So, just a general question, what's so good about the Shotgun? I'll admit it that I've never bought it or tried it yet but I did roughly math it out in my head, then bought the Lightning Gun instead.

Suppose I'm Roland with 4 strength and fighting something with 4 fight, the shotgun would put me to 7. I draw a -2 (which would be a fair average), and I get 1 damage. -1 gets me 2 damage, which is on par with a .45 Automatic. 0 gets me 3 damage, which is rare. +1 gets me 4 damage, which is impressive but never anything I should ever bank on. I suppose I should be using this with either Beat Cop or Physical Training, Extra Ammo to restock but that seems several XP and/or resources for all those pieces to make Shotgun a consistent cannon.

That said, Mark and Sophie seems best with this, up to 10 strength on board the moment shotgun hits play.

Anyway, my thoughts. I'd like to hear on people's success since it seems everyone's go-to high XP weapon.

Right now, I would be hard pressed to use it on anyone but Mark as well.

So Shotgun is Ideal in a Mark or Leo deck but any guardian can make use of it. You have to spend a little more to over pump but unless you are running a very specialized deck most guardians run a pair of beat cops and vicious blow. and when you need to use the shotgun odds are you are going to commit extra fight to make sure you hit with as close to full force as possible, it is especially good with mark because his signature skill gives 4 fight however any guardian can easily get to that point with the desperate skill that gives 4 fight icons. In addition it is even easier with the inclusion of Well prepared which can get you an additional 2 fight icons. Now does it require a little bit of special deck building sure. However are you likely to include those cards in your deck whether you have shot gun or not, probably. It is good because with the inclusion of venturer and stick to the plan having a shot gun as your only weapon is remarkably easy in late campaign and to just kill an enemy outright in a single attack and still have ammo for 7 more is something all guardians aspire to because it allows them to use their other actions to stay near the weaker members and still be capable of protecting them. That is my 2 cents, I also tend towards lightning gun about half the time and now the new BAR but I still use shot gun about 50% of the time

Anyone with a Keen Eye can see the value of Shotgun. It's not used to kill Bob the Acolyte types, it's used to kill the likes of Kjythgfx, Flayer of Souls, so it's okay to go big and crazy with skill check modifiers.

Now with the M1918 BAR, we have a precision weapon - How much damage do we need to kill the thing? Then just spend that much Ammo.

So in a shooting contest, the M1918 BAR does max 8 damage while a Shotgun does max 10. Shotgun is bursty, M1918 BAR is slightly less bursty but can be used more precisely. Why does your guardian need the gun? I mean, Machete/Beat Cop type stuff slaughters most Joe the Nightgaunt type stuff just fine. One of my favorite Zoey decks just used kitchen appliances (Knife, Kukri, Machete) for an entire campaign.

Things get weird if you are Leo Anderson and have Sleight of Hand or Contraband. Sleight of Hand makes both these guns stupid good since they become essentially 1 resource cost, 0 ammo cost, face annihilating, boom sticks for the turn. My Leo just finished City of Archives and now packs all four M1918 BARs and Shotguns. Of course, I haven't played that deck since then, but Leo's got that murderous glint - like he's ready to push every one of his friends into the maws of evil and follow that up with a hail of shrapnel.

well, it's unfair that you are comparing them as if it's just a matter of picking one over the other. The shotgun has 1 less cost and 1 less XP cost, which is a big deal. But, setting that aside for the time being, the shotgun is still my favorite weapon. I hardly ever dont get 5 damage on this weapon if I want it. The shotgun allows to to transfer attack bonus directly into damage (max 5), which means it's very easy to max the damage out and demolish a boss with one or two shots. Mark, Leo, and Zoey are all fantastic with it, and the only real reason Roland isn't with them is because his signature item is also a weapon. Users of Keen Eye or Physical Training get the most out of the shtogun, pumping their attack bonuses through the roof for max damage.

Shotgun is also very ammo-efficient, when you look at it from a per-shot perspective. Although the shotgun only comes with 2 ammo, the damage on each of those attacks is massive, so if you have Shenanigans to play and add ammo counters (Venturer, Extra Ammo, Emergency Cache-3 (with Venturer), etc.) , the shotgun gets more out of those cards than does a Lightning Gun or .45 Automatic. What I'm trying to say is that since 1 ammo counter on a shotgun represents potentially more damage than on any other weapon, adding ammo to the shotgun is very effective.

For enemies that are really tough, you can even throw in a Vicious Blow or The Home Front, gaining damage bonuses from the card, as well as effectively translating the cards combat icons into more damage bonuses. Vicious blow-2 gives a pretty easy 7 damage, which will take an impressive hole through just about any monster.

I've also done both Leo and Zoey builds where they mainline the shotgun, and have enough ammo to continue using it for an entire mission (Leo is easier, but Zoey can do it), it's super fun.

12 minutes ago, awp832 said:

I hardly ever dont get 5 damage on this weapon if I want it.

Okay, now that's a claim. Let me see your build.

Well I made this up rather hastily, but something like this ought to work.

https://arkhamdb.com/deck/view/229151

You should have 1 Emergency Cache, 1 Extra Ammo, and 1 Custom Ammunition under Stick to the plan. Use your cache to set up. Make money off of Lone Wolf, Dario, and Skull. Get the shotgun out with Prepared for the Worst if you need to. Then load it with ammo, drop down your venturers and your cop, and when you need to you should have a pile of resources to spend on Physical Training if you have it down and Keen Eye if you don't. Then it's just a matter of shotgun math. You need a total combat score of

Enemy Combat Score + Enemy HP + your expected token pull for an instant kill. Adjust for vicious blows as necessary.

This deck can be further improved by replacing the skull with the Key of Y's, adding Emergency Cache-3 (to add supply tokens to the venturer), and upgrading Vicious Blow to level-2 version.

I had the Shotgun in the Zoey deck I was using in the Epic Multiplayer version of Labyrinths of Lunacy we played.

I didn't get to use it, as I got killed by the end-of-Act-1 trap (thanks to another table apparently not understanding the information we were after, but that's by-the-by).

Subject to what I pulled out of the bag, I'd've been able to eliminate the boss in two actions - handy, given the shotgun has 2 Ammo.

Cards needed on table: Zoey's Cross, 2 x Well Prepared, Beat Cop XP, Shotgun. Physical Training or Keen Eye is nice, but not critical.

Cards needed in hand: 2 x Double or Nothing, 2 x Vicious Blow (XP if possible)

Use one each of Vicious Blow & Double or Nothing on each attack, committing a Well Prepared (targeting Zoey's Cross) as well. You should end up with a total stat of 13 or 14 (4+1(BC)+3(Shotgun)+3(WP)+1(DoN)+1(VB, or 2 if VBXP)) before the token. I didn't realise it at the time, but given the boss has a low fight value, but even allowing for Double or Nothing, you're over 5 over unless the tentacles show up, dealing 12 or 14 (depending on the version of Vicious Blow) damage per shot... and you already used the Cross to do 1 damage, didn't you?

I didn't get to do this on the day, but at the end of the event I looked to see whether I'd've been able to - I think I'd've just been missing one Vicious Blow from a perfect hand...