If you're a real man, you'd be holding a shotgun, or shottie, if you prefer. Don't get me wrong, carbines and such are fine. But it takes a true badass to handle these 4-8 shot death dealers. But before you learn about what kinds of gear there are, let me throw out the basics. Shotguns are heavy duty weapons that differentiate greatly from other guns both in real life and in other FPS titles. Why is that you may ask? instead of firing rounds that follow your line of fire, shotguns fire pellets which spread out. This makes them inaccurate over longer ranges, but deadly at close and point blank ranges. Keep that in mind on the battlefield, son. Don't bring a shotgun to a sniper fight. You can if you use slugs, but we'll get to that later. Each shotgun within Planetside 2 has a moderate damage of around 130 per pellet, with the pellet count and spread being different from shotgun to shotgun.

I'm glad you like your equipment son, but don't get all soft, especially in a Bio lab. Each empire has 5 different shotguns to choose from, each with their own price: 3 basic shotguns and 2 pump action shotguns. Each basic shotgun has a pellet count of six (more on pellet counts later), while pump action shotguns have a greater pellet count.

They also all share a maximum damage count of 100 damage per pellet, with the only exception being Automatic shotguns with 125 damage. The minimum damage dealt for all differs however, so let's go over those damage numbers real quick:

• Quick reload shotguns drop to 84 damage per pellet at 20 meters.
  
• High cappacity shotguns drop to 67 damage per pellet at 20 meters.
  
• Automatic shotguns drop to 50 damage per pellet at 20 meters.
  
• Both pump action shotguns drop to 50 damage at 18 meters

What do these numbers mean? Why do you care about numbers, nerd They mean that in addition to the pellet spread of the weapons, your damage numbers are going to drop off on further targets by a lot. Not something to think about in CQC, but you'll definitely feel an impact when engaging further enemies.

They also share a tiny bullet velocity of 275 m/s (meters per second for the curious ones) with some exceptions. No matter if you are an alien worshipping nerd, a dictator, or a terrorist, each shotgun will cost 1000 certs, so pick your weapon carefully.


Before we get into all that however, let's take a look at what NS has gifted to us this wonderful horrible time of year. With a new update that probably happened a while ago, a new shotgun from Nanite systems (NS) was added to the game with specific traits that set itself apart from the others. This shotgun is:

• Nanite's Baron G5

Now this thing is more middle of the road than any of the other shotguns I'm about to talk about. Why you may ask? It possesses the same reloading mechanism of pump shotguns, only the first shell takes .58 seconds to load, and each round thereafter takes only .5 seconds. It also has the slowest firing speed of any non pump shotgun in the game at 200 RPM with a semi-auto firing mode. So what's the upside? It has the tightest spread of all the basic shotguns in the game, matched only by the NC's ferocious Jackhammer. It also fires 7 pellets a shot at 84 damage per pellet, which goes down to 67 damage at 30 meters. It also has a faster bullet velocity of 400 m/s, making it easier to snipe people with a shotgun and watch them get confused and angry at the same time. Er, dont do that in a real fight though.

Let's start off with the basic shotties: The Quick reload shotguns. Each Empire has their own specific version, which is unlocked at the start of your Planetside experience! The weapons in this category are:

• The Vanu's Thanatos
  
• The Terran's Barrage
  
• The Conglomerate's Mauler

These shotguns are essentially your training wheels to shotguning. They fire at a rate of fire of 225 RPM (rounds per minute) which is close to 3 times slower than your standard carbine, but with their pellet count and mag size of 6, you can 2 shot kill on body shots in CQC and close range, plus a 1 shot kill on the head depending on how many pellets penetrate the skull. These shotguns have a tight pellet spread, meaning that they are more effective over a slightly longer distance than most shotguns, but you have less of a chance to graze your targets. You either hit them or you don't. Never. Miss. A. Shot. They also support extended mags attachements like all shotguns in the game, plus an ammo pool of 48 including the first magazine and a quick reload speed of close to 2 seconds, while sporting a long reload speed of 3.22 seconds.

Next up we have the Ammo Abuse shotguns as I like to call them, or more recognised by the name High Cappacity shotgun. The shotguns that fall in this category are:

• The Vanu's Nova
  
• The Terran's Haymaker
  
• The Conglomerate's Sweeper

These shotguns have a slower reload speed than the Quick reload shotguns and a larger spread as well. But here is the good part: You get 2 more shots in a mag. Thats right; with the same ammo pool of 48 this shotgun does not improve a whole lot from the Quick reload shotties other than the 8 shell magazine: the biggest mag size for any shotgun. They have a short reload of 2.8 seconds and a long reload speed of 4.1 seconds. A crutial thing to keep in mind with these shotguns is that they have a bullet velocity that is 25m/s slower than other shotguns. This may not seem like a big deal, but if you're running around with slug ammo (more on that later) and you're trying to get long range kills you will probably feel an impact

Next up: The last basic shotgun type before we move on to pump action shotguns, the Full Auto shotguns. Shotguns of this type are:

• The Vanu's Pandora
  
• The Terran's Nighthawk
  
• The Conglomerate's Piston

Now these shotguns have a somewhat higher fire rate than other shotguns, firing up to 260 RPM. They are also fully spammable so go nuts automatic, meaning that you can hold down the fire button instead of tapping it multiple times. Real easy on the fingers. Anyway they also sport the largest pellet spread of any shotgun, meaning that you are going to lose that 2 shot kill of yours over very small distances. But hey, you want to be up close with shotguns, so this might not be much of an issue. They have the same ammo capacity of the quick reload shotguns, a quick reload speed of 2.6 seconds and a long reload speed of 3.8 seconds.

But what about raw power over all else? Well I've got good news for you. Say hello to your new best friend: The Standard Pump shotguns. Shotguns of this type include:

• The Vanu's Phobos
  
• The Terran's Uppercut
  
• The Conglomerate's Claw

These shotguns fire a whopping 10 pellets a shot, meaning, headshot or not, these things are a 1 hit kill at point blank and close ranges. The catch? Well, if you can't deal with an ammo pool of only 28, a 4 round magazine, a slow rate of fire of only around 80 RPM and a reload speed so slow I can get a friend invite on Myspace faster than it, then these aren't your shotguns.Good news: They have around the same pellet spread as the Quick reload shotguns. The reload speed differentiates and is this slow due to how you do not reload 1 mag instantly: You are forced to reload one shell at a time with a speed of 0.9 seconds per shell. This can be a gift in disguise due to how if you are ambushed and reloading, you can interrupt the reload process and fire off a shot, no matter how many shells are left.

The last but not least of the bunch, the shotguns that put the "Stop" in "stopping power": The Heavy Pump shotguns! *insert spontaneous cheering*. The powerhouses in this category include:

• The Vanu's Deimos
  
• The Terran's Blackjack
  
• The Conglomerate's Bruiser

Oh. My. God. What a punch. These shotguns are pretty much identical to the Standard pump with very important differences: +1 pellet, slower fire rate, and they look like they were touched by the hands of god. Now it fires somewhat slower with a total fire rate of 71 RPM, but don't get me wrong. It may not seem like much, but it is. Oh boy is it a big difference. Anyway these shotguns also have a moderate pellet spread, the same reload speeds of the Standard pump, and a very high chance to blow people away.

Now I had to dedicate a whole section on this bad boy:







Because I ran out of room in the other sections the NC's Mag-scatter is a completly different animal in its own right. While it does match other basic shotguns with 6 pellets at 100 damage per pellet at 12 meters, the damage drops to 60 at 24 meters, and with a fire rate of 120 RPM it is not gonna hold it's weight against the other shotguns listed above, let alone the Jackhammer.

What makes it unique is that it is a Sidearm, so instead of replacing your Carbine/Assault Rifle/LMG/Battle rifle/Whatever you kids are into these days, it will replace your pistol instead. It has the same spread as the quick reload shotguns, the same ammo count as the pumps, a short reload of 1.8 seconds and a long reload of 2.6 seconds. A very important thing to note is that since it is a sidearm, it is the only shotgun in the game that can be used by the Infiltrator

It also has access to the Smart choke attachment, which I will talk about when I get to the directives shotguns.

You kids and your damn stuttering voices. It's not a Jacked Hammer, but the New Conglomerate heavy weapon known as the Jackhammer.







Now the Jackhammer is a monster, even though it does not seem like it a first. It has the second lowest damage per pellet of only 112 with 5 pellets a shot, but a pellet spread tighter than *insert sexual remark to a family member*. What it lacks in effectiveness in close quarters situations compared to other shotguns, it makes up for in dealing more damage over longer ranges, especially since it has no damage drop off. Those pellets are dealing 112 damage no matter how far away your target is. It also has access to the almighty burst fire mode, increasing your fire rate to a massive 450 RPM for 3 shots before rechambering the weapon, which takes about half a second (this is huge when it comes to shotguns), but also increasing your pellet spread per round during the burst. To put that into perspective the Gauss saw (NC starting LMG) fires at 500 RPM, only 50 RPM faster than the burst fire Jackhammer. Sporting an ammo pool of 45 and a magazine size of 9, this thing takes shotguns to a whole new level.

Now for each faction, completing directives will award you with directives weapons and gear, including our CQC powerhouses. To unlock them, you need to kill things. Oh you want specifics? Ok. You need to kill a lot of things. To unlock a Directives shotgun, you need to get 1160 infantry kills (the equivalent of getting an auraxium medal) with 5 different shotguns. Since the Jackhammer is a heavy weapon and the Mag-scatter is a sidearm, they will not count towards your directives total, and since each faction has a total of 6 shotguns to use including the Baron, you don't really have a lot of options towards progress. But anyway lets get down to the weapons. The important thing to remember is that these weapons are variants of the Quick Reload shotguns with pre-installed attachments. They also get a really kick ass paint job too, so you might distract people with your new shiny gun. These beasts are:

• The Vanu's Chaos
  
• The Conglomerate's Brawler
  
• The Terran's Havoc
  
  Right off the bat let's see what's different about them. You can notice right away that they all sport glorious faction related paint jobs, along with preinstalled attachements like the other directives weapons. They also have different reloads compared to their basic counterparts, with a faster quick reload of 1.68 seconds, but a longer long reload of 3.54 seconds. What you probably DIDN'T know, is that they also come equipped with this bad boy:
  
  
  
  
  This is a new thing called a Smart choke What does it do? Well if you weren't paying attention, while using these you may notice that the hipfire spread is bigger than the regular Quick reloads, and that's because of this attachment. It increases the hipfire spread, but decreases the ADS spread. This means that these weapons are more suited for aiming shotgun users if they have good accuracy, and since the hipfire spread is bigger, it helps people with not as good aim graze targets. This means that these guys are the true allrounders of the shotgun family. Keep in mind that the NC's Mag-scatter also has access to this attachment.
  
  Now the Terran and Vanu shotguns share the same attachment in pre-installed extended mags, but the NC took it to a whole new level. Basically:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Brawler is therefore the unique weapon of the bunch, since it not only has access to the standard shotgun firing mode, but by pressing your primary weapon key (default to 1) you will use the underbarrel shotgun, which fires 10 pellets a shot with 130 damage per pellet and 4 rounds available to it. It also has a spread equal to Quick reload shotguns, and a magazine size of only 1. This means you can 2 shot kill people with the standard gun, and then 1 shot kill people with the underbarrel. And to those who are curious: From my testing all underbarrel shotguns for weapons perform the same, so by covering this one underbarrel I covered them all. Efficiency.

You now know what kinds of shotguns there are and what a shotgun is to begin with, but now how about which class should use these things? Well I'll descend through the list, with the best class for shotguning at the top, and the least effective class at the bottom.

#1. Light Assault.
The undisturbed king of shotguns, the LA can make the most of shotguns with their ability to use noclip which lets them fly activate jump jets. This gives them all the tools you need to be effective with shotguns:

• Ambush tactics
  
• Sneak attacks
  
• Flank routes
  
• Escape routes
  
• You name it, they have it

#2. Heavy Assault.
Chuck Norris would be proud. Instead of flanking and using sneaky routes like LAs, Heavies use their portable shield to be incredibly durable while having a shotgun that proves that all who oppose the Heavy are not so durable in the slightest. One crutial thing that makes Heavies so good with shotguns is the almighty concussion grenade. While your enemies are stunned, you can easily sidestep their line of sight and tear them apart. Or you can become an Anti-MAX soldier with AV grenades, which lop off around 75% of their health if you get them just right, and then spam left click until you get the kill.

#3. Engies/Medics

Purely a support choice. For these classes you do not have the mobility of the LA or the durability of the HA, but you have a role that supports everyone else who is trying to be Rambo your squad/platoon. While you help out, you can rid yourself of pesky infiltrators and anyone else who tries to close the gap with you be making them meet your new death dealer.

#4. Infiltrators
For god sake. They cant even equip them. Well the NC can, but its not as big of a deal as you would imagine. You might as well use a Comissioner.

This is purely optional, but I will run through it anyway.


Optics
Shotguns do not have access to barrel attachements (suppressors, compensators), but like all guns in the game they have access to different optics and sights, from 1x to 4x, including the 2x sight and Night vision scope.
Unless you are running around with slugs, you do not want a 3.4x scope or more. No matter how much zoom you get, you still won't be able to hit anything at long ranges. A standard reflex or a 2x reflex sight suit these shotguns just fine, but you will mostly be firing from the hip anyway due to how aiming down sights with a shotgun does not make your shots more accurate than hipfire.
However, aiming down sights on shotguns only lowers your movement speed by 25%, which is an improvement over the standard balistick weapon's 50% penalty. They're your certs and your choices. Choose wisely.

Rail attachements
Like I said before, shotguns have access to extended mags, which bump the pump shotties to up to 6 shots in a mag, the quick reload shotguns to 10, the high cappacity shotguns up to 12, the automatic shotguns up to 10, and the Baron up to 10. This makes tearing through groups alot easier as you do not have to sit through a reload speed as often.

Shotguns also have access to laser sights, which don't really do much when it comes to improving hipfire, so I would not recommend them if you plan on tearing through groups. They do however reduce the hipfire cone of fire, which helps with hipfire spread a little.

You can also attach a foregrip on all shotguns except for pumps, but I would not recommend one due to how shotguns do not need help in the horizontal recoil department. However, you can make it work with a full auto shotgun .

Flashlights have been changed in the recent update to reveal cloaked infiltrators. With this in mind Flashlights should be used if you are still a little new to the game and have a hard time spotting infiltrators in order to prevent them from getting past you in close quarters. But for more experienced players who know how to spot a cloaker, it would be way more useful to equip something like extended mags or laser sights to a shotgun.

I'm glad you asked. Shotguns don't just have access to your standard gun attachements, but also to slug ammunition. What does it do? Turns your shotgun into a battle rifle, thats what. Slugs are special ammunition that is accessible to all shotguns except for the Jackhammer. They replace the pellet spread and pellet count of shotguns with a single powerful round. And I mean it when I say powerful.

Slugs for basic shotguns deal 500 damage maximum and 334 damage minimum, which is enough to be a 2 shot kill on the body from point blank ranges, a 3 shot kill at medium ranges, and a 2 shot headshot kill at both ranges.

Pump shotguns are still more powerful at 800 damage maximum and 400 damage minimum, which leads to a 1 shot headshot kill at point blank, but 2 shots to kill regardless of headshots at longer distances. This is why you never use slugs on pump shotguns if you are trying to play as a sniper. The slow fire rate, small ammo pool and small magazine size make it barely useful, plus they have the same shots to kill as basic shotguns over longer ranges.

A sidegrade that sacrifices your effectiveness at close quarters, and replaces it with being able to deal damage at longer ranges than shotguns are capable of doing normally. That being said hipfire is not recommended when using slugs as the cone of fire is really inaccurate and you do not have pellets to back you up, meaning you are just penalising yourself if you miss. I would recommend a 3.4x-4x scope if you are using slugs as your shotgun is now a sniper/battle rifle, so you might as well make it easier to use it at longer ranges. Laser sights improve your hipfire somewhat, but it still is not recommended. Foregrips are the same with regular shotguns, as well as the flashlights.

And lets address this right now: using slugs on the Baron is NOT a good idea. You know the bullet velocity advantage it has over other shotguns? With slugs, that increased velocity is erased, and since it follows closely to the stats of a quick reload, there just isnt a lot of reasons to use this attachement with the Baron.

Now now NOW! Let's not go crazy here. You can't just go running around shooting whoever walks your way! Well, you can, but shotgunning is more complex than that. Especially in a game like Planetside 2. There is a perfect time and a bad time for using shotguns, most of them being painfully obvious. How so? Well, look at these 2 terrains:












Would you rather shotgun on an open terrain like an amp station? Or in a closed up area like a bio lab? Is it not obvious enough? Unless you are running slug ammo, you never want to engage enemies in medium range distance or greater with a shotgun. Ever. Blowing up a tank with a pistol alone is easier than killing a long range enemy with a shotgun. If you see an enemy over long distances and he shoots at you, you either run, or grab your trusty pistol and put some holes in him. Its in those close ranges that you want to use your shotgun. That's why areas like Bio labs, Towers, and other closed up areas are the best for shotgun rampages, while open areas like Amp stations, bridges, and others are not recommended. Know your aarea, know yourself. 1000 kills. 1 death. I think that's what Sun Tzu said, but whatever.

Not only do you want to figure out your terrain, but you also want to close the gap on enemies in order to make your shotgun more effective. This means that if you have good aim, any Infiltrator who tries to sneak up on you is free XP if you see him/her. Do not try to kill enemies at over 15 meters with a shotgun unless you already know that your enemy is weakened. Like I said earlier, shotguns fire pellets that spread around, meaning that what would have been a 2 shot kill at 5 meters is now a full mag wasted at 15 meters. Closing the gap is key to making shotguns effective, but dont go running straight at the guy. Snipers will love you for that.


The third thing you need to figure out is what class you are currently using alongside a shotgun, So lets get to it:

Light Assault
Recommended shotgun: Whatever floats your boat.
Stradegy: Utilise your jump jets to sneak on enemies or rain death from above.

Heavy Assault
Recommended shotgun: Full auto due to how you need something that dispatches enemies quicker than other shotguns, but without the downsides of pump action.(or any shotgun, all comes down to preference)
Stradegy: Utilise your Shield and shotgun to clear low pop areas, but don't go over your head. You see a MAX and an engie, or a group of 5 Heavies, you turn around and hope you can make it out of there.

Engie/Medic
Recommended shotgun: High cappacity w/ slugs and 4x sight (or any shotgun.)
Stradegy: Having a means to defend yourself better in close quarters situation while helping your allies. Or you can help out at friendly sniper nests with infinite ammo, revives and heals while playing as a sniper yourself.

Since NC inflitrators only have access to 1 shotgun and it is a sidearm, you basically fight as if you were an SMG inflitrator: cloaking in and out of the battlefield and taking out unsuspecting enemies. Only difference is instead of a spammable SMG, you have a oh-god-I-hope-this-hits shotgun. Dont miss.

We also need to consider how terrible good you are at the game. It comes down to this:

• Skilled players with good accuracy ---> Any shotgun
  
• Skilled players with bad accuracy ---> Something spammable or aim forgiving (i;e, fast firing or high spread)
  
• Unskilled players with good aim ---> Tighter spread shotguns.
  
• Unskilled players with bad aim ---> High Cappacity or Automatic
  
  By skill Im talking about players who can ambush effectively, find good spots to reload, and can avoid enemies and position themselves effectively. So not only does it come down to what class you are using, but where you are and how good you are.

So you know what, when, where, and why to use shotguns, but there is still one more important detail: abusing lag. Well, basically yeah that's what it is.

If you want a more detailed review of this kind of mechanic you can check out this great video made by Wrel, who is a very experienced Planetside 2 player:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3fUok2AoaU
But what it means is this: Enemies see you at the spot you were at 0.2-0.5 seconds ago depending on their/your connection to the server. So everyone in the game sees everyone else at spots they were at slightly in the past. No this isnt a conspiracy theory. No this does not mean we are time travellers. But yes it does mean that sometimes people will shoot at you while not looking exactly at you.

how can we use this to our advantage? Keep in mind that enemies see you slightly in the past. If you're walking in on an area and turn the corner to find an enemy there, you can shoot and kill him before he even sees you coming around the corner. This advantage is magnified (fancy words make me feel smarter okay) with shotguns because of their 1-2 shot kill nature in CQC. But if you can use it, so can your enemies.

What does this mean? Well to be good with shotguns (and this game in general) you must follow these specific guidelines:

• Dont stop moving. Planetside 2's futuristic setting allows everyone in the game to use heroin, which makes them hyperactive and gives them infinite stamina. This allows them to sprint forever, so you better abuse that. By sitting still, once you move your past self will still be there, allowing easier deadifying of yourself.
  
  
• Hide yo kids, hide yo wife, hide yoself. Seriously. Whether its from cover or by going into a different room, make sure you and your past self get little to no vision from the enemy. Enemies dont see you initially when you pop out and take potshots, which allows you to safely kill enemies while cowering in your boots stiking to cover. Since shotguns are more mobile weapons this rule may or may not apply, but it is something to consider.
  
  
• Go nuts. Walking in straight lines gets you killed soldier. Not just because its predictable, but if you start moving differently enemies will still see you walking in a straight line. With this in mind, Jump around! Jump around! Jump up jump up and get down! Move in all sorts of directions while getting to your destination to throw off snipers and people trying to track your movement.

Like all of you reading this guide, I myself am a huge fan and common player of Planetside 2. Unlike some of you, I fight for the Vanu most of the time with a little bit of NC, and have recently fallen in love with shotguns. The ability to 2 shot or 1 shot kill in close quarters has saved me a bunch of times in sticky situations.

My personal opinion on shotguns is that they are purely sidegrades, meaning that you sacrifice one thing to gain another. In the case of shotguns, you sacrifice effeciveness over long ranges to become dangerous in close situations. Ergo, shotguns should not be used full time, as sometimes a different weapon choice would prove to be more effective. However, I try my best to use them as often as I can, mainly due to my love of them. I mostly use standard pump shotguns, mainly due to their pellet spread makes them more effective over longer ranges than most shotguns, and because 1 hit kills are fun to use.

But hey, maybe you like the ammo size of the High cappacity, or the devastating power of heavy pumps. Its all up to you! I hope this guide has helped you to become the best gunman on Auraxis and the best at not being a pansy killing things in close ranges. Thanks for checking out my guide and I will see you all later!