Shotguns

[rivaL.]

Shotguns

Welcome to my guide on every shotgun on Black Ops. In this guide, a brief explanation for every shotgun will be given. I have made this guide due to the lack of BO shotgun guides being made.



Table of Contents


I. Mini Guide
II. Statistics
III. Perks
IV. Secondaries
V. Tactics
VI. Maps
VII. Conclusion
VIII. FAQ
IX. Learning by Watching
X. Changelog



Mini Guide

Shotguns are high damage dealing weapons viable for rushing.


1. Olympia - Break-action, 2 shells, 40 x 8 damage, shoot carefully.

2. Stakeout - Pump-action, 4 shells, 40 x 8 damage, use grip for maximized effect.

3. SPAS-12 - Semi-auto, 8 shells, 30 x 8 damage, spam your shots.

4. HS-10 - Semi-auto, 4 shells, 30 x 8 damage, use dual wield for maximized effect.

5. Masterkey - Assault Rifle attachment, 4 shells, 30 x 8 damage, recommended for semi-auto and burst fire weapons.



Perks

1. Any blue perk - All blue perks in slot 1 are viable for shotguns.
2. Steady Aim or Sleight of Hand - Better hipfire or faster reload and ADS time, your choice.
3. Marathon - Great rushing perk.

Tactics

1. Do not charge enemy lines.
2. Hipfire all the time.
3. Avoid open spots.
4. Stick to edges.

Recommended Maps: Nuketown, Summit, and Havana

Statistics





According to the image above, Shotguns are high damage dealing weapons. The shotguns built in BO are meant to be strictly for close quarters combat.

Pros

[+] High damage dealing weapons
[+] Great rushing weapons
[+] Excellent hipfire capability


Cons

[-] 2-3 shells to kill at close-mid range
[-] Pellets disappear around 10-15 meters
[-] Ineffective in most maps
[-] Limited ammo/attachments
[-] Long reload time
[-] Perk dependent


Despite the cons overweighing the pros, shotguns are still worthy enough to be in use in small maps.



1. Olympia - The Olympia is a break-action shotgun with high damage capability. However, it only contains 2 shells, so pick your shots wisely when using the Olympia.


2. Stakeout - The Stakeout is a pump-action shotgun with high damage capability. In contrast to the Olympia, it has a lower rate of fire, but contains 2 more shells which may come in handy. The grip is the only attachment on the Stakeout, but it is quite useful. Great shotgun if you can conserve your shells.

3. SPAS-12 - The SPAS-12 is a semi-auto shotgun with 8 shells but deals 10 less damage per pellet. The suppressor attachment does not reduce range,but it reduces the rate of fire on the SPAS-12. Best shotgun to use in hardcore matches.

4. HS-10 - Like the SPAS-12, the HS-10 is a semi-auto shotgun with the ability to dual wield as an attachment. With dual wield and steady aim equipped, the HS-10 will serve as a worthy shotgun.

5. Masterkey - The Masterkey shotgun attachment is basically a mounted stakeout on a assault rifle. 30-10 damage with a low spread, this attachment should be quite useful for semi-auto and burst fire weapons at close quarters.


After reading through this point, you will pick what shotgun you will use.


Perks





These are the only perks recommended for you to use. Heres why:


Any perk in perk slot 1 - All blue perks are useful for shotguns.


Steady Aim - You have a choice between two red perks: Steady Aim and Sleight of Hand. Steady Aim increases hipfire accuracy by decreasing your weapon's spread, which will have an increased rate of one shot kills. Best if used with the dual HS-10's and the SPAS-12. I believe that the SPAS-12 should be used with Steady Aim due to its atrocious ironsights.


Sleight of Hand - You have a choice between two red perks: Steady Aim and Sleight of Hand. Sleight of Hand decreases the reload time and the time it takes to ADS - that is, if you have the pro addition. ADS also decreases spread, so Sleight of Hand Pro can be very useful if you tend to ADS a lot. Decreased reload time is very useful for the Stakeout because of the Stakeout carrying only 4 shells per round, and the Olympia because of its limited amount of shells.


Marathon - Marathon extends your sprint duration, which may be a very useful contribution to your rushing. The pro addition however, extends your sprint duration to unlimited. Very useful perk to equip with a shotgun.


Secondaries


COMING SOON



Tactics


1. Do not charge enemy lines.

Charging enemy lines would be completely stupid, considering that the enemy probably has an assault rifle or an SMG. Simply flank the enemy and shoot them behind.

2. Hipfire all the time.

Aiming down your sights is a waste of time. You can simply shoot the enemy without spending time to aim down your sight and end up dying in your close quarter combat.

3. Avoid open spots.

Looking through an enemy's perspective overlooking open spots, you will be pinned down.

4. Stick to edges.

Sticking to edges while rushing will more likely grant you more kills, flanking paths, and a reduced line of sight from an enemy's perspective.


Maps


This section is currently in the works and in room for big improvement.





Nuketown - Although you can just move anywhere around Nuketown, you will die less taking specific paths. The red paths show my recommended path to maneuver without having much deaths. Moving through houses and middle will hopefully decrease the amount of deaths you will have. Most players tend to toss frag grenades at both of the sides of Nuketown.





Summit - The red paths are the most recommended paths you should take. Rushing the edges in Summit will grant you many kills and the enemies won't have a good line of sight on you unless spotted far away. The blue paths are situational when you keep dying taking the red paths. The blue paths involve moving through the buildings, but at the upper right building is basically a battleground from my experience. I suggest that if you go into the building, take a left turn and maneuver around the edges to the outside.





Havana - Rush around the edges and through the houses. Rushing through the middle will just get you killed easily due to the big line of sight.





Grid - Great shotgun map. Always stay in buildings; the "hotspots" are in buildings, which will grant you more kills with more cover than outside.



Conclusion


The shotguns in Black Ops are high damage dealing weapons at close range. A brief explanation of every shotgun has been given, and I hope this guide has improved your shotgun gameplay!


FAQ

Currently empty.

Learning by Watching








Changelog:

5/31/11
- Guide reformatted for easy reading
- Secondaries section added, but not started on... yet

1/2/11
- Edited perks section
- Added in Masterkey

12/05/10
- Added in Grid for Maps section

12/03/10
- Started guide

[Ownager1523]

Good job; I like the SPAS-12 for regular TDM too. SPAS-12 with Suppressor does not reduce fire-rate. I suggest you only use stats by Den Kirson, I can't seem to find him saying that it reduces fire rate anywhere.

Also, Scavenger is a great perk to use with shotguns since Scavenger Pro allows you to replenish tac grenades. Imagine having infinite Stun grenades.. Helps a lot with shotties

[The Lost Prophet]

Wow, this guide is excellent!

You forgot about the masterkey, I've been using that a little, it's like the stakeout, only easier.

[rivaL.]

Wow, this guide is excellent!

You forgot about the masterkey, I've been using that a little, it's like the stakeout, only easier.

I just noticed that too, will add it later.

Good job; I like the SPAS-12 for regular TDM too. SPAS-12 with Suppressor does not reduce fire-rate. I suggest you only use stats by Den Kirson, I can't seem to find him saying that it reduces fire rate anywhere.

Also, Scavenger is a great perk to use with shotguns since Scavenger Pro allows you to replenish tac grenades. Imagine having infinite Stun grenades.. Helps a lot with shotties

I got some of the info from cod wikia.

Edit: Looks like someone put misleading info on it and it is now deleted. Editing that later.

Scavenger seems like a good idea; will add it along with masterkey later.

[Tango51]

Nice Guide, i like it. Some good Info for the community is always good.

[kyat579]

I like using the SPAS-12 w/ Suppressor, Ghost Pro, SA Pro, and Hacker Pro for a stealthy rushing class that isn't spotted by Motion Sensor and will see Claymores coming a mile away. I also use the Crossbow for a silent ranged weapon.

[Empty Box]

Could be better, what you have is a decent start. Though, you sound rather limiting of yourself.

Scavenger, Flak Jacket (Great Anti Claymore class!), Hardline (IMHO the best shotgunning perk), Hacker and Ninja. It kinda reads more like a class of the week type thing IMHO.

I should also mention that ADSing gives nearly the same spread as Steady Aim hipfire now. Which means SoH Pro is a highly valuable perk on every shotgun given that you will be reloading a lot. Plus it has the added benefit of being more accurate for most people, in that it makes it more obvious when the guy is dead in your sights. The Stakeout often takes 2 shots to kill, which means you just used half the ammo. I'd call that an issue worth using SoH to negate, no?

Also secondaries I would like to see added, as shotgunning requires decent secondary skills. Gotta love the crossbow, even though you still show up when you shoot it.

My 2 cents. Great start, now finish it.

[rivaL.]

Could be better, what you have is a decent start. Though, you sound rather limiting of yourself.

Scavenger, Flak Jacket (Great Anti Claymore class!), Hardline (IMHO the best shotgunning perk), Hacker and Ninja. It kinda reads more like a class of the week type thing IMHO.

I should also mention that ADSing gives nearly the same spread as Steady Aim hipfire now. Which means SoH Pro is a highly valuable perk on every shotgun given that you will be reloading a lot. Plus it has the added benefit of being more accurate for most people, in that it makes it more obvious when the guy is dead in your sights. The Stakeout often takes 2 shots to kill, which means you just used half the ammo. I'd call that an issue worth using SoH to negate, no?

Also secondaries I would like to see added, as shotgunning requires decent secondary skills. Gotta love the crossbow, even though you still show up when you shoot it.

My 2 cents. Great start, now finish it.

Looks like I have a lot to update today.

[BornFromSilence]

A good guide, though I'd recommend Ghost over most other tier 1 perks purely because you need to get to close to kill and the inconvenient enemy UAV's will show you up using anything else. Better to sneak in and then go wild rather than attempting to rush with shotgun of any kind (just what I've found from experience).

[rivaL.]

Guide has now been reformatted for easy reading, and secondaries section will be finished by the end of summer (huge vacation upcoming for me, sorry).