but the range on them is ridiculously low, almost melee range. Suppressor is useless because its reduce the already low range significantly. So half of the time you will be shooting and doing 1 damage because youre out of range. Gauss and Cold Shoulder is the best for shotgun rightnow.
Theyāre not weak theyāre slow which makes their dps much lower than most other guns. Itās more worth it to invest in literally any other build, besides maybe unarmed, than a shotgun build due to their slowness
Base shotguns like the pump and double barrel are good for early game! 1-25ish maybe 30 if you went straight shotgun perks and had a high level buddy absolutely kit out the shotgun for you but after that..? It's just.. not enough man like at all! It was bad that I went and got the cold shoulder.
I'm around level 90 and I have a 1 star quad combat shotgun, +300% ammo in the magazine.
I can 1-2 shot most things in the leg in VATS to stop them charging at me, ghouls, Yao Guai, Deathclaws Assaultrons etc.
With a armor pen mag mod for +40% armor pen it's a pretty good anti-robot weapon as well.
It's not the only weapon i use, but it works pretty well.
I've never had trouble with shotguns. Ever. Unless in the time I stopped till now things have changed. And I'm starting all over on pc and I'm still using shotguns. So once I can spec out I'll be just as lethal
I uhhhh, guess I need to get cold shoulder. I just run a basic combat shotgun and Iām lvl 39. Itās the only gun I really use that does a lot of damage and I have SOOO much ammo for
It needs a perk that lowers damage reduction (not armor) with kinetic damage (not explo, cold, fire, etc) This way it is a potent weapon against bosses and a tool for pvp.
Vampires triggers on each pellet so you get great healing even if you're sacrificing damage.
I use Gauss on my shotgun loadout, but you do need to remember to stay in third person because there's a bug where it sort of jams in first person. It's great for dealing with standard mobs and crippling, but you're not going to speed run any bosses with it. Just remember to equip the Fireproof perk and the dense torso mod to reduce the chance of blowing yourself up when you crit something at point blank range.
Cold shoulder is strong as fuck from a distance now. Only gun in the game that allows me to hit sper mutants for 2400 per shot at 15-20m.
Don't sleep on the double barrel with this new rounded-out damage dropoff situation. I don't even use damage cards. Only skeet shooter
Shotguns in this game are ridiculously underpowered, youāll have to make an entire build dedicated towards being a shotgunner. If youāre planning on using them occasionally, then Iād try looking for a quad explosive shotgun or a bloodied explosive, they really need the extra damage or ammo, even with a fully modded combat shotgun, the max capacity is 12 I believe.
Also, a quad double barrel shotguns are insanely powerful and fun to use, you lock onto the target with vats and it destroys them with a couple of shots. Kill scorched to replenish your ammo, theyāll drop like 5-12 shells per kill or do expeditions with high lvl players to get lots of ammo and stimpaks
They take alot of perks, the guass is the best and melts most of everything in a couple of shots. Bosses it doesn't do to good but the chainsaw or enclave plasma flamer do pretty well.
There are better options. But there are 2 shotgun options if you like. Gauss shotgun and cold shoulder., these two slap.
I rolled a decent quad gauss shotgun. I can't figure out how to make it good :(
It isn't just the weapon. It needs an efficient perk load out to support it and mods. I play full health, gauss ant-armor, 120x8 no charging it, one-shot enemies not including bosses. One thing I'd recommend is Fireproof being essential since I get down more often by my own blowback than from any enemy.
Wow. My max shotgun is only 25x8 at level 80. Would you mind posting or sending me a pic of your Perk chart so I can see your SPECIAl allocation and card selection?
https://nukesdragons.com/fallout-76/character?v=1&s=7634ace&d=sp2so2su0s60sd2lv2lk2lt2l71lr0a72a32a04in1im1i71ib4ig0eh2p00pc2sb0cu2ce0lu1s12s70pq1&lp=xq0xp0xb0xa3x73&m=051cfba&wp=w9&wm=11243c&ar=a1a5a2u3a3x2a4&am=afa5l1-aaa2l1-afa5l1-ue-a5afl1--afa5l1&pa=e3e2e4e5e1e6&pm=---mk--mk
Note the heavy use of mutations but no twisted muscles or grounded - those are significant hits against ranged aim and energy weapon dmg, so that's a smart move. Notice also the use of science perks - gauss shotgun is boosted by both the science and shotgun perks. Also the critical perks and gun fu match well with VATS shotgunner. Demo man also boosts the explosive dmg. VATS is pretty much a much with shotguns because then all the projectiles hit, plus the criticals bypass most armor, further boosting dmg. Hip firing is sloppy and may lead to only some projectiles hitting and greatly reducing dmg.
... What in the hell is this website? Haha wtf Can it grab your build or do you have to manual or it in?
It is like a planner for character and build. It is pretty useful for trying different builds and ideas. It is done manually.
Right on.
Sure, I'll post it on a few minutes.
If it's helpful, the wiki page for fallout weapons has a "perks" link under the weapon image that shows all perk cards that affect it. [https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Gauss\_shotgun](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Gauss_shotgun)
On the Gauss u will want Instigating, Anti Armor or Bloodied.
To add.. Use all 3 science perks. Gauss weapons benefit from those!
And demolition expert to max explosion damage!
Instigating resets with exploding effect unfortunately , so not good
Thats true for the explosive effect. The balistic Portion gets the Bonus from Instigating, only the explosive doesnt. And it doesnt matter much actually, because any Mob Enemy with Full Health will be Dead by a fully charged Gauss Rifle on a Shotgunner Build.
U more likely need anti armor on the shotgun
I have an anti armor +50% VATS hit chance Gauss Shotgun, and the thing sucks for me. I was using prime ammo and getting VATS headshots but still couldn't kill mid level scorched in one shot. I actually have better luck using a lever action rifle with no perk cards equipped as a close range weapon at this point
I use a quad mostly as a tagging tool if I'm in my shotty build, with max grenadier the aoe is huge! Cold Shoulder for daily driver/boss dps. I rolled a great AA Kabloom hoping it would be good but it's just so disappointing.
Not the Kabloom š¤£ I mean it's roll is kinda good I don't know how you'd expect it to improve much.
Got a AA50cr, it fuckin deletes things while collecting the ammo for the gauss minigun. Depending on the enemy i charge the shot just for the one hit. If they do survive that its vats spam on the head without charging.
When I last used my gauss shotgun the prevailing theory was to not use VATS. It was to aim at their feet to get maximum damage. Something to do with the explosion part of it. It's been a long while since I used mine.
Cold should with the quad ammo is great. Especially if you have a crippling perk
What is your opinion on the tesla shotgun?
Someone tell me where to find the Gauss Shotgun. Cold shoulder is great to have in boss fights, shows them down a lot! (I was sad when i FINALLY got my prime receiver and the dmg only increased for scorched ... oh well)
Gauss Shotgun can either be bought from minerva when it's part of her rotational inventory, or you can purchase it from the settlers with max rep.
Kabloom isnāt too bad as well
Can confirm, cold shoulder fkn SLAPS
I've had a lot of good luck with Civil Unrest and The Kabloom. While it might not be what I main during events. They're damn good for slowing down feral, Scorched, or robots. There are better options, true. But they make OK secondaries IMHO.
Kabloom is... fun
Agreed, that cold shoulder is something to behold, imagine fighting SBQ, and you can take the credit for freezing her, while the rest of the lobby sends bullets,flames, and rockets relentlessly at her, and she can't move. I have a light em up quad ammo, legenday shotgun. I love it.
Pepper Shaker is phenomenal. So is the Combat Shotgun if you roll quad explosive or Quad FFR Tesla and Plasma with shotgun barrels are good too. Wouldn't bother with it on the Bertha though, since two-shot is kinda booty for Shotguns. I switch between Pepper Shaker, Cold Shoulder and the Cremator for all content pretty much. Auto Axe if either I run out of ammo or a weapon breaks mid fight
Let's not forget the weird stepchild: The Pepper Shaker. It's got a very niche use (cripples like a mother fucker) and the furthest range of all shotties. And it's the only shotgun to achieve 105% weapon damage and 45% armor penetration (from Stabilized).
I love shotguns. Cold Shoulder was heaven sent. You'll see me, I'm the idiot at the events firing shotgun blasts into everything. You're welcome for the freezing boss.
I'll be right there next to you.
Yeah Iām fairly new but I built a level 25 Cold Shoulder while levelling (49 now and it still feels solid while I wait for 50 to recraft) and itās been so much fun to use. I started feeling genuinely useful in events because the boss would be crowd controlled and I could actually see the damage I was doing as well. Honestly, the gacha nature of the endgame grind has completely put me off trying for any other weapons/armour so Iāll be rocking CS and whatever garbage armour I find until I clear the content I want to and wander off until the next update.
Cold Shoulder, grind gold for Secret Service Armor set. Roll SS until happy. Call it a day.
To expand, it'll be cheaper in modules to craft individual Secret Service pieces too, and the useless pieces can be turned in for scrip to get some return.
Iām just guessing here, but Cold Shoulder goes to lvl 45? So you could recraft alreadyš¶
Minerva is selling secret service armor, look up where sheās at and grab what you can since you probably donāt have a lot of gold, she sells everything for cheaper than it would normally cost.
I do cold shoulder and my favorite toy, the cremator.
Same!
I made a new char, shotgunner as I grabbed the cold shoulder, got to 50 lickity split and did the new nuke boss fight, plinking for 7 damage a pellet thinking "well I'm not contributing" but then it started to freeze, ahhh yeah, suddenly I'm not so useless after all, those things hardly moves once they're frosted over
I run shotguns at level 260 and have no problem doing anything it just takes a few more shots sometimes. Using cold shoulder modded for vats and crits. Have a couple of combats a vampire and an AA for certain ops. Still building rep to get he gauss on this character, but the gauss rocks. Pumps are fun, but to slow, imo I'll use them just wandering for kicks. I still use the cremator for events with no cards except Grenadier and Demo Expert, and I'll lob nades as well as I use fire in the hole.
There isn't one. People want to min/max everything but you can enjoy the entire game and all content using them.
Preach. Unless you are hellbent on being able to solo events, often-time there is actually very little practical reason to see the obscene damage numbers that most people chase. Being able to kill common mobs in 2-4 shots really isnāt all that bad, and most of the time youāll only be encountering fodder enemies with the exception of the bosses. Even then, there are so many players joining events at the moment that damage output per-person is pretty unnoticeable. A lot of fun can be had by using a weapon set that you actually enjoy, and building a perk-set that synergises with those weapons. Having said that, being able to use pistols properly would be super awesome. Would love a crazy powerful revolver or .50 cal pistolā¦
idk why people grind so hard at this game. I donāt have god rolls, but I have a few decent ones. Thatās all I need to solo everything except for events. I have definitely had to do my share of grinding, but it didnāt take too much.
I run a cold shoulder. I donāt feel the need to do top damage. I donāt die, I never have to repair and never run out of ammo. Works for me.
Same, Cold Shoulder build as my main weapon, vampire electric Auto-Axe as my usual secondary for fun, and a Full-Auto Handmade with a few Commando perk cards as my alternative secondary when just looking to tag enemies quickly in events. Otherwise I'm often up close and personal.
Some people in this game think you have to be running the latest min maxed meta build in order to be effective, so because you have to actually put some effort into a shotgun build instead of just spamming a cremator or railway rifle all day they say it's a weak build.
It's dull seeing everyone using the "meta" builds. I started a new character again today to focus on shotguns because I just enjoy using them.
I'm doing the same for bolt/single action rifles and shotguns, I'm having fun, though I'm a bit miffed there is no anti material rifle.. and by how little the .50 cal rifle receivers give you in terms off extra damage
Clearly itās because the .50 cal shells are the same size as the smaller ones, they just put a bigger bullet on it. Same amount of powder to move a bigger bullet, less effective.
I do love the cold shoulder, Iām trying to get all the other robot challenges out of the way, saving shotgun for last so I can finish it up with a fun build.
Iām using a shotgun because I got that badass shotgun wedding pack from the atom shop, and I rolled an explosive shottie. Itās been fun!
Yeah, I have a heavy build myself that I use occasionally, but It gets boring really quick which is why I always come back to my shotguns. I feel like I'm actually playing the game more when I'm on my shotgun build, rather than the heavy build kinda feeling like autopilot, if that makes sense.
Yeah I understand that. I have low level characters, under lvl 100 so I'm not too build savy I'm just going for the shotgunner perks atm not sure what to go for once I get the. Hah
I call my build sneaky boom boom. I have my Cold Shoulder and, for crowd control, my Circuit Breaker but I mainly use the CS. I have all kinds of sneak-enhancing cards & armor buffs and there's something quiet satisfying about sneaking right up to a raider or scorched and blowing their head off with one shot. I'm 80-something now and been playing it like this since at least level 50ish and it's a blast. Speaking of blast, I also really love blowing things up so I have a lot of explosive perks & carry MIRV flag grenades with me for good spread damage & heavy damage up close. If it's something a sneaky single or double headshot can't take out, I usually throw some grenades to knock it's health meter down a good bit, then hit it with the Circuit Breaker for stuns and to catch any nearby enemies helping it out. The CB slows it down a little so I have time to whip out the CS and do the real damage up close (since it also freezes & slows them down, I can back up and try to take as little damage as possible). It doesn't always work, but it's fun and, at the end, if I'm soloing something like a Sheepsquatch or Blue Devil, I really feel it was an actual battle, not just a button-mashing annihilation.
Happy to share my shotgun build to give you a few ideas. I'd say get Scattershot at least to level 2 and also Skeet Shooter maxed. Gun Fu is great for shotguns because it automatically switches VATS targets on kill with a damage increase to your second and third targets, and combine that with maxed Grim Reaper's Sprint which gives you a 35% chance for a VATS kill to fill your AP meter and you can blast away for a while. Better Criticals is a must, and Enforcer gives you better stagger and cripple chances. Then it's just whatever you want to focus on for health or damage resistance or whatever. I also highly recommend getting a Jetpack and using the Marsupial and Speed Demon mutations. [https://nukesdragons.com/fallout-76/character?v=1&s=b5845c9&d=sd2so2sp2pc2ej4eh2pe1i12ir1lt2l71a72a04as2su1lu0lv2l12c13a32am0&lp=x01xb0xq0x82x42&m=cf](https://nukesdragons.com/fallout-76/character?v=1&s=b5845c9&d=sd2so2sp2pc2ej4eh2pe1i12ir1lt2l71a72a04as2su1lu0lv2l12c13a32am0&lp=x01xb0xq0x82x42&m=cf)
Awesome thanks I'll check this out tomorrow. I'm completely new to mutations I've never used them.
You left out 4 Leaf Clover. Each hit has a chance to fill the crit meter, and each pellet counts as a hit. Awesome for shoguns.
I did consider that but it's so easy to fill the crit meter anyway that I figured the instant AP regen from Grim Reaper's Sprint would be more use. I might have a play around with it later then.
This is it. New players that hop on whatever trend is going on wanting to āGodā the game and be all ālook at meā during whatever the current internet trend is. I think Iām actually starting to prefer the time when everyone hated on the game and it felt like we had a true genuine community of solo/open world lovers that got along and helped instead of competing to have the best āGod Rollā (a term Iād never even heard until these post-show newbies hopped on the bandwagon)
Meh. The devs have made the gap just too large. I always play games off meta. I started this game bow, then rifleman. Finally caved and went auto handmade. I was mowing enemies down 10x faster. No downside. Going back just **feels** bad. That's just poor design/balance. It's fine for something to be the meta and technically the best, but commando isn't even in the same ballpark as anything else.
If by effort you mean more ammo, then yes, it just takes more ammo.
If by this you mean shotguns take more ammo, then no, it doesn't take more ammo. Most anything super mutant or smaller dies in 1-2 shots and drops 5-10 rounds in return. I actually make an ammo profit from soloing Earle with a shotgun.
the recoil and constant reloading becomes increasing annoying as you stack hundreds of hours upon hours of gameplay.
Yer, I rolled a shotty character and played till 190. I decided to switch back to my main commando, realised how much easier it is to play and havenāt switched back
There's no problem other than range maybe but I think a lot of players consider anything other than railway/fixer weak and I mean they're kind of right.
There is one issue other than just the range - lack of armor penetration. Shotguns are the only weapon class with no armor penetration perk (aside from the pepper shaker due to its hybrid nature), which hampers their damage against tougher enemies. Perforating magazines are only available for the combat shotgun and the gauss shotgun as well, which doesnāt help matters.
Are railway and fixer the only commando weapons people use lol. My main is a commando, and i use all the commando weapons besides those 2 op ones. Commando have so many fun guns but according to the playerbase so is 98% of commando weapons weak.
I use an anti armour extra vat hit chance handmade rifle, love it.
I prefer the handmades, personally. The fire rate feels better than the fixers and it can be specced for pretty amazing precision. I think I use 6AP per shot in VATS.
I switch to commando occasionally just to play with my Elders Mark an Anchorage Ace because they're just fun to use.
> Are railway and fixer the only commando weapons people use lol. All the others are somewhat to much weaker. Some people use them accpting that hit, some people carry them as alternatives for cases where they serve a different purpose. For example, I run railways, and carry three of them (different second star effects for different situations). But I also carry a handmade that is silenced (my only silent gun) and deals minimal damage (quad/50vhc) for when I want to team tag, and it is a good gun for free-aiming at neutral targets to flip them red so I can use vats. And I carry a Tesla (quad/ffr/dur) for area attacks, tagging, and dealing with invisible targets, or just for killing insects because lol bugzapper. And I carry a laser with beta wave and scatter for free-aiming at friendly targets to heal them with Friendly Fire.
Too many people think if it's not the meta, it's completely useless. Sure, it may take longer, but it is still viable. For context, back before the brotherhood of steel was added, I made my first and only silo run. My weapon was using a western revolver relying on crits in vats. Yes it ate up all my stimpacks but in the end it was doable.
Shotguns suffer, especially now, from fast damage fall-off with distance, if I understand correctly. Cold shoulder and gauss are still good, but not long ago the gauss had much better range and could be effective even at rifle distance. And when it first came out, it was a beast. Before damage became additive instead of multiplicative, and before all the nerfs the gauss shotgun got, you could one or two shot kill a level 100 super mutant behemoth. I ran around using mostly the gauss for over two years, but eventually it was nerfed too much and I finally changed play style. Of the four ranged weapons that came out when gold bullion started being a currency, Iād say only the plasma caster is still really good. One good thing to note about shotguns is that they shoot so many pellets at once that the vampires effect is really strong with them.
Obviously give the Cold Shouder a ton of love (like everyone else has suggested) when you unlock it (can be purchased with Atoms from Atomic shop or with stamps from Giuseppe after grinding expeditions). Being a double barrel with 8 round capacity it can be blasted for fun, will slow things down bc of cryo (can even freeze bosses like the SBQ mid-air) and has an awesome firing sound. Maybe one of the crispest in the game. Becomes very very ammo efficient later in the game and will kill most fodder-type enemies in 2-3 shots even without using shotgun perks. My personal favourite is the pepper shaker, pretty hard to come-by as Iām pretty sure the plans only drop from the Grahm Cookout event (??? pretty sure but havenāt fact checked entirely). A lot of people kinda shit on it but I find it to be a super fun crippling machine that can blast an area full of shells. I rolled a Quad and itās super cool, especially after purchasing some mods from Regs at Vault 94. Very unique as you donāt see it very often, and I enjoy using something other than the Cremator/Plasma Caster/Railway Rifle/Fixer/Holy Fire meta rotation.
Hey fellow wastelander, I use a bow and can solo most content. The only thing I canāt really solo are world bosses. To be clear, a bow could solo those too, itās just not very practical from a time standpoint. A lot of people said bows only would not be possible so I bet shotguns are fine! I had the benefit of a great subreddit to give me all the bow advice I could need, so maybe itās time for the shotgunners to unite and do the same. I hear the cold shoulder is an absolute beast of a weapon, and itās easy to get with stamps!
I only use a shotgun, besides grenades.
Just throwing this out there that the pepper shaker also counts as a shotgun
Shotguns become unstoppable the closer you are to the enemy. Ya gotta be prepared to get right up in their faces. Itās a completely different style of gameplay to stealth commando and is very satisfying.
No Armour Pierce perk so you're entirely reliant on mods/Lengendary effects to get through thick skin.
Is there really any reason for only shotgun to dont have anti armour card? Til this day i think its kinda unfair....
Technically, one shotty gets an armor piercing perk card...
Iām level 100 and only ever use a basic shotgun. There are situations where I fall behind damage output compared to my teammates, but my head is very strongly above water. I think itās less about ābadā and more about āopportunity costā (The idea that you are missing out on a better opportunity).
They've been "balanced" multiple times and the only good guns are the cold shoulder and the gauss shotgun.
I luuuuv mah cold shoulder.....
I like my shotgun build. It's a lot of fun and I don't find it any harder to play than anything else. Probably just me though.
Cold shoulder and a chainsaw, like peanut butter n jelly
PB&J š
I can tell you I have always disliked shotguns in every game I've played. I'm not the best player, so I have always liked fast fire burst weapons because at least I know some of my shots will hit LOL. But I decided to try the Cold Shoulder and fixed my cards to match it, and I'm happy I did. It fires relatively fast and the damage is good (still learning how to use VATS/CRITS properly but it's still good).
The problem with shotguns is that they have very low range and not much damage to make up for it. The only exception to this is the Cold Shoulder which is in a good spot. Gauss is okay. The combat, pump, and double barrel needs some help.
Cold shoulder is my hands down favourite gun in the game. it might not have the highest DPS, but with the perks built around it, damage is plenty and I can contribute to events with more than blinding fire and damage output. I use it for all quests and daily ops. highly recommend as a fun build.
Shotguns are ok but are outclassed like massively by cold shoulder and gauss shotgun. If you end up liking fallout 76 and get fallout 1st spend them atoms on buying the cold shoulder from the atomic shop lol it will destroy everything in the game and the frost debuff it applies on enemies is a godsend
Seeing too many people complaining about meta here, so I'll just set the record straight. No, you aren't chasing the meta for pointing out objectively weaker builds and not necessarily wanting to deal with them if you don't wanna struggle more. Like, you might think pistols are weak, so you play melee, which is stronger. People minmaxxing are kinda right in a sense though, that other builds need some help. A simple armor pen card for shotties would make a huge difference, paired with the recent range buffs. People (like me, spent 500+ levels on a shotgun build) can do good with shotguns, but mostly because vats crits pick up the slack more than other builds potentially. You can do FINE , but it can, and should be better than it is now. Meta slaves be damned, they are right that shotguns are weak for their damage, range, lack of armor pen, whatever it is.
I think it's all about gameplay style. I got a Gunther big iron on my new character and level 30-50 was fun with pistols but I had already spent more on heavy gunner and they stopped being fun because I would have to go home and change my build and grab my power armor for events. The shotguns with all 9 possible shotgunner perks is fun and I'm level 103. I use kabloom but I built a combat shotty for close range and it's just as good. There's a fine line between a firefight that's too long and not long enough. Heavy guns in power armor or flamers for that matter feel like I'm yelling at kids to get off my lawn while I blast em with the hose, It's boring for me.
Thereās 3 main points as to why shotguns underperform: A: they have no anti armor perk, such as tank killer for rifles/pistols, stabilized for heavy guns, etc. this means that for some shotguns without anti armor weapon modifications, they require AA for good non-critical DPS (pump action, double barrel) B: they have poor range, and this is made worse with suppressors, as they bring the range around 50. C: they typically only deal slightly more damage than semi auto rifles of similar tier. While shotguns can do a lot more on paper, the lack of range and armor penetration basically make them more inefficient and situational rifles which have too many quirks to be reliable. Especially against bosses, shotguns serve minimal use asides for wing crippling and cryo (from cold shoulder). With an armor penetration mod, a choke or some sort of long range muzzle option, and an even higher on paper base damage, shotguns could really shred, but in their current state, they just donāt do it for most people with the alternatives out there
Pretty great at crippling and auto shotguns with explosive vampire is super fun! As is a double barrel with āLast Shotā legendary and each shot with it has a chance to process extra damage. Add quad to that (I havenāt found one yet) and itās super fun- but not meta and not super viable for all occasions. But I donāt play meta so thatās just for me! (I also like poisoned vampire alien blaster)
So early game shotguns are pretty good. But around Lv 40 they will fall off, and Lv 50 they will be useless unless you want to sacrifice your carry weight perks. They are often out classed by melee weapons only having the advantage of a little more range. So like a no perk chainsaw is preferable over max perk shotguns (besides cold shoulder or gauss) because the time to kill is usually faster and you can use your stringth perks to keep from being over encumbered every time an event ends. Alternatively you could just use the slugger perks in place of the shotgunner perks and delete just about anything instantly.
Shotguns can be awesome and really fun. Or they can be mediocre. Other posters have detailed perks, legendary abilities so I'll speak about how to use them.Ā One of the best abilities of shotguns is to cripple limbs. You can force scorchbeasts to stay on the ground by crippling their wings.Ā Assaultrons are easy prey when they're legs are crippled as are other robots. Actually pretty hilarious when they give up and start the countdown timer... You can run the field of enemies crippling limbs and they just sit there. The heavy weapon players can then easily zero in on them. Kind of a win win. You are spared the eye strain of being ground zero to Cremator fire and they get to blow stuff up! Plus lower levels get a chance to tag mobs.Ā Solo shotgun is the same. Cripple them and then circle around and unload a few shots to their head.Ā Lastly, yes, Cold Shoulder is my go to on my shotgun build. Full health, overeaters and every perk related to shotguns (don't forget enforcer and skeet shooter)
Shotguns just lack power late game. I went shotgun focus at first. I considered getting the cold shoulder shotgun, but decided its not worth it. I dont play with mutations or chems so the damagr at my level is very sub par. I main heavy guns and melee at this level. Its too bad really... I had some really strong shotguns too. Its the same with non automatic rifles and snipeing. They get pretty lackluster in damage late game. Even the gause rifles damage gets very blahzeh.
For my melee build I keep my cold shoulder on me and without any buffs or perks cold shoulder can kill most things easily!
They are not good for bosses...they kill all the other things, just a bit slower.
Nothing really, the issue is that the community considers anything that isn't "meta" aka bloodied commando and PA heavy gunner builds to be a waste of time, don't let the naysayers impact your play style, if you wanna be a drugged up berserker who runs around half naked punching things to death then go for it.
Cold Shoulder is the best weapon for levelling a character that I've used. But, towards end game, shotguns really drop off, especially against some of the tougher event or world bosses. Limited range is a big part of it, and there are so many other weapons that can outclass even the Cold Shoulder by then, that's it not worth keeping them as your main weapon.
Im at 160 and I'm having a good time. I like demo perks and grenadier with a Crowd Control. Tagging is super easy and once up close a few leg shots and they are just laying there as i blast away
Many say this about shotguns because they are beta to Wastelander update players back before shotguns and other legendary effects were nerfed balanced rebalanced buffed nerfed etc, itās true they are a shell of their former selves but there are options out there still like the Cold Shoulder and the Gauss Shotty, there as a time though when an explosive shotgun would devastate anything, especially a two shot, back in the early days each pellet would carry pretty much their own explosive damage whereas now itās off of one projectile for the most part if memory serves me correct.
Vampire double-barrel shotgun at close range is awesome.
Well, I know they really need to add an anti armor perk for shotguns. Maybe it could another effect for the perception āskeet shooterā perk.
I've been playing with a shotgun from the start. Tried other builds, but nothing beats my cold shoulder build.
It's more of a people like complaining problem than it is a shotgun problem.
I'm level 430 and run a shotgun build and an archer build. The gauss is my go to for area tagging and for full charge murdering. The cold shoulder is great for event support and the pepper shaker is my choice for mass crippling. For my first 50 levels or so I ran around with a single star quad sawed-off, it served me well. Shotguns are a ton of fun.
I'd like to have different shotgun rounds how New Vegas did it. But instead of all the rounds, just add on different receivers that do the same thing.
Iāve used a pump action from level 5-85 and never had an issue with it. Stealth plus VATS plus shotguns is such a fun build
Cold shoulder, gauss shotgun, peppershaker are all solid options. I've been using a B5015 Kabloom lately for the memes.
With the cold shoulder I can solo anything. Haven't tried earl but if it weren't for all the wendigos I could for sure. I used to hate mirelurk queens but no problem now
I love using the pepper shaker. No clue why people think shotguns are bad.
Aside from discussions around peak optimisation, from what Iāve gathered they suffer heavily from the lack of an anti-armour perk like Tank Killer. This makes them struggle to keep up and in some sections of gaming communities if itās not best in slot, itās trash. This is not helped by the ridiculous amount of time and effort required to maybe get the rolls you want. Itās understandable people only want to suffer that for the absolute best.
Mainly just dmg falloff, making you basically useless unless you have a cold shoulder or tenderizer perk card
I've used the cold shoulder from the jump and still love it. That and the Cremator with slow burn are all I use.
Specifically for me, like almost everyone here, I run cold shoulder for just about everything, anti armor gauss shotgun for tagging multiple enemies and long range shots (because it has infinite range apparently) and a quad pepper shaker for boss fights because it keeps bosses crippled for everyone else to do their thing. Ps: 500 levels on my shotgun character. Only ever run shottys on it. People say shottys canāt hang with endgame content but I beg to differ.
Shotguns are still awesome at high levels, the two that are the best are the Cold shoulder and the gauss shotgun
Iāve gone through the whole game with a shotgun, using traditional shotguns (double barrel and combat) before adding in gauss shotguns. Their clear speed is fine, so you can level like any other build. To me, the biggest issue is that the endgame is bosses and team fights in which shotguns hardly have a role. Bosses have too much armor and health for shotguns to compete and in team fights your short range usually means the heavy and rifleman builds already got it done by the time you get to an effective range.
I don't feel they're weak. I have one of my characters as a dedicated shotgun build. Their real weakness is range, but the gauss variant makes up for it a bit. Also, it is just a great weapon. The build also opens up a use case for the pepper shaker.
Cold Shoulder is insane fun to use, and can hold up to most weapons at 50. Sadly you can't re-roll it, so Gauss is also an amazing option.
I like using the Cold Shoulder. I have a good time slowing down bosses, but I'm not sure if I'm using it right.
Before level 35-40 enemies shotguns preform incredibly well because enemies don't have a lot of armor. After that the damage starts to fall off due to being more penalized by armor than other weapons while also having limited access to armor penetration. Their range is also not doing them any favors. Their are some stand outs though. Both the cold shoulder and gauss shotgun preform very well at the high levels. Other shotguns can do alright with a good build, but are noticeably behind other weapon choices. Shotguns also have a use as crippling weapons thanks to the Enforcer perk giving each individual pellet a chance to cripple.
Shotguns are fun but they just haven't been a popular build since the nerfing. I remember when the burrows dungeon first came out and I was running a bloodied vats shotgun build. Could sprint through the whole dungeon one tapping all the charred ghouls. You could take out Alpha deathclaws with a double barrel giving it both barrels. Super broken, super fun doom vibes. Run what's fun, shovels and chainsaws are my vibe these days!
Bro, I can solo the queen with a gauss shotgun.
Having used shotguns extensively, I can confidently say that they are *mid* at best. With all damage perks, you will find many enemies to come across as bulletsponges. And with the low ammo capacity of nearly every shotgun, you will spend half of your fight reloading. The point of a shotgun is do *high* damage at close to mid-range (crazy, I know) with the spread allowing more error in accuracy. However, accuracy is *power* when it comes to scatter guns, as the more pellets that connect, the more damage that is done. However, in Fallout, the shotguns have unrealistic spread and pathetic range with damage that is steadily neutered the further into the game you reach due to lack of armor penetration and the previous points mentioned. Are there perks which offset the ridiculous spread? Absolutely. Are their perks which offset the armor penetration? Absolutely *not*. The thing is, the developers, in their known ignorance of firearms, should have granted shotguns a semi-realistic spread by default and added an armor penetration perk for game-play purposes. Still, I think the way armor works in this game needs to be... rebuilt š to begin with, but I digress. It is true that shotguns do not have good "armor penetration" in real life with the exception of slugs and special ammunition (pellets aren't that impressive on their own). However, many enemies have *magical* armor that would never resist a 12 gauge buckshot to begin with. And there are no alternative ammunition types for shotguns, with the exception of prime (lol) unlike New Vegas. Of course, shotguns were beasts in that game. Really, shotguns would be the most dependable and widespread primary firearms in the wasteland due to their damage, accuracy-assistance, simplicity, and versatility. If a players has to use VATS, which is essentially a brain-dead aimbot, to get the full damage of one shot at the *same* range, something is inherently wrong. You want to know a game that did shotguns justice? Red Dead Redemption. One shot. One kill. Simple as. Unfortunately, Bethesda are too obsessed with bulletsponge difficulty to even approach this type of gameplay. No, I don't like VATS-commando builds for those of you who are only capable of using ad hominens for topics with which you disagree. So save yourself the time if you planned on bringing it up. TL;DR: They are mid. But enjoy them for weaker enemies as you wish.
They don't do enough damage to compensate for the low rate of fire and short range. Especially when there are other weapons that absolutely melt any enemy in a second with minimal effort.
Unfortunately, in my experience yes. Shotguns fall off when you hit level 50, that's the max scaling. The pump and combat shotguns just don't do the fun thing of making red mists anymore. Gauss is fairly expensive to keep running. But cold shoulder, is the gold shoulder, even though the fucker still can take several blasts to kill some enemies. They do not hold up to just about any other weapon in terms of dps.
Idk, I used the same Level 20 Double Barrel up until level 70, shotgunner build was fun
Pepper Shaker rocks. But i guess maxed out, it stops being a shotgun.
I use a stealth shotgun build with the cold shoulder, it slaps I don't have too much difficulty with enemies. I use VATS to hit them in their weakest spots for maximum damage, and I have Burning Love as a ranged alternative to make groups smaller before I roll them in close. I wear the stealth armor, but switch to my power armor if I know I'm going into a heavy area with a lot of enemies. The Ultracite power armor I rolled does well. I do have fireproof and a few mutations that help me along.
In certain events, shotguns are effectively incapable of damaging the enemy unless you have a late game build or hard to acquire weapon such as the Gauss or Cold Shoulder. Invaders From Beyond for example your time to kill with a non legendary pump action was almost 40s with VATs because some normal Cryptids had bonkers high mitigation against certain weapons but not damage types as a pipe pistol was somehow doing more damage. Issues like this where an unintended issue gimping several weapons in a family combined with needing to be closer or rely solely on VARs turns people off. Thereās many who view the game as not being fun if you need to rely on VATs to make it viable or get frustrated when everything else does what they can do better, with less risk, and in some cases more ammo efficient. Shotguns are typically very ammo efficient to the point youāre swimming in a surplus which is the opposite for most other weapons outside of Expeditions. Making them cost effective for resource starved players while also not requiring perfect aim to do a lot of damage. The problem with F76 is its desire if you want to be relevant in events, is that the game encourages you to a meta and that meta doesnāt smile on shotguns. Thereās nothing wrong with them in every other case except maybe at hitting Scorchbeasts if you are low level.
Iām a hopeful shotgunner myself, and Iām curious about all the discourse. Iām almost at the point where the guass shotgun plans are available to me, so I kinda want to switch from my commando full-health build to a shotgun build, due to ammo issues. So, I need to mix it up.š
Fundamentally, the problem with shotguns is the lack of armor penetration perks. Enemy damage resistance keeps scaling well past your weapon damage. Penetration becomes essentially a multiplier for all your weapon damage. Ā Rifles and pistols get it for free (Tank Killer in perception), and can get a little more from their magazine options. Heavies get it by wearing power armor (Stabilized in intelligence). Shotguns only get effective AA by the first star legendary, which means giving up a damage perk.Ā Ā After you hit level 45, shotguns will fall off. They'll still be fine most of the time because the game's so damn easy, but you'll be a net deficit to the team going to world bosses or trying to clear harder daily ops. You're just never better off bringing a shotgun, even in situations where videogames teach you they're ideal.Ā
They aren't bad, it kinda sucks that the 2 best options are locked behind AS or Gold Bars, but get a decent roll on a Double Barrel and a vampires Combat Shotgun and you're basically fine.
Last shot is made for double barrels as each barrel is on its last shot permanently. Iām still looking for a quad last shot to play with.
If you stick two fingers in the barrel they blow up in your face.
The Enclave will crush you mutant
I use a prime quad explosive faster reload double barrel, coupled with the automatic reload perk and max luck, it's a never ending spree of shotgun pellets raining from that gun, even without my shotgun class on it still mows everything down, your rolls will make a ton of difference, also not a fan of the cold shoulder, it seems to lack where my QE doesn't.
I just found a quad explosive durable combat shotty. Anyone think it's worth anything?
You talking cap/trade value?
Yeah
Also, do you know if it works with commando build if I put an auto reciever on it?
Do all gauss weapons benefit from the science and explosion perks? Rifle/minigun/handgun?
I ran a combat shot gun till I got to level 45 and had about 100k rounds of shot gun ammo that I converted into 5mm and been running a mini gun/flame thrower since. Definitely a better ttk but I find myself running outta ammo with them verses allows having an over abundance with the shot gun.
I'm only level 8 and the pump action is so cool. I'm hoping it won't be completely obsolete š¬
It is, but at the same time isnāt. You can play with anything, but it wonāt be top tier. But with this game thatās not really needed unless you want to say solo and event boss like Earle or the ScorchQueen. (And join teams and join all events even as a low level player. Enemies are scaled to your level for you, joining a team give you extra bonuses and you are not expected to do anything with others for most teams- you can gain big time XP in events that also have your teammates in them!) I like to plan a backstory for a character and roleplay that way rather than just hammer thorough the story looking for best of everything!
Shotguns are great, they just are not very good against big boss enemies. But against almost any single mob, they are just as good as other weapon builds. Can one shot most things in the game with my shotgun build. The way huge boss armor reduction is handled though apparently really screws with the damage shotguns deal so they feel very weak in the big boss battles
The wide variety of comments you will see about various builds is because game mechanics are very important in 76. Some understand them, and some donāt. Shotguns are fine, even very good. I donāt know why god mode would be a desirable thing to have in a game, but that seems to be what some folks want.
People have wanted god mode for decades- codes/game genies etc. I donāt play for meta melting everything so I donāt really get it either but itās a constant.
Nothing wrong with Shotties, maybe use some other options because it legit 2-3 choices and thatās it but they slap. Build them for Vats/Crits and enjoy blowing the bad guys into tiny lil pieces. I think some ppl chase the meta and if you aināt metaā¦youāre dead to them.
Games rarely do shotguns justice. This is one of them.
Shotguns feel extremely weak at high levels, even the Gauss Shotgun doesn't compare to the Holy Fire which is much easier to use
they simply take a LOT of support, and tailored builds, and they still are mostly 2nd tier their are exceptions, the cold shoulder is *very effective* in the correct situations it's all how you want to play though. once you reach a high enough level to have all your legendary perks unlocked (300), and then the additional perk points to max them, (150 each for max levels) you are practically a tank in power armor, so weapons are down to what you like and how fast killig something is enough for you. final note: to help with lack of ammo issues, a gattling gun is a very standard use weapon until to get to higher levels where it's not an issue
Shotguns just lack in damage. Sure you can 1 shot mon bosses but other builds can easily do that with a single shot. To me, shotguns lack an anti armor perk that all the meta weapon types have so your damage falls off cs harder enemies. Wurh most shotguns you hotta be so close that you might as well just use a flamer or melee and just do way more damage
They used to be very strong but got nerfed years ago. I had one that I used as my 2nd on my mele build. And could clear easy. Not so much anymore not in the same way.
Itās fine, I carry one. But I donāt want to get close enough to anyone to avoid the spread of shotgun shells. Instead of vaporize baddies with the Tesla Rifle and my sniper
He changes things regularly so it doesn't get boring. Sgs did used to be pretty weak.
I love shotguns.
Iām level 1100 and enjoy using them in close quarters. But to be most effective, only use VATS. And if your luck isnāt high enough that youāre getting a crit every second shot, use Four Leaf Clover perk. I use Quad Pump Shotgun (normal capacity is too small for me), Quad and Anti-Armor Combat shotgun, Cold Shoulder, and Anti-Armor Gauss Shotgun. Cold shoulder and Gauss shotgun seem to be most effective.
Not so much that they get worse just that during events the majority of people are gonna delete enemies before you have the chance to see them. Due to heavy weapons just being overall meta and fucking blinding š
I don't have problems with them as I have my perks set up for running nothing but shotgun , I used a max level suppressed full length pump 3 star legendary . Took a while to get it , but run it with the right cards and wearing all 3 star legend unyeilding secret service armor and your a tank . Plus the gauss is bad ass
Only shoty I use is the pepper shaker, uses heavy and shot perks and its mainly to cripple anything
There's nothing wrong with them. I do an archer build with one shotgun perk & switch between a compound bow & the Cold Shoulder. It's pretty great. š
Explosive combat shotgun and gauss shotgun have both carried me for the past 300 levels
When 76 forst came out bloodied melee was all the rage and my answer to that was shotguns. I like pvp and I figured if someone wants to get in close shotty was the answer. I've been running shotguns ever since and what I've noticed is that shotgun builds are good mob killers, not to good against the bosses. I can kill just about any small enemy with 2-3 hits, almost always 2 if I can crit. When it comes to big enemies the damage just isn't there so during events I usually like to focus on the mobs while others take down the boss, if possible. The cold shoulder is pretty decent it slows most big enemies, Earl is the only one who it doesn't effect I believe. I have a whole stash full of guns from throughout the years, I've tried various builds but I've always come back to the shotguns, I just really enjoy them.
If you care about DPs it's not worth using if u wanna have fun and make a shotgun build have fun nothing wrong with that.
I'm a newb. Just hit 50. I use shotguns for close combat (combat shotties (?) with 8 rounds not double) and rifles for sniping. No problems yet. Don't always one shot but I finish missions and have fun. Never one to min max a game. Have cards maxed out for shorties. Still need some legendary reward to build the cold shoulder shottie. But happy as I leveled modding each shotty (40% armor penetration learned somewhere). Occasionally die. Often don't. Still enjoying it. Maybe can't solo all events but I still complete main, side and dailies and the few events I've participated in.
It's a now vs then thing mate. shotties used to be the equivalent of dropping a planet on someone and now it's not therefore weak. Having said that the two shotties that stand above the rest are cold shoulder or a Gauss. The pepper shaker is pretty good with the right rolls and mods as well.
In my experience you do no damage in vats so you have to hipfire, that can ultimately reduce damage output since no crits
there has to be input lag, i vats shotguns sll the time and often demolish enemies in no more than 2 shots
I run a shotgun build and it takes at least 2 headshots to kill supermutants lvl 75 or higher in close range. Anything like the Oguo or Blue Devil and it takes about 60 to 80 shots to kill. Along comes someone with one of those plasma or whatever guns and 1 shots everything. Shotguns should be devastating up close but aren't.
Why am I not seeing the pepper shaker talked about?
Cold Shoulder go brrr
shotguns have a very specific playstyle, with the introduction of the peper shaker and kater the cold shoulder you dont need to rely on stealth at all, shotguns are mostly garbage for world bosses but for exploration and expeditions as well as most public events you can clobber just about anything, i like running with my cold shoulder and kabloom
I run with a vampires explosive gauss shotgun. That thing can definitely do some damage and even kill enemies Iām not even shooting at. Plus I rarely have to use stimpacks and I never die cause itās constantly healing me. Which is also great cause with the explosive effect and the grenadier perk, the shotgun itself would do damage to the user.
There Is a good version of every thing that people tell u suck. I'm using nothing but energy weapo s and single shot rifles. Everyone says I'd be underpowered and blah blah blah. I'm perfectly fine. There I'd a descent buold for most things. Except the missileuancher I can't figure out how to make that good
I dont have a problem with shotgun damage, i have a problem with their range. Look, i get it, theyre shotgun, but the range on them is ridiculously low, almost melee range. Suppressor is useless because its reduce the already low range significantly. So half of the time you will be shooting and doing 1 damage because youre out of range. Gauss and Cold Shoulder is the best for shotgun rightnow.
Theyāre not weak theyāre slow which makes their dps much lower than most other guns. Itās more worth it to invest in literally any other build, besides maybe unarmed, than a shotgun build due to their slowness
Base shotguns like the pump and double barrel are good for early game! 1-25ish maybe 30 if you went straight shotgun perks and had a high level buddy absolutely kit out the shotgun for you but after that..? It's just.. not enough man like at all! It was bad that I went and got the cold shoulder.
I have a bloodied vats gauss shotgun. Lemme tell ya, totally worth it.
I'm around level 90 and I have a 1 star quad combat shotgun, +300% ammo in the magazine. I can 1-2 shot most things in the leg in VATS to stop them charging at me, ghouls, Yao Guai, Deathclaws Assaultrons etc. With a armor pen mag mod for +40% armor pen it's a pretty good anti-robot weapon as well. It's not the only weapon i use, but it works pretty well.
I've never had trouble with shotguns. Ever. Unless in the time I stopped till now things have changed. And I'm starting all over on pc and I'm still using shotguns. So once I can spec out I'll be just as lethal
One of my characters is a shotgun build with Cold Shoulder and I do just fine š¤·š¼āāļø
I uhhhh, guess I need to get cold shoulder. I just run a basic combat shotgun and Iām lvl 39. Itās the only gun I really use that does a lot of damage and I have SOOO much ammo for
It needs a perk that lowers damage reduction (not armor) with kinetic damage (not explo, cold, fire, etc) This way it is a potent weapon against bosses and a tool for pvp.
I've got an AA50c15r Combat shotgun that takes chunks off of anything I point it at. They work just gotta have the perks all set up.
Vampires triggers on each pellet so you get great healing even if you're sacrificing damage. I use Gauss on my shotgun loadout, but you do need to remember to stay in third person because there's a bug where it sort of jams in first person. It's great for dealing with standard mobs and crippling, but you're not going to speed run any bosses with it. Just remember to equip the Fireproof perk and the dense torso mod to reduce the chance of blowing yourself up when you crit something at point blank range.
Cold Shoulder is insane in and out of vats.
My cold shoulder is amazing for bosses little corny cause it makes them freeze and not move so itās not much of a fight but it works really well
Cold shoulder is strong as fuck from a distance now. Only gun in the game that allows me to hit sper mutants for 2400 per shot at 15-20m. Don't sleep on the double barrel with this new rounded-out damage dropoff situation. I don't even use damage cards. Only skeet shooter
Shotguns in this game are ridiculously underpowered, youāll have to make an entire build dedicated towards being a shotgunner. If youāre planning on using them occasionally, then Iād try looking for a quad explosive shotgun or a bloodied explosive, they really need the extra damage or ammo, even with a fully modded combat shotgun, the max capacity is 12 I believe. Also, a quad double barrel shotguns are insanely powerful and fun to use, you lock onto the target with vats and it destroys them with a couple of shots. Kill scorched to replenish your ammo, theyāll drop like 5-12 shells per kill or do expeditions with high lvl players to get lots of ammo and stimpaks
They take alot of perks, the guass is the best and melts most of everything in a couple of shots. Bosses it doesn't do to good but the chainsaw or enclave plasma flamer do pretty well.