Shotguns useless late-game? : Fallout: New Vegas

» Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:31 pm

So are shotguns useless end game? I read somewhere that each pellet faces the enemy dt individually not as a hitting group. If this is the case then are shotguns useless against deathclaws and other enemies with decent DT? Or should i still hang on to my dinner bell with the shotgun surgeon perk?

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:31 pm

Convert all your shotgun ammo into slugs. Otherwise, they are completely useless.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:43 pm

I'm not a big shotgun user, but dear lord, the Riot Shotgun is my new best friend. :laugh:

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:52 am

You really need to be using the Shotgun Surgeon perk for them to be effective in my opinion. Especially whilst using regular ammo.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:41 pm

Convert all your shotgun ammo into slugs. Otherwise, they are completely useless.

Slugs? Do they got close range bonuses or something? Because at that point i may as well be using a rifle.

» Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:55 pm

Slugs? Do they got close range bonuses or something? Because at that point i may as well be using a rifle.

The hunting shotgun, loaded with slugs does more damage than a sniper rifle, plus you get -15 DT from the shotgun surgeon perk. I can pop the head of almost anyone with one shot from the thing.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:56 am

Slugs? Do they got close range bonuses or something? Because at that point i may as well be using a rifle.

Nah. They basically just turn your shotgun into an extremely inaccurate rifle. So yeah, you may aswell be using a rifle lol.

» Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:28 pm

Dinner Bell ripped most things apart for me at level 26. 1 shotted unarmored enemies even in long range and armored enemies in 2-3 rounds close combat.
I mainy used Dinner bell for close quarters and Thump-thump for long range. That was my setup throughout most of he game.

» Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:16 pm

Dinner bell = win against pratorians....

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:02 pm

I'm not a big shotgun user, but dear lord, the Riot Shotgun is my new best friend. :laugh:

This, also take shotgun surgeon and you will be a god.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:52 am

This, also take shotgun surgeon and you will be a god.

Already got it. Now i just need a lot of slugs and i'll be going deathclaw hunting.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:08 am

Not at all, especially with shotgun surgeon.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:14 am

The hunting shotgun, loaded with slugs does more damage than a sniper rifle, plus you get -15 DT from the shotgun surgeon perk. I can pop the head of almost anyone with one shot from the thing.

It's -10. Against people not wearing power armor or combat armor, this is good. Looking at the charts, Power armor combat armor has 20+ DT. If it looks like metal armor, it's a waste of time. If it doesn't look like some form of metal armor, blast away. While some of the non-metal armor is 12 or 13 or so, most is exactaly 10 and some are under.

If they look like they have armor that would reflec the pellets of a shot gun, they likely will, even with this perk. Still useful for head shots, which is kind of what this is names after.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:54 am

I'm not a big shotgun user, but dear lord, the Riot Shotgun is my new best friend. :laugh:

Shotgun Surgeon + Riot Shotgun = :dead:
at least against lightly armored targets otherwise youre better off with a rifle but i still use shotguns because there are always raiders(fiends), caesars legion, NCR, etc.

» Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:52 pm

Shotguns are a godsend against Cazadors. Annoying little buggers, those things.

» Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:31 pm

It's -10. Against people not wearing power armor or combat armor, this is good. Looking at the charts, Power armor combat armor has 20+ DT. If it looks like metal armor, it's a waste of time. If it doesn't look like some form of metal armor, blast away.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if they are not wearing a helmet, even with metal armor, wouldn't a shotgun blast to the face ruin their day?

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:16 am

It was fun roaming wasteland with shotgun but in harder fight , I don't know . Even with the perk I couldnt do [censored] against Legion at the end of the game .
But magnum loaded riot shotty was very useful as general " oh [censored]" ( like companion swarmed with cazadors or sudden Glowing One in some vault ) weapon throughout the game. Might not be the most effective but definitely fun weapons.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:09 am

I use 12 gauge magnum rounds in my sawed-off shotgun with the shotgun surgeon perk. With better criticals, a point blank sneak attack to the back of the head will obliterate pretty much anything, since it fires both barrels at once. Against heavily armored enemies, it's not that great in a firefight, so it depends on how many low level grunts they send at you later in the game. I mostly use the shotgun for crowd control. I've gotten a few double kills against legionnaire recruits and the like.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:15 pm

use shotgun surgeon and slugs. that really raises there effectiveness

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:58 am

With shotgun surgeon you can do just about anything.

Love the perk.

Also I love the variety of ammo for my hunting shotgun, but I love the lever action too, so hard to decide on 1.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:01 am

things like centaurs, supermutants, nightstalkers and cazadors get shredded by 12ga shotties. youll have trouble taking down things like sentrybots, deathclaws and anyone in power armor though

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:28 am

Correct me if I am wrong, but if they are not wearing a helmet, even with metal armor, wouldn't a shotgun blast to the face ruin their day?

In a realistic world, yeah, but that would require a lot more coding and scripting work, and would mean the game would run even more poorly on consoles, so DT in this game is, AFAIK, one stat for someone's entire body.

Headshots do get bonus damage though.

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:43 pm

in fallout 3, the damage resistance for the body armor didn't carry over to the head so unless they changed something then the DT shouldn't either

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 4:49 am

I miss me my Terrible Shotgun

» Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:30 pm

Yeah, riot shotgun + slugs (+surgeon) is something like 300DPS or so? Absolutely destroys anything.