Punisher shotgun underpowered? Compared to Breaker?

[AgentFlea]

What benefits does the Punisher have vs the breaker?

[Vamandrac]

The Punisher shotgun fires buckshot in a tighter cone for a longer distance. It is good for taking out lightly armored troops or patrols at a further distance than the Breaker. It isn't a bad gun, but the reload mechanic is beyond annoying.

[AgentFlea]

I actually love the reload mechanic. Keeps you from wasting ammo.

It's longer distance/tighter spread doesn't really help me take out more enemies than the breakers sweeping shots. Maybe if it packed more of a punch, and pierced through weaker enemies

[Vamandrac]

Running with it on a helldive ends with a bad hand cramp in my case so in my opinion there are much better weapons to bring.

[St0rmFury]

Only good for killing Illuminate scouts.

[YOPG]

Punisher is good for killing illuminate scouts, tripods and snipers

[AgentFlea]

I tried out both for a few hours....

And yeah. The Breaker is way better than the punisher. In pretty much every aspect.
This saddens me because I like the satisfying pump action.

But the damage doesn't make up for it's lack of crowd control

[thebadman]

Not every weapon needs to be good against every race, else racial perks would be pointless like bug armor countering shotguns/smgs/not shooting CoM or illuminate shields countering railfun and other high dmg/shot weapons. That said punisher is crazy powerful against illuminates and there are weapons that do not excel against even one race.

[YOPG]

Necro posting.

[Aiden Araneo]

Some like it, some don't. I think that's actuall Helldivers experience, we get OP weapons in comparison to others that are obviously weaker. However, I just pick the weapon and gear I like, despite "better" choices that are out there, like Breaker/Trident + "Bubble Shield" + MK3 Rumbler.