How good are Shotgun-based Builds?

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

Currently, i'm toying with the idea of doing a potential Shotgun build, using these following Burn Cards:

"Large Caliber Rounds"

"Scattergun Skills" (for the increased reload speed w/shotguns"

"Phosphorous Tipped" (for the chance of lighting a Ridden on fire for the extra damage)

"Shell Carrier" (for the extra ammo capacity & damage)

"Ammo Belt" (for the extra ammo capacity & reload speed)

"Silver Bullets" (for the extra damage & slightly increased bullet range)

"Rolling Thunder" (for the increased movement speed & damage w/shotguns)

"Knowledge is Power" (to see the enemy health bars for the Mutations, so this skill was too important for me to pass up)

"Ridden Slayer" (for the extra Weakspot Damage)

"Front Sight Focus" (for the extra Weakspot Damage, Accuracy, Aim Speed, & Recoil Control)

"Cold Brew Coffee" (for the extra Reload Speed, Aim Speed, Weapon Swap Speed, & Use Speed)

"Buckshot Bruiser" (to regain Temporary Health for each pellet that hits)

"EMT Bag" (to boost the healing stats from "Buckshot Bruiser")

Yeah I know, i'll get the usual "post in the Deck Building sub-forum", but because that forum is dead as a rusty door-nail (and me still being new to the game), I wanted to post this here where it's not only a little bit more active, but also to get tips from those who used similar builds like this one.

(NOTE: The reason for keeping "Breakout" and "Second Chance" is pretty much obvious, as the former allows me to free myself from enemy grabs and keep fighting, while the latter pretty much gives me 1 Extra Life [on top of a small HP Boost and a 25% Bleed-Out Resistance] in the case if i'm killed in the middle of a fight, or if i'm caught off-guard by a Tallboy knocking me out-of-bounds for an instant death)

[John]

If you rely on a shotgun most, i'd suggest to remove scattergun kills and just go for mag coupler, this way you can rely on other no aim down sight cards while you're at it.

Buckshot bruiser only give temp hp for every pellet that hits which hasn't killed an infected yet, so in most cases it's rather useless.

Front sight focus is rather useless for a shotgun, go for something more substantial.

Phosphorous tips is literal junk for any deck, not worth the card spot. Pretty okay to buy if you encounter it, but you shouldn't rely on it, there are better damage cards.

Plenty of other cards could have upgrades, simply for not relying on aim down sights. Just focus a bit more on accuracy and you don't even need it.

Edit: Also from what i can read, EMT bag has literally no effect on buckshot bruiser.

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

Originally posted by John:

If you rely on a shotgun most, i'd suggest to remove scattergun kills and just go for mag coupler, this way you can rely on other no aim down sight cards while you're at it.

Buckshot bruiser only give temp hp for every pellet that hits which hasn't killed an infected yet, so in most cases it's rather useless.

Front sight focus is rather useless for a shotgun, go for something more substantial.

Phosphorous tips is literal junk for any deck, not worth the card spot. Pretty okay to buy if you encounter it, but you shouldn't rely on it, there are better damage cards.

Plenty of other cards could have upgrades, simply for not relying on aim down sights. Just focus a bit more on accuracy and you don't even need it.

well one of my guys just brought to my attention, that the effects from "Phosphorous Tipped" and "Pyro" will stack, so I swapped out "Buckshot Bruiser" for it. So when combining "Phosphorous Tipped", "Pyro", and "EMT Bag" together, the results should be rather interesting

Admittedly, I was tempted to use the "Mag Coupler" Card at one point, but when I saw the "Disables Aim Down Sights" as a negative effect, I was turned off by it. So the reason for using "Front Sight Focus" is mainly for the extra 10% Weakspot Damage (which stacks with the effects from "Ridden Slayer" for a total of 30% Weakspot Damage), the extra 15% Aim Speed so I can quickly get on target (which stacks with the Aim Speed from "Cold Brew Coffee" for a total of 40% Aim Speed), the extra 25% Weapon Swap Speed, and the 25% Use Speed. Not to mention, the 20% Accuracy gives me a bit of a tighter spread (similar to the "Tight Choke" skill on the Support Perk from "Killing Floor 2") when firing Shotguns.

I would've used the "Reckless Strategy" and "Hyper-Focused" Burn Cards for either the 30% or 50% Weakspot Damage alone, as it sounded good on paper. But at the same time. when seeing the "-5% Damage Resistance" and "-40% Movement Speed while shooting or melee attacking" as the negative effects, that received a big "HELL NO" from me. So those 2 particular Burn Cards is best with either full-on Sniper Builds, or using strong AR/LMG Builds while somewhat stationary.

[Hyluxiao]

you could take hellfire to make up for the ms while shooting

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

UPDATE (as of 10:22am EST):

Okay, after swapping out "Cold Brew Coffee" and "Front Sight Focus", i've replaced them with "Mag Coupler" (for the 50% Reload Speed), "Quick Kill" (for the 50% Accuracy increase, but at the cost of aiming down sights being disabled), and "Killer's Instinct" (for the 60% Weakspot Damage total when combined with "Ridden Slayer" and "Knowledge Is Power", but at the cost of aiming down sights being disabled)

[Hyluxiao]

also hunkerdown would make up for the damage resist and accuracy, but crouching must become second nature as it should anyways with down in front

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

truth be told, I might save the "Hunker Down" card for a good potential Sniper Deck Build, but ONLY when i'm using semi-auto rifles (as the Bolt-action ones could potentially get me incapacitated or killed when in the middle of a hectic fight, especially when a Horde is somehow triggered)

[Hyluxiao]

that's what weapon swap speed and a decent secondary are for

[Hyluxiao]

what's your ideal gun loadout?

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

Originally posted by Nazapher:

that's what weapon swap speed and a decent secondary are for

to be fair, I did a bit of a test run with "Mom", since she technically spawns with the "Belgian" as a sidearm which I saved for Tallboys and Exploders, due to their bigger hitboxes.

but slap a good Remington 870, the Super-90, or the AA-12 as the Primary, and she'll kick some serious ass. Oh, and if she gets her hands on the Damnation, since i've chosen the "Phosphorous Tipped" and "Pyro" Burn Cards, those 2 cards alone has some good potential to possibly double the fire damage over time (and the "EMT Bag" card could help boost the healing stats from the "Pyro" card)

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

Originally posted by Nazapher:

what's your ideal gun loadout?

for a Shotgun Build, probably either the Super-90 or the AA-12 (especially if it's the Damnation), due to both being semi-auto and having fast firing rates. i'm leaning towards the AA-12 a tiny bit more, since it loads a bit faster than the Super-90 and has a larger ammo capacity and magazine size [more so with good extended magazine attachment)

[Hyluxiao]

i would recommend trying to get a purple shotty with gold+ attachments but a gold damnation is hard to argue with

[^9[DSS]Dahaka]

Originally posted by Nazapher:

i would recommend trying to get a purple shotty with gold+ attachments but a gold damnation is hard to argue with

I havent found a gold damnation in forever..... I'm thinking they reduced their spawnrate. I get like 3 witnesses and 1 lockjaw every damn act, but no damnations.

What is REALLY beastly, is an AA-12, with infinite range barrel attachment, motherload mag for 36 rounds, the 100% weakspot damage acog scope, and the +70% accuracy when crouched stock. You literally snipe the ogre on nightmare across the map with it, its mesmerising. Just got to find the attachments, which doesnt always work out, cause they dont spawn or they get taken by someone else.

[Mister Torgue Flexington]

Originally posted by Nazapher:

i would recommend trying to get a purple shotty with gold+ attachments but a gold damnation is hard to argue with

only one time (maybe twice) that I managed to score the legendary version of the Damnation on my Melee Holly, and yeah, that thing kicks ass (even the blue-rarity one can do some pretty good damage if you score one early enough).

as for legendary attachments on shotguns goes (at least for this game), I typically go for those that offers either a much faster swap speed, reload speed, increased bullet penetration/stumble damage (helps when fighting Armored versions of Tallboys, Exploders, and whatnot), and I believe there's one that increases the effective range and therefor making it more accurate, due to the much tighter spread.

[John]

Personally i just don't really see a use for aiming down sights, especially for shotguns. Guess i have too much experience with making 50 meter distance headshots in L4D with shotguns and 100+ meter kills with deagles. You have to spend time going down sights, you lose focus of your surroundings, just useless to me. Practiced it for 10 minutes in this game and i can't play with sights anymore.

[Hyluxiao]

Originally posted by John:

Personally i just don't really see a use for aiming down sights, especially for shotguns. Guess i have too much experience with making 50 meter distance headshots in L4D with shotguns and 100+ meter kills with deagles. You have to spend time going down sights, you lose focus of your surroundings, just useless to me. Practiced it for 10 minutes in this game and i can't play with sights anymore.

style preference. i see the appeal of both styles and often mix it up