Shotgun (HL2)
From Combine OverWiki, the English Half-Life Wikia
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The Shotgun is a powerful firearm used by various characters in Half-Life 2. It's shape is closely based on the Franchi SPAS-12 semi-automatic shotgun. Father Grigori gives the player his first shotgun in Chapter 6, "We don't go to Ravenholm ...".
[edit] Usage
The Shotgun is pump-action, firing standard 12-gauge buckshot shells. It can hold 6 shells at a time. Reloading loads one shell at a time. The reload time depends on how many shells need to be inserted to reach maximum chamber capacity. It can take quite a long time, however, the reloading process can be interupted by simply pressing the trigger. The shotgun can fire projectiles in two ways. The first, used by pressing the primary trigger, fires one shell. The secondary trigger fires two shells at once, doubling damage and impact force but not increasing effectiveness in terms of range. The Combine Overwatch make extensive use of the shotgun, alongside the SMG1 and Pulse Rifle.
The shotgun is typically wielded by at least one Overwatch Soldier in each squad, making them especially dangerous foes at close range. Specialized Shotgun Soldiers form the close-quarters assault element of each squad, and use especially aggressive tactics, rushing their targets to close the distance and maximize the effect of their weapon. On the Hard difficulty setting, a shotgun soldier can halve the player's health in seconds, if allowed to get close enough.
[edit] Tactics
The shotgun is very effective at close range against most targets, however, it's effectiveness decreases significantly with range. Despite it's comparatively narrow spread, this weapon is not suited to medium range combat.
When players are first introduced to the shotgun in Ravenholm, it soon becomes clear that the shotgun is by far the most efficient weapon for killing zombies. In fact, provided they're in range, the shotgun is effective against most enemies, and ammunition is fairly easy to come by. It's surprisingly effective against Overwatch Soldiers, despite their heavy armor.
The shotgun's rate of fire is fairly low and it's reload time is long, but it's stopping power mostly makes up for it, each blast packs quite a punch. Taking it's power and long reload time into account, it may be desirable to enter a firefight with the shotgun and, once you've exhausted it's supply of shells, switch to a backup weapon instead of reloading.
When going up against a squad of Overwatch Soldiers at close/medium range, take the man carrying the shotgun down first. Given the opportunity, he will charge at you to quickly close the distance and do serious damage.
| Weapons of the Half-Life Series | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Half-Life | Crowbar · 9mm Pistol · .357 Magnum · Shotgun · Submachine Gun · Hand Grenade · Satchel Charge · Laser Tripmine · RPG · Crossbow · Gluon Gun · Tau Cannon (Gauss Gun) · Hivehand · Snark | ||
| Opposing Force | Pipe Wrench · Combat Knife · Desert Eagle · M40A1 Sniper Rifle · M249 Squad Automatic Weapon · Displacer · Spore Launcher · Shock Roach | ||
| Half-Life 2 | Crowbar · Gravity Gun · 9mm Pistol · .357 Magnum · Submachine Gun · Shotgun · AR2 Pulse Rifle · RPG · Crossbow · Hand Grenade · Bugbait | ||
| Other | Overwatch Sniper Rifle · SLAM · Magnusson Device · Portal Gun | ||
