Shotguns

Hi everyone! It's Jokerlaw again and this time with an detailed guide about all shotguns available into the three portions of Call of Duty: Black Ops (Campaign, Multiplayer and Zombies).

1 - Introduction

I deciced to create this guide due to the false impression that has been created on this class of weapons. Shotguns are the most underrated and undervalued weapons, as unfairly considered to be among the worst weapons that exist in the entire Black Ops, especially in zombies gameplay. To make myself clear and not create false impressions and misunderstandings, I am not saying that shotguns are the best weapons, but they aren't as awful as some think they are, and descriptions like ''piece of ♥♥♥♥'' are completely unfair and don't suit to this class of weapons. In this guide, I will also give you useful tips and information about how, when and where you should use shotguns, and what perks suit with them, both in multiplayer and in zombies.

Also, another reason I decided to make this guide is make some things clear and refute the mistaken common belief about several things. I will remove some stereotypes, proving you that the Olympia isn't necessarily a bad thing to use, that the Sawed-Off Double-barreled Shotgun w/Grip is slightly better, from statical aspect, than the normal Double Barreled Shotgun, and I will explain you how some perks work, like the ''Double Tap Root Beer'', the ''Speed Cola'', and the ''Deadshot Daquiri''. Also, I will prove once and for all, by presenting you facts and evidence, that the non-upgraded Stakeout is superior to the non-upgraded M1897 Trench Gun from almost every aspect!

Shotguns are actually your close range weaponry. The main characteristics of the shotguns are high power, usually tight spread, slow reload speed and fire rate, and limited killing range. They usually have a semi-automatic or pump-action fire mode, but there are some exceptions. The pump-action, along with the cocking are relatively fast, needing very little time to be done. Another interesting thing that I must notice is that, unlike other firearms, shotguns fire a volley of multiple pellets at a time, making them more powerful than any other type of firearm at close range, when a large amount of the pellets will connect with the target, allowing for an instant kill. Pellets disappear after reaching a certain range, depending on each shotgun's range. These characterictics make shotguns your ultimate close range slaying beasts, but you should avoid long range engagements, especially in multiplayer mode.

DISCLAIMER (Please read): At this point, before I start presenting and describing all the shotguns, I would like to notice that I will try to be 100% objective, not motivated by personal opinions, thoughts and preferences, presenting you the things as they are, with clarity, accuracy and sincerity. At no point I am not trying to state hard facts; I just present you things how they are, and at the same time I express my personal opinion, which sometimes does not comply with the common belief. I am just telling that for the case of the upgraded M1897 Trench Gun (Gut Shot). Later on my guide I say that I -personally- prefer the Raid over the Gut Shot; I DON'T SAY THAT RAID IS BETTER THAN GUT SHOT. I just say that I like Raid more than Gut Shot, explaining also the reasons why I like it more, and as a result I prefer it over the Gut Shot. That's my own personal opinion, which isn't necessarily compatible with what most people believe. So please keep in your mind that IN NO CASE I am trying to state hard facts or to create false impressions; I just present you the shotguns' performances as best I can and as close to the truth, with clarity and sincerity. Now if you don't like or disagree with my opinion, never mind; you can completely ignore it or not read it at all. Moreover, it isn't necessary for all players to have the same opinion!!

NOTICE: The section "Bonus!" wasn't on this guide from the beginning. I added it on my guide on 18/8/2013. In this section I sum up what I have said about shotguns and present you short, comprehensive reviews of shotguns' performance in zombies.

I hope you will enjoy my guide. Read on, and don't forget to favorite, rate up and leave a comment with your opinion and your observations! Now it's time to start the SHOTGUN LOVE!!!!!

2 - Olympia

The Olympia is a double-barrel love / hate shotgun. And I am saying "love / hate'' because players either love or hate it. Personally, I don't believe that the Olympia is a piece of ♥♥♥♥ like many players say, but definitely I don't love it. In campaign and in multiplayer is the ultimate close-range slaying beast, but in zombies it could be easily described as a piece of ♥♥♥♥. The player who will use the Olympia has many problems to solve, and especially the reload problem, which is the most serious of all. Due to its big cons, Olympia is a non-functional weapon, and that's why it is hated by the majority of the players.


Campaign

The Olympia can be found frequently throughout the level "Payback," in which it is considerably effective, but still suffers the same problems as it does in multiplayer; specifically, the lack of range and constant need to reload, meaning that on higher difficulties, this weapon will be largely ignored and longer range weapons will be used.

Rating: 5/10



Multiplayer

The Olympia is a part of the default CQB class, along with the perks Hardline, Sleight of Hand, and Tactical Mask. By statistical aspect, the Olympia is the best shotgun, since it has the highest damage, accuracy, range and mobility (!!), but lacks due to the 2 shell magazine, which make reload relatively lengthy and constantly necessary. Although the reloading time of the gun is not long, you will be doing so often, making the Sleight of Hand from useful to necessary. Lightweight and Marathon are also beneficial due to the fact the Olympia is best used as close to the enemy as possible, and these perks both aid in that. However, it is ill-advised for an Olympia user to charge headlong at the enemy, as the enemy will most likely be using weapons with far greater range and possibly rate of fire. Instead, players should attempt to outflank the enemy and use cover whenever possible in order to take enemies by surprise. The Olympia excels in maps where the user can readily flank the opposition. With or without Sleight of Hand, it is advised to reload after every shot, as long as it is safe to do so. This is because it sometimes requires both barrels to dispatch an opponent, and also because enemies sometimes travel in groups. It could be said that the Olympia requires more skill to master than most weapons, because both shots must be managed carefully. An alternative to Sleight of Hand would be Steady Aim, as this allows the user to hit enemies with more consistency than with Sleight of Hand. Furthermore, reload canceling works very well with this gun. To sum up, the best shotgun in the multiplayer mode, becomes ever better if you use it with it the following perk combination: Lightweight (+0.5), Sleight of Hand (+1) and Marathon (+0.5).

Rating: 5.5/10 (7.5/10 if you use my perk combo)



Zombies

From the best shotgun in multiplayer, in the worst shotgun in zombies. The Olympia is available off the wall, at the cost of 500 points, and usually is located at spawn/starting room, along with the M14. It has average to low damage, being one shot kill, until round 5. This weapon is completely worthless after round 5, since it does pathetic damage, and along with its constant need to reload and painfully slow reload speed, it's useless for ''shoot and knife'' tactics. After round 5, pass up Olympia for a better weapon, unless you are going to pack-a-punch it. If you decide to keep it and spend 5000 points in order to pack-a-punch, get as soon as possible Juggernog, Speed Cola and Bowie knife, since these perks, along with the Bowie, will benefit Olympia, making all together an effective combination, helping you to get a maximum of 150 points by killing a zombie. Double Tap Root Beer suits fine with this weapon, but it isn't a necessity like Juggernog, Speed Cola and Mule Kick.

Althought I don't highly suggest it, upgrading the Olympia is a good idea, since it solves the damage and reload problems.

Upgraded, the Olympia turns into the Hades, which gets two very interesting features. Firstly, it gets the campaign's Dragon's Breath incendiary rounds, meaning that it gets a high boost in damage. Also, due to this Dragon's Breath fire style, the zombies, after being killed by the Hades, are setted on fire, which is a very cool visual effect, but it doesn't offer you something really meaningful. Secondly, the painfully slow reload speed is dramatically increased, since the time Hades needs to be reloaded without Speed Cola is equal to the time Olympia needs to be reloaded with Speed Cola. This is a very useful feature, since it palliates the lenghty reload, and it could be very helpful in tight situations or if you get downed and lose Speed Cola. Ammo reserves are increased from 38 to 60, but at the early 20s, you will be forced to buy ammo off the wall or change Hades with a better weapon. Still it's fun to use it and it can help you make it easily until the very early 20s. Althought, the pack-a-punch machine solves Olympia's main problems, the Hades remains an average shotgun, but it's cool to use it.

Ratings:

• Olympia: 2/10
  
• Hades: 5/10

3 - Stakeout

In terms of real life, the Stakeout is known as Ithaca 37. The Ithaca 37 is the typical American pump-action slaying beast. Well, in the Black Ops game, things work a little bit different, since the Stakeout isn't what we call a ''beast'', if we judge its performance into the campaign and the multiplayer gameplays. To catch it from the beginning, the Stakeout, being available in all Black Ops gameplays (campaign, multiplayer and zombies), is a piece of ♥♥♥♥ in the campaign, improved but still substandard in the multiplayer mode and the ultimate slaying beast in zombies gameplay.

Campaign

To put it very shortly, the Stakeout is a useless piece of ♥♥♥♥ in the campaign mode. It has a 4 shell magazine, with relatively slow pump-action and reload speed, and absent range, althought damage is high and accuracy good. It can be found in a few weapon caches throughout the level SOG, where you are constantly bombared by enemy's fire and grenades. Its almost absent range means that you must be at ''feel your enemy's breath'' range in order to kill him, but that's extremely hard to be done. The only ways to get the Stakeout are to acquire it from fallen friendly soldiers or from one of the weapons caches. There are two in the first bunker. The only reason to use the Stakeout in the campaign mode is to confirm my worlds!

Rating: 1/10



Multiplayer

In the multiplayer gameplay, the Stakeout performs some improvements compared to its campaign counterpart, but still it remains a substandard shotgun. Along with the Olympia, the Stakeout has the highest damage, but it seems to lack from almost every other aspect. The increased, but still very low range, along with the pump-action fire mode and the retained 4 shell magzine, mean two things: Firstly, that you have the advantage over your enemies only in melee range engagements, and secondly, that you are doomed if you don't kill your enemy with the first shot or if your enemies move in groups. The ''Lightweight'' and the ''Marathon'' perks will help you to get closer to your opponent and give you an advantage over him, if he's in Stakeout's killing range. The ''Sleight of Hand'' isn't necessary as it is in other shotguns, since the Stakeout has the faster reload among all shotguns, but still it remains a useful perk. Althought the Stakeout has the second high hirfire accuracy, the ''Steady Aim'' perks seems to suit better than the ''Sleight of Hand''. Stakeout's only available attachment is the grip, which increase firstly the hipfire and ADSing accuracy, making Stakeout even steadier when you fire, and secondly the pump-action speed, resulting a faster rate of fire. The use of the ''Grip'' attachment decreases the necessity of the ''Steady Aim'' perk, allowing you to replace it with the ''Sleight of Hand'', but since the Stakeout has a fast reload speed, the faster in the class, using the "Steady Aim" along with the grip, will make Stakeout a very solid and steady weapon. Also, the Stakeout has the tightest spread among all shotguns, and becomes even tigher when you aim down the sights, a feature that, along with the clearest iron sights and the ability to walk in full speed when ADSing, makes the Stakeout the best shotgun, and generally, one of the best weapons to aim down the sights (ADS). The ''Hardened'' perk can be used to good effect with the Stakeout, giving it extra penetration, and this perk Pro version, enhances Stakeout's capabilities when ADSing. Due to the low ammo reserves, the ''Scavenger'' suits fine to the Stakeout, helping you to replenish ammo, but you should prefer the beneficial advantage getting closer to your enemy, that the ''Lighweight'' perk offers you, which is the best perk to use, thinking Stakeout's very low range. The Stakeout is unlocked for purchase at level 8, at the cost of 2000 points, and it performs similarly to the assault rifles' attachment, the ''Masterkey''. To sum up, the very low range and the pump-action fire mode, Stakeout's greatest problems, make it, marginally, the worst shotgun in the multiplayer (Rating: 3.5/10), but......


Zombies

......in zombies, if you ever going to use a shotgun, this is it: a 12-gauge slaying beast, definitely the best non-upgraded shotgun. It's a strong shotgun, pretty steady with extremely high power and tight spread, which becomes tighter when you aim down the sights. Spread's tightening when you aim down the sights in conjuction with the Stakeout's ADSing steadiness and the very clear iron sights, make the Stakeout even more powerful when aiming down the sights, giving you a clear view on your target, and as you understand, ADSing with the Stakeout is preferable than hipfiring, though the Stakeout is quite stable and efficient, even when you hipfire. Still, aiming down the sights is much better and you should prefer it, whenever it's possible. Compared to its multiplayer counterpart, the Stakeout is improved, and as a result of this improvement, it is far superior to its weak multiplayer variant. To make things more clear, the Stakeout has a larger magazine with 6 shells, being one of the few weapons to have a higher ammo capacity in zombies mode than in multiplayer and campaign. It has also larger ammo reserves, increased from 12 rounds to 54. The increment of Stakeout's magazine from 4 to 6 shells, means also the increment of empty reload time, from 2.7 seconds to 3.835, which is fine, if you think that the 2-shell magazine Olympia has a 3.9 seconds empty reload! The recoil is (slightly) decreased, remaing though relatively high. Lining up zombies at close quarters is a great option, as Stakeout's fine penetration, high damage and amazing ADSing, allow you to line up zombies and kill up to 3 of them with just one shot! The pump-action speed is decreased compared to its multiplayer variant, reducing fire rate from 92 RPM to 63 RPM, which is a negligible, hardly noticable difference, since the fire rate, despite the drop, remains at high levels and it doesn't affect Stakeout's handling or efficiency. ''Juggernog'', ''Speed Cola'', ''Mule Kick'' and ''Deadshot Daquiri'' are primary perks, enhacing the capabilities of this weapon. The ''Double Tap Root Beer'' and the ''Stamin-Up'' fits fine with the Stakeout, but they have secondary value, meaning they are more important perks to use with it.

Upgraded, the Stakeout turn into the Raid, which is synonymous of power. The Raid is an extremely powerful 10-shell ''beast'' with tight spread and high damage. It's a very strong and incredibly solid weapon, features that in conjuction with the huge power's boost, make it very popular among the players. The Raid retains also Stakeout's abilities to tighten spread and move at full speed when you aim down the sights. The Grip attachment increases hipfire's strength and accuracy, ADSing steadiness and pump speed. The Raid has also the strange ability to reload 2 shells at a time, reducing notably the reload speed. The ''Speed Cola'' still remains useful, like the ''Mule Kick'' and the ''Deadshot Daiquiri''. The ''Double Tap Root Beer'' gives a decent increase to pump speed and it should be prefered in case you don't want or you can't buy ''Mule Kick'' or ''Deadshot Daiquiri''. The Raid may lose its one-shot kill capablilty after round 18, but you can easily use it until 25 either in conjuction with the Bowie Knife (shot once with the Raid and then knife them once or twice with Bowie) or to harm zombies seriously. Upgraded or not, the Stakeout is very useful in ''Kino Der Toten'' until round 25 or if you run circles at War Room in ''Five''. A very good choice in ''Moon'', if you fight at the power room with no power or if you complete the easter egg and hack ammo. Regardeless of map or round, it's pretty efficient against hellhounds, crawlers, harmed and ''legless'' zombies.

Ratings:

• Stakeout: 5.5/10
  
• Raid: 8/10

4 - SPAS-12

The SPAS-12, also known as the Franchi SPAS-12, is an Italian semi-automatic shotgun, available in all Black Ops game modes (campaign, multiplayer and zombies). It does average damage, having a moderate firing range and a standar 312 RPM fire rate. Its 8-shell tubular magazine is the largest magazine among the class, and makes it, actually, stand out from the other shotguns. You need approximately 0.57 seconds to reload each shell, meaning you need 4.56 seconds to reload an empty SPAS-12. In order to abridge the lengthy reload, you should reload SPAS-12 after 2 or 3 shots. Still, perks that increase reload speed and reduce the reload time, like the Sleight of Hand in multiplayer and the Speed Cola in zombies, are very useful and make SPAS-12 easier to handle it.


Campaign

It is commonly found on enemies in the levels "The Defector" and "Numbers" with no attachments. Performing no differences with its multiplayer variant, the SPAS-12 is a very good weapon for close range engagements. You can use it in medium range battles, but you should avoid that in the campaign mode, as you should definitely avoid the long range engagements.

In ''The Defector'', you start the mission having a weapon very similar to the SPAS-12, the Dragon's Breath. Dragon's Breath is actually a SPAS-12 which use incediary shotguns rounds instead of the usual 12-gauge rounds. The Dragon's Breath is aesthetically identical to the rounds regularly fed into the SPAS-12, the only difference is that the Dragon's Breath holds incendiary shells, meaning that the rounds let out fire when shot, symbolizing it's name. In zombies mode, the upgraded Olympia, the Hades, uses the same incediary rounds. These amazing incediary rounds not only increase SPAS-12 power, damage and range, making trully unstoppable, but they are also set enemies' corpses on fire after they are killed, which is visually cool but actually useless. The Dragon's Breath also has a wider reticule than the normal SPAS-12, which will allow for multiple enemies being taken out. However, the Dragon's Breath does not appear anywhere else outside of the campaign.

Ratings:

• SPAS-12: 3.5/10
  
• Dragon's Breath: 8/10

Multiplayer

The SPAS-12 is the third shotgun in the class and it's available for purchase at level 24, at the cost of 2000 points. Among the class, it has the lowest damage and accuracy, which is fortunately compasated thanks to the highest capacity of the shotgun at 8-rounds, on par with the Dual Wield HS-10. The 8-shell magazine makes Sleight of Hand necessery perk to use, in order to short the lenthy reload. Aiming down the sights will tighten the weapon's spread, although the SPAS-12's obstructive folding stock, combined with its recoil and its non-clear iron sights makes firing from the hip preferable in most situations. If you don't use the Sleight of Hand, then Steady Aim is highly recommended on the SPAS-12, as it will greatly improve the weapon's performance from the hip and lessens the need to ADS. While the SPAS-12 is perfectly capable of achieving one-hit kills at very close ranges, it will often take 2-3 hits to down an enemy within the weapon's overall effective range. However, with an 8-round magazine and a fast fire rate, the SPAS-12 is still very deadly at close ranges. Its high magazine size makes it arguably the best shotgun for tackling groups of enemies at close and medium range. The SPAS-12's only attachment is the Suppressor, and it's the only shotgun that can be equipped with the Suppressor attachment. The Suppressor will reduce the already low SPAS-12's range and damage, but it will make it effective in when it used in a close range stealth role, making perks like ''Lightweight'', ''Ninja'' or ''Marathon'' extremely useful. The SPAS-12 may have the largest ammo reserves (24 bullets), still the ''Scavenger'' perk would be a good choice, but definitely not a neccesity. To sum up, an average weapon, quite decent if you use ''Lightweight'', ''Marathon'' and ''Sleight of Hand'' of course

Rating: 4.5/10


Zombies

The SPAS-12 is available off the mystery box, like the HS-10. If you get it early on, it is worth a try, since it's effective in the early to mid rounds, often capable of killing zombies in one shot, but it has a long reload time as each shell is loaded individually, making the Speed Cola perk necessary to purchase. Because the SPAS-12 is unsuitable for a primary weapon, perks like the Mule Kick and the Double Tap Root Beer would be essential. Spread becomes tighter when you aim down the sights, but the non-clear iron sights negatively affects your mobility and your peripherical vision, meaning you are more vulnearable and the zombies can block you, coming from your back or other blind spots. By the way, the SPAS-12 is also available as a weapon power-up in Dead Ops Arcade, where it is fully automatic, has increased range, and has a wide spread. This makes it very helpful when fighting large amounts of zombies.

If you had used SPAS-12, you might have thought that it isn't worth the time and the money you spended, but undoubtelly, upgrading the SPAS-12 deserves your time and your money. Upgraded, the SPAS-12 turns into the SPAZ-24, a powerful, but weird shotgun. And I say weird, because the upgraded SPAS-12 gets 3 strange, even unthinkable, features for a shotgun. What do I mean? The SPAZ-24 has a huge, 24-round magazine (??), reloading all the rounds at once (what?). Also, it gets a fully automatic fire mode (what the !!!!?), retaining though the very low, 312 RPM fire rate. Since it has a very low fire rate for an automatic weapon, the best way to use it is to treat it like a semi-automatic weapon. Go fully-auto only in tight situations, if you are about to get trapped in corners or staircases or hipfiring against a horde (or hordes) of zombies from high 20s to mid 30s, helping you also to rack up some points pretty fast, if you need them of course. Such as with the SPAS-12, aiming down the sights tighten the spread and increases the capabilities of this weapon, though iron sights aren't very clear and reduce or block the peripherical vision, meaning that you could easily be trapped.

A very good shotgun, extremely powerful, but I don't think that the extra bullets and fast reload speed can make it better than the Raid, which is stronger, more steady and powerful, simplier to handle, easily accessable and with ammo available off the wall at any time.

Ratings:
SPAS-12: 5/10
SPAZ-24: 7.5/10

5 - HS-10

The HS-10 is available in the multiplayer and zombies mode. It's an American, gas operated, semi automatic, bullpup shotgun, performing great similarly with the SPAS-12. Actually, the HS-10 is a SPAS-12 with increased rate of fire ( 341 RPM in contrast to SPAS-12's 312 RPM), slightly higher firecap, but with smaller clip. Unlike the SPAS-12, the HS-10 has slightly better spread when aiming down the sights, along with clearest iron sights, favoring the use of ADS. They both have a moderately low range and coincidentally they share the same high recoil and low penetration, along with the same hipfire spread. The HS-10 is easily recognized by its bullpup design and rotatable shoulder stock.


Multiplayer

The HS-10 is the fourth and last shotgun, unlocked anytime after level 24, at the cost of 2000 points. Compared to SPAS-12, it has higher damage and accuracy, but it suffers from a relatively small, 4 shell magazine size, meaning reloads are constant, and combined with a moderate range, you could spend more time reloading it than firing it, making Sleight of Hand a good choice to decrease reloading time. Dual Wield also substantially increases the size of the cross-hairs, although Steady Aim will tighten the spread of any shotgun, increasing the chance of a one-shot kill. However, the use of Steady Aim without the Dual Wield attachment increases the one hit kill range noticeably. Still, even with the use of Steady Aim and Dual Wield, the cross-hairs are quite large. The weapon starts with only 12 reserve shells (although doubled if the Dual Wield attachment is equipped, and perhaps with greater efficiency with Steady Aim selected) and so Scavenger is a useful perk to replenish the low amount of ammo or Lightweight to get closer to enemies faster to spray them down. However it should come down to personal preference to having steady aim over Sleight of Hand. Sometimes the spread can be very preferable.

Rating: 4/10


Zombies

It's available off the mystery box, at the cost of 950 points. Unlike its multiplayer variant, the HS-10, in zombies mode, has a 6 shell clip, but still it can't compete the SPAS-12's 8 shell magazine. As I mentioned earlier, the HS-10 is very similar to SPAS-12. They both have high recoil and low penetration, sharing also the same damage, mobility and killing range. The only points that the HS-10 prevails over the SPAS-12 are the ammo reserves (36 instead of 32) and the increased fire rate ( 341 RPM instead of 312 RPM).

When upgraded, it becomes Typhoid & Mary, giving it the Dual Wield attachment and two extra rounds per magazine, totaling 16 rounds. Additionally, the entire gun is reloaded at once rather than one shell at a time. However, due to the Dual Wield attachment, accuracy is somewhat inconsistent compared to the single shotgun. Ammo is very scarce as well. Without Mule Kick and Deadshot Daquiri, this weapon is actually a piece of !!!!, since it has an unthinkablly big crosshair and incredibly high spread. These two features, along with the average range, big inaccuracy and the player's inability to aim down the sights makes this weapon unsuitable for a primary weapon. Fortunately, Typhoid & Mary gets a vast boost in power, meaning it can be effective as a powerful secondary weapon if the player is ever in a tight situation. Double Tap Root Beer is a good perk to combine with Typhoid & Mary, but not a necessity, like Mule Kick, Deadshot Daquiri and Speed Cola. Still, if you want to use a shotgun, Stakeout or SPAS-12 would be a better choice.

Rating:

• HS-10: 4.5/10
  
• Typhoid & Mary: 5/10

6 - M1897 Trench Gun

Oh well, the M1897 Trench Gun or else......a piece of ♥♥♥♥. To start things up, the M1897 Trench Gun, along with the Ithaca 37, are the typical American, pump-action shotguns with a tubular magazine. Among the players is also known as M1897 or Trench Gun. It's available in Verruckt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese, surprisingly, being unavailable in Nacht Der Untoten. Like the Olympia, the Trench Gun is a love/hate shotgun (personally I hate it, but I will 100% objective). I believe that this shotgun is an insult to the Stakeout, which appears to be its spiritual successor. This shotgun is overestimated because of its extremely high power and tight spread (reasons to love it), but with a crappy holding (the user holds the Trench Gun as it has a pistol grip, which doesn't exist), strange reload, relatively slow reload speed, unthikably painfully slow pump-action, pathetically low range, low to no penetretation, high recoil, bad hipfire accuracy, and along with the most worthless ADS ever and the inexistent iron sights, this weapon is hardly manageable, and it certainly deserves a place to the ''piece of ♥♥♥♥'' weapon list. Also it costs an outrageous, for its capabilities, total of 1500 points, and it has bad wall locations. Its spiritual successor, the Stakeout, is -by far- superior to the M1897 Trench.....piece of ♥♥♥♥.

To catch up it from the beginning, the M1897 Trench Gun doesn't have more damage than Stakeout; they both share the same amount of damage. However the Trench Gun has slightly tighter spread, meaning it's more powerful than Stakeout, something that is reflected in numbers; Trench Gun is one-shot kill until round 12, while Stakeout is until round 11. However, the Trench Gun has -unfortunately- a lot of disadvantages, and some of them are quite serious and hard for a user to solve. Among all the disadvantages Trench Gun has, the greatest are the painfully slow pump-action, the bad hipfire accuracy (a problem that's actually a combination of many factors) and the pathetic, stupid, worthless ADS. To analyze all Trench Gun's disadvantages one by one, it has a crappy, wierd holding, making the reload process strange and legthly. This bizarre reload affects negatively the pump-action, which is outrageously slow. The very low range and almost absent penetration, along with the high recoil and bad hipfire accuracy, make the M1897 Trench Gun useful only in melee range. Aiming down the sights with a shotgun is fatal for zombies, but doing that with the Trench Gun may be proved fatal for you! Undoubtelly, Trench Gun has the worst and strangest ADS ever, with high kick and absent iron sights, but what makes ADsing with Trench Gun even strange, worse and unbearable is the strange lowering of your aim and I would explain what I mean saying ''strange lowering of your aim'', by giving you a simple example. If you have Stakeout, and you aim a zombie from the hip to the chest, then crosshairs will be on zombie's chest. Then, if you aim down the sights, the Stakeout's iron sights will still aim to zombies chest. If you aim from the hip with Trench Gun to zombie's chest, then ADSing will point to zombie's belly, and not to its chest, lowering actually your target, from the chest to the belly. Also, ADSing lowers even more the pump speed. This whole thing makes Trench Gun the worst and the most inaccurate, and generally, the most inappropriate weapon for ADSing.

If you still want to use this worthless weapon, then Speed Cola, Double Tap Root Beer and Mule Kick are extremely necessary perks (♥♥♥♥ the Quick Revive). The Speed Cola lowers the legthy reload, Double Tap Root Beer reduces the amount of time you pump this shotgun, resulting a faster rate of fire, and Mule Kick, in combination with the two previous perks, makes it a somehow decent secondary weapon, since Trench Gun is useless for being a primary weapon. If Deadshot Daquiri and Stamin-Up were availlable, they would give Trench Gun a decent boost. Still with the right perks, this shotgun remains a low-rating, sub-par weapon, lacking from almost every aspect. In Der Riese, it has a crappy wall location, and in Verruckt it has two wall locations, and depending on what strategy you will follow, you can get it relatively early on. In Shi No Numa, you can have an easy access to this weapon, being able to get it early on the game, but later on, you should pass it up.

Thanks God, in Der Riese, you can upgrade this weapon, and get the Gut Shot, probably the best shotgun in the game. Damage and power get a trully huge boost, since the Gut Shot has damage multipliers, giving it a advantage over the Raid. The range, along with hipfire accuracy, mobility and ammo get from average to slight increase. Reload speed is vastly increased, since the Gut Shot has the strange ability to reload 2 shells at a time, a feature that the upgraded Stakeout also has. The recoil and kick are slighlty reduced, remaining though high and the pump-action speed gets a negligible, hardly noticeable increase. Aiming down the sights makes.......NO progress, meaning that ADSing is the same awful, pathetic piece of ♥♥♥♥, it was before, and you should definitely avoid it. Speed Cola and Mule Kick remains useful and necessary perks, since it will make the Gut Shot a decent secondary weapon. The vast increase the pack-a-punch machine gives to the Gut Shot, stop the Double Tap Root Beer from being a necessity, but not from being an utility, since Gut Shot will become even more powerful, and its pump time will be reduced. In Der Riese, this shotgun has a very bad wall location, meaning that ammo isn't easily accessable. Maybe the best hellhounds' killer in the game, very good as a secondary weapon. Useful during insta-kill, because of its spread. Very similar to the Raid, causing higher damage through multipliers, still it's harder to use, with some serious disadvantages compared to Raid (slower pump speed, higher recoil and kick, huge -for a shotgun- crosshairs, hipfire inaccuracy, pathetic, worthless, awful, piece of ♥♥♥♥ ADSing).

Ratings:

• M1897 Trench Gun: 3/10
  
• Gut Shot: 8.5/10

To do away with this ridiculous and outrageous history and sort out all the misundestandings and false impressions once and for all, the non-ugraded M1897 ISN'T superior to the non-ugraded Stakeout, and I going to prove you with facts. In contrast to the common belief, which is completely incorrect, the M1897 Trench Gun doesn't have higher power than the Stakeout. They both share exactly the same damage (they both have 1,280 damage), something that's officially proved. Also, they both cost 1500 points. The Trench Gun has only tighter spread than the Stakeout, being one-shot kill up until round 12 (the Stakeout is until round 11, and 12 if you ADS). Stakeout's spread is tightened each time you ADS, something that doesn't happen with the Trench Gun. From every other aspect the Stakeout is much better than the Trench Gun, since it prevails over it in 14 different aspects!! So, if you still believe, after everything I told you, that the M1897 Trench Gun is superior to the Stakeout just because of the slightly tighter spread, then you are definitely narrow-minded or fool!

7 - Double Barreled Shotgun

Another double barrel shotgun? Yeah, but this one deserves your time and you should give it a try. The Double Barreled Shotgun, also known as DBS, is available only in the revised Call of Duty: World at War zombies maps (Nacht Der Untoten, Verruckt, Shi No Numa and Der Riese), purchasable from the Rezurrection map pack. The only noticable difference between Black Ops and WaW is the the Double Barreled Shotgun is available off the wall, at the cost of 1200 points. The Olympia appears to be its spiritual successor. Actually, the only thing that Double Barreled Shotgun and Olympia have in common is that they are both double barrel shotguns with the same over-under break action fire mode. In all other aspects, the Double Barreled Shotgun is far superior to the Olympia, since it has double damage (1280 instead of 640), faster reload speed, longer firing range and more ammo reserves (60 instead of 38). The high damage means that the DBS is capable of 1-shot kills until round 15 (what?). The increased range makes the DBS suitable for medium, even long, range engagements. Althought the reload time is shortened, Speed Cola is necessary and must be bought as soon as possible. The Double Tap Root Beer is essential, giving DBS a decent boost in damage, but it isn't a necessity. The bad thing about the Double Barreled Shotgun is the 1200 points you need to purchase it, in contrast to Olympia's 500 purchase cost, but this is a negligible difference, since DBS offers you much more than the Olympia, and definitely is worthy of every single point you spend to purchase it. In the negative aspects of the weapon is ''the strange'' hipfire accuracy, meaning that Deadshot Daquiri would be a useful perk, but unfortunately, it isn't available in WaW's zombies maps. The DBS has big crosshairs for a shotgun, having an average to low hipfire accuracy. Aiming down the sights enhances the capabilities of this weapon, but it should be avoided against a horde of zombies at close quarters.


In Nacht Der Untoten, with no perks and no pack-a-punch, this weapon is a trully piece of ♥♥♥♥, in Shi No Numa and Verruckt it's an agreeable weapon, but in Der Riese is a beast, because you can upgrade it.............

............and get the powerful 24 Bore Long Range, the perfect shotgun for all range engagements. The 24 Bore Long Ranger gets an 250% damage increase, having a total of 3200 damage, the highest among all shotguns in zombies. Also, the 24 Bore Long Range gets a vast boost in range, being the shotgun with the longest firing range, along with the highest damage and accuracy in medium and long range shots. Reload speed is increased, but still Speed Cola is necessary. The incredibly high increase in damage and power makes the Double Tap Root Beer unnecessary, but it still remains a very useful perk, giving extra boost and enhancing the capabilities of this weapon. Cause of its increased, but still low accuracy, hipfiring, along with ADSing are questionable. The low accuracy, along with the high spread and substantial power, make hipfiring preferable against a horde of zombies at close quarters, increasing your kills and your points. Aiming down the sights increase weapon's accuracy, giving you a clear view on the zombies, and tighten the spread, so fire while ADSing at zombies individually or against a small horde of zombies, consisting of 6 zombies maximum. Althought it can stand up as a decent primary weapon, Mule Kick would make the upgraded DBS an incredibly powerful, decent secondary weapon. Along with the Speed Cola, Deadshot Daquiri definitely suits to this weapon, increasing hipfire accuracy, 24 Bore Long Range's biggest problem, but I shouldn't deal with or mention this perk, since it isn't available in Der Riese, so it can't help you. Unfortunately, ammo reserves remain the same (60 rounds), but they are still high. The DBS has a ''tricky'' wall location, so pay attention each time you go to buy ammo, upgraded or not. It's extremely powerful against the hellhounds (dogs).

Ratings:

• Double Barreled Shotgun: 5/10
  
• 24 Bore Long Range: 8.5/10

8 - Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun w/Grip

Also known as Sawed-Off Shotgun, Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun and Sawed-Off w/Grip, the Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun w/Grip is the third and the last double barrel shotgun available in Black Ops zombies gameplay, performing great similarly to the Double Barreled Shotgun. Actually the Sawed-Off Shotgun is a ''snub nose'' version of the Double Barreled Shotgun. In game, the Snub Nose attachment, used only to the Python, increases the accuracy in exchange for reducing harm, but in the case of the Sawed-Off Shotgun, things work a little bit different, meaning that this shotgun performs increased accuracy and damage, instead of having only its accuracy increased. To catch it from the beginning and make some things clear, the Sawed-Off Shotgun has a grip only in its name. There is no grip equipped to the Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun, making you wonder why the word ''grip'' contained to its name. Nevertheless, the supposed existence of the grip increases the hipfire accuracy, in which the Sawed-Off attachment also contributes. Also, the Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun w/Grip appears to have slightly enhanced power, reload speed and mobility, compared to the normal Double-Barreled Shotgun, though it seems to get a vastly decrease in range, probably because of the Sawed-Off attachment. Based on my foregoing words, you may think that the Sawed-Off Shotgun is much better than the Double-Barreled Shotgun, but this isn't true, since these two similar shotguns have very few to negligible differences, some of them are hardly noticeable from the players. However, the factor that holds back the Sawed-off Double-Barreled Shotgun w/Grip, preventing it to evolve into a better shotgun than the usual Double-Barreled Shotgun, is the nature of the maps that the Sawed-Off Shotgun is available. Unfortunately, this ''beast'' is availalble only in two, admittedly difficult, Call of Duty: World at War revised zombies maps: the Nacht Der Untoten and the Verruckt, and it's purchasable off the wall, at the cost of 1200 points. Being available only in Nacht Der Untoten and Verruckt means that you can't pack-a-punch the Sawed-Off Shotgun, since the pack-a-punch machine isn't a option in these two maps. In the ''no-perks'' Nacht Der Untoten map, this shotgun is a piece of useless ♥♥♥♥, just like the most wall weapons. It has the worst wall location, and without ''Juggernog'' and the right perks to support it, this shotgun is forbidden to use! In the Verruckt map, things are somehow better, since you can buy perks, but still you can't upgrade weapons. Althought, you can't have a very easy access to this weapon, it has a good and smart wall location, meaning that it is located at the room, which is exactly behind from -the most useful for this weapon- perk, the ''Speed Cola''. So, if you buy the Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun w/Grip, you should buy Speed Cola, if not immediately, then as soon as possible. The ''Double Tap Root Beer'' and ''Mule Kick'' are a great help, and along with the ''Juggernog'' and the ''Speed Cola'', can make Sawed-Off Shotgun a somehow decent secondary weapon, though it restricts your perks' choice. Even with the right perks, you should pass it up for something better, until round 13, althought it keeps its one-shot kill capabilities until round 15-16. In camping strategies, you should avoid using this weapon, unless you guard a barrier. In this case, you may keep it until round 15-16, but its constant need to reload will create you serious problems after the round 13. That's why I highly suggest you to pass up the Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun w/Grip for something else until round 13, independently of which strategy you will choose to apply.

To sum up, if we take into account only its statistics, the Sawed-Off Shotgun could be easily announced as a ''slaying beast'', but the statistics aren't the only factor that we should count. Being available in two of the hardest WaW's revised zombies maps, where you can't pack-a-punch it, and in one of them, you can't buy perks, the Sawed-Off Shotgun would always be considered a substandard weapon, compared to the Double-Barreled Shotgun and other shotguns, completely useless and inappropriate in the Nacht Der Untoten, being only able to stand as a limited duration sub-par weapon in the Verruckt, if you have the right perks of course.

Just for the record, it has the longest name among all the non-upgraded weapons in Black Ops zombies.

Rating: 5.5/10 (2.5/10 in Nacht Der Untoten)

9 - KS-23

The KS-23 is a Russian pump-action shotgun. In terms of reali life, the KS-23 is also known as the ''prison shotgun'', since it was designed for suppresing prison riots, and so far, the KS-23 and its variants are mostly used in the prisons. In the Black Ops game, the KS-23 makes an appearance solely in the campaign mode, where it can be used in several missions, especially in the missions ''Operation 40'' and ''Vorkuta'', and specifically in the last mission is extremely useful. Something you may not know is that the KS-23 was set to appear in the multiplayer and zombies game mode. However, it was removed for unknown reasons.

To catch it from the beggining, the KS-23 is first seen in the mission "Operation 40", being wielded by Cuban soldiers defending Castro's compound. You can take the weapon from every soldier using it. It has a very increased range and a devastating power, able to kill in one shot to every part of the body (including feet). After this mission, in can also be found in "Vorkuta", after Sergei opens the door and takes a pile of KS-23s from the main armory. In this mission, the gun has an harpoon attached to it, and it is used to take down a Russian Mi-8 Hip. The gun is also featured in "Crash Site" as Mason's secondary weapon and it can be used to kill Viet Cong's and Spetznas soldiers. It is also present in "Rebirth" when Mason and Reznov enter Steiner's lab. In this mission, the gun is taken from a guard patrolling the place.

Statistically, the KS-23 has an extremely high power and a relatively low, but fine firing range for a shotgun, meaning that it could be easily used in medium/long range engagaments. It has a decent 7-shell mag and decent ammo reserves. The KS-23 shares with the Stakeout the same, very clear iron sights, so aiming down the sights is highly recommended, since you will have a clear view on target, but unlike the Stakeout, neither the damage is increased nor the spread becomes tighter, when you fire while aiming down the sights. After one or two shots, reload your weapon, since reloading many shells together could be proved extremely painful and devastating for you,and don't forget that in campaign perks that increase reload speed aren't available. Nevertheless, KS-23's biggest problem isn't its reload speed, but its painfully slow pump-action. It takes forever to pump it, something that makes it non-functional when you recieve fire from multiple opponents at the same time. The best thing you can do in order to attenuate the leghty reload speed and pump-action, is to fire, reload and pump it while you are covered by objects or walls.

Rating: 6/10

10 - Model 1887

Undoubtedly, watching this section, you will wonder which is this shotgun appearing on the title of this section, called as Model 1887. The Model 1887 makes a brief appearance in the Black Ops campaign, so I will make a short description about this shotgun, since it isn't really worth spending time neither I writing about this shotgun nor you reading the description of a somehow useless weapon, which is shortly appeared and you hardly ever use it. The Model 1887 is used during "Vorkuta" in conjunction with a motorbike, when Mason escapes from the prison, helped by Victor Reznov. It does not appear in any other part of the game, and it fires two shots before cocking the lever. Its high damage lets it gib. It can also be obtained using the "give all" cheat in the Console Commands on the PC version of the game. It seems to use the same stats as the SPAS-12 and the same reload animation and firing sound. Its third person view is a hybrid of the SPAS-12 and the Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun w/Grip, though its first person view is somehow similar to the Stakeout or the M1897 Trench Gun. Because of its brief appearance and its very short use, I don't think that the Model 1887 deserves neither a rating nor more time to deal with it. It is also appeared in the Modern warfare 2 nad in the Modern Warfare 3, where it takes more part in the action!

11 - Masterkey

The Masterkey pump-action shotgun isn't basically a weapon, but an underbarrel attachement, available in all Black Ops gameplays. The Masterkey attachement is used by most assault rifles in the game. It deals serious damage, and it has a ridiculously fast pump-action, resulting a high for shotguns 79 RPM fire rate.


Campaign

The Masterkey is a rare attachment found in the singleplyer campaign. It is firstly seen on the level ''S.O.G'', mounted to the player's starting, fully automatic M16. In the same level, the Marines will occasionally drop an M14 with this attachment when killed. It is also found on the 2nd part of "Rebirth," on Hudson's Enfield, along with an Infrared scope. If the player searches around in the submarine base on "Redemption", they may find a Galil with the attachment. A good attachment, but it's hard to find, abd even more hard to use it in campaign's missions.

Rating: 2/10


Multiplayer

The Masterkey shotgun can be purchased for 1000 points. It is compatible with most assault rifles, with the exception of the G11. It is comparable to the Stakeout, as both shotguns have the same magazine capacity, but the Masterkey has a slightly higher rate of fire, less range, and the Masterkey deals slightly less damage. Nevertheless, you should prefer an assault rifle equipped with the Masterkey, instead of the Stakeout, since the Stakeout isn't, generally, a good weapon choice in the multiplayer. Using Steady Aim will increase the 1-shot kill range of the Masterkey. Although it has a moderately slow reload, it's more worthwhile having an ability to add more punch to the Masterkey than to use Sleight of Hand. Steady Aim Pro will further increase the Masterkey's ability as a close quarters weapon as the fast knife recovery makes it a good 'panic' weapon. This is especially true on weapons that suffer when the player is forced to fire from the hip at close range such as the FN FAL, M14 and M16. Multiplayer perks like the ''Lightweight'', the ''Marathon'' or the ''Ninja'', will definitely help you to get closer to your opponent, giving you a serious advantage, if you are in Masterkey's range. The Masterkey also frees up the player's secondary slot for the player to have a Launcher or Special, and in most cases it is almost as quick as switching to a handgun. The Masterkey should not be used with Warlord because it is a waste of a perk, as when equipping the Masterkey, a second attachment cannot be added.

Rating: 2.5/10


Zombies


Surprisingly, the Masterkey attachment is also used in the zombies gameplay, being available on the pack-a-punched version of the the AUG, the AUG-5OM3. The Masterkey does relatively high damage, something between the non-upgraded and upgraded Stakeout, meaning it starts to lose its ability to kill in one hit at about round 17. Unlike its campaign and multiplayer variants, the Masterkey in zombies it has 6 rounds and reloads 2 shells at a time, and along with its increased damage and average penetration, it does fine to earn easily points, if you fire against a horde of zombies in close quarters or to clear out paths of zombies during insta-kill. It has relatively low ammo reserves for a shotgun, but high for an attachment, retaining also its unthinkably fast pump-action. Speed Cola and Double Tap Root Beer gives, not only to the Masterkey, but also to the AUG-5OM3, a massive boost. Because you can only hipfire with the Masterkey (Aiming down the sights isn't allowed), the ''Deadshot Daquiri'' perk, whenever it's available, would be an excellent perk choice, shrinking the crosshairs' size about 70%, enhancing this way Masterkey's hipfiring capabilities. In my opinion, in maps where you can get all 8 perks, like the Call of the Dead or the Moon, the AUG-5OM3, along with its Masterkey attachment, is one of the best weapons you can use. To sum up, better than its campaign's and multiplayer's variants, the zombies' counterpart of the Masterkey is something between a non-upgraded and an upgraded Stakeout.

Rating: 7/10

12 - Multiplayer perks

Perks are used only in multiplayer and zombies gameplay, being unavailable in campaign mode. They really help you, giving either to you or to your weapons extra features and abilities, increasing this way your efficiency and allowing you to handle your weaponry easier. As you understand, perks are a necessary tool, and you must always use them, whenever they are available. They suit with all kinds all weapons, but their use is a must with shotguns, since shotguns are usually sub-par weapons, and perks give them a generous boost, turning them from substandard and marginalized to quite efficient and good weapons, decent at alll. In this section, I will mention all the ''suitable for shotguns'' multiplayer perks, and I will explain you how and when you must use. The ''zombies'' perks will be available at the next section.

The are three categories of multiplayer perks. Each category has 5 available perks, and you are allowed to use 1 perk from each class of perks. In contrast to the ''zombies'' perks, perks in multiplayer can be improved and evolved to ''Pro'', giving you what the non-Pro perk gives, plus extra abilities and features.

The first category contains the ''blue background'' perks or ''perks 1''. This class of perks usually gives you special abilities (move faster, replenish ammo) or tolerance to some kinds of damage (fall and explosive damage). The special abilities, that some perks of this class give, may be connected with your enemy (less damage from enemies' explosives, stay hidden from enemies radars and aircrafts), with your weaponry (replenish ammo), or may give a very personal ability, without being related with your weapons or your enemies (move faster, earn killstreaks with one less kill). The most useful perks to use with shotguns from this class of perks are the ''Lightweight'', which allow you to move faster, and take no fall damage, if you have the ''Lightweight Pro'', the ''Scavenger'' perk, which lets you to replenish ammo anf Lethal from fallen enemies, and the ''Hardline'' perk, which allows you to earn killstreaks rewards with one less hit. Because the shotguns suffer from low range, the ''Lighweight'' perk, Pro or not, is definitely the most useful perk, since it will allow you to get close to your enemy very quickly, giving you the chance to be into your shotgun's killing range. The ''Scavenger'' and the ''Hardline'' are good perks to use, but they aren't a priority. If you use the SPAS-12 with the Supressor attachment, then the ''Ghost Pro'' perk is an excellent choice, since you will been shown on enemy's radars, only if you are in hostile Motion Sensor's range, meaning you will be a real ghost in the game, hardly seen on enemies' radars. The ''Flak Jacket'' perk reduces the explosive damage you earn, meaning that it doesn't really matter what class of weapons you will use with this perk.

The second class or perks, which have an orange backround, and they are known as ''perks 2'' or ''orange perks'', a name that actually is hardly used. These perks have no direct effect on you, but indirect, meaning that these perks add a special ability or feature to your weapons, something that affects you at second instance. Althought this class has 5 perks, only 3 of them can be used with shotguns, since the two remaining are completely unsuitable for this class of weapons. The ''Warlord'' perk is the first, useless for shotguns, perk. This very interesting perk allow you to equip two attachments to your weapon at the same time, instead of one you normally could, but since the Olympia has no attachments, and the three remaining shotguns have only one available attachment, the ''Warlord'' is completely useless. The same thing happens with the ''Scout'' perk, which is also unsuitable for shotguns. The ''Scout'' perk allows you to hold your breath longer when you scope, and since you scope only with sniper rifles, this perk is just useless with shotguns, althought the ''Scout Pro'' allows you to pull out your weapons extremely fast, a very interesting feature, if you have a good secondary weapon, but still this perk, pro or not, is just a waste, if you use shotguns. On the other hand, the ''Steady Aim'' is useless with sniper rifles, since this perk increases the hipfire accuracy, and since you almost never hipfire with a sniper rifle, then don't ever you use it with this class of weapons. The ''Steady Aim'' helps a lot weapons with which you usually hipfire, and these weapons are dual wield SMGs and pistols, some assualt rifles (M14, M16, FN FAL) and shotguns, of course. The shotguns are the best weapons to fire from the hip, and that's reason the ''Steady Aim'' is very useful with this class, since it make them more steady, reducing recoil and kick. The ''Sleight of Hand'' seems to be, if not more, then the same important as the previous perk. Since all shotguns presents reload issues (with the exception of the Stakeout, which has the faster reload speed, at 2.7 seconds), the ''Sleight of Hand'' seems to suit better to shotguns than the ''Steady Aim''. The ''Sleight of Hand'', the multiplayer counterpart of the ''Speed Cola'' zombies perk, is a MUST with the SPAS-12 and the Olympia and pretty useful with the HS-10. The non-grip Stakeout needs more the ''Steady Aim'' than the ''Sleight of Hand''. The grip Stakeout is more stable than the non-grip variant, but it still shouts for the use of the ''Steady Aim'', but honestly with the Stakeout, with grip or not, you can use either the ''Steady Aim'' or the ''Sleight of Hand'', choosibg what's the best for you. The ''Sleight of Hand'' is necessary with the Dual Wield HS-10, but due to the enormous crosshairs, the ''Steady Aim'' is clearly more necessary to this weapon, which, unfortunately, shouts for the simultaneous existence of both these perks. Due to shotguns' reload and recoil issues, and due to the fact that it suits better with the remaining classes of weapons, the ''Hardened'' perk, either Pro or not, is a substandard -for shotguns- perk, being the last available solution. Using the ''Hardened'' perk with shotguns means that you are either risky or fool! For those who consider theirselves experienced and risky players, or just very lucky, I would suggest trying the ''Hardened Pro'' with the Olympia or the Stakeout in conjuction with the ''Lighweight'' and the ''Marathon'' perks. An extremely risky combination, which demands talent, skills and luck. No matter what, the combination I just mention will be fatal. Either for the enemies or for you!

The third and last category of perks contains the ''green background'' perks, also known as ''green perks'' (hardly used) and as ''perks 3'', which is the official name. The perks gives the player who use it an additional special ability or feature. The ''Tactical Mask'', the ''Second Chance'', and the ''Hacker'' are perks that are suitable with almost every weapon. Their use doen't offer something really meaningful to shotguns, but if you want to use one of them, prefer the ''Second Chance'' perk. However, you can use the SPAS-12 with the Supressor attachment and with the ''Ghost Pro'' and the ''Hacker Pro'' perks, a combination that, no matter what, disappears you forever from hostile radars, but it lacks notably from range and damage aspect. The two remaining perks, the ''Ninja'' and the ''Marathon'' appear to be more useful with shotguns. The ''Marathon", similar to the ''Stamin-Up'' perk that's available at zombies, allows you to sprint for a longer duration, unlimited if you have the Pro edition. The ''Ninja'' allows you to move silently and your enemies may understand you when it's too late for them! The ''Ninja'' perk suits fine with weapons that use the Suppressor attachment, and in our case with the SPAS-12. Still, the ''Marathon'' should be prefered over the ''Ninja''.

13 - Zombies perks

Perks at zombies, also known as Perks-a-Colas, are a very useful tool at your disposal. They add either to you or your weapons special abilities or features, increasing this way your efficiency, and making your life easier at all. Their costs varies from 500 points to 4000 points, and contrary to the multiplayer perks, in zombies they can't be evolved to something better. All perks, expect from the PhD Flopper, suit fine with shotguns. By the way, the PhD Flopper allows you to take no explosive and fall damage, being necessary only if you use explosive weapons (grenade launchers, grenades, raygun, mustang and sally, crossbow etc.).

Undoubtedly, the ''Speed Cola'' perk is the most useful and the most necessary perk to use with shotguns. In this point, everyone will disagree with me, saying that ''Juggernog'' is the most necessary and useful perk to use with shotguns, but to be honest, Juggernog isn't just a necessity, is a MUST, either you use shotguns or not. The Juggernog, called also Jugger or Jug, is by far the best perk in zombies, allowing you to withstand more hits, becoming more difficult for you to get downed, but this perk must be acquired, either you use shotgun(s) or not. Just with shotguns, Juggernog presents greater usefulness than with other weapons, since shotguns are used at close quarters, meaning you're more vulnerable to hits and it's easier to get downed. So Juggernog increases your health and your torelance to hits, being this way the best, the most useful and the most necessary perk, and must be bought as soon as possible, no matter what weapons you will use or what strategy you will follow. To continue from where I left off, the Speed Cola, the zombies version of the multiplayer perk ''Sleight of Hand'', increases the reload speed about 50%, allowing you to reload faster your weapons. It's useful with all weapons, but it's extremely necessary with the shotguns, since the entire class suffers from reload issues. Also, the Speed Cola allows you to change your weapons faster, meaning that if you have outside a shotgun, you can change it quickly with your primary or an emergency weapon. Last but not least, this perk seems to increase the speed you rebuild barriers, but this interesting feature affects only you, having no influence neither to shotgun(s) nor to other classes of weapons.

Since in most cases, the shotguns aren't suitable for primary weapons, the ''Mule Kick'' is a great perk to use with them, but you must be very careful when you use it. The Mule Kick perk allows you to carry three weapons instead of two. This is very good, and it can be proved useful in some maps or under special circumstances. Unfortunately, acquiring the Mule Kick, the time you need to change a weapon with another one is slightly decreased, something that can be proved fatal for you in tight situations, when for example, you want to pull out the Thundergun when you are about to get trapped in a corner. It's the most expensive perk, costing 4000 points, and if you die, you will lose one of your weapons, not necessarily the third one. That happens because the Mule Kick sometimes glitches, meaning that if you die, you may lose your primary or your secondary weapon, and not your third one, which was the most reasonable thing to happen. That means that you may lose something really important, like a full-ammo weapon, a wonder weapon or an emergency gun, but you will never lose Mustang & Sally, no matter what!

As important as the Mule Kick, maybe more, is the "Deadshot Daiquiri'' perk, also known as Deadshot. The Deadshot Daiquiri offers you two interesting features, but only one of them ''serves'' the shotguns. Firstly, the Deadshot reduces to zero the idle sway and the recoil, only in sniper rifles, a feature that don't care us right now, because you speak about shotguns, and not about snipers. The second Deadshot's ability is to shrink about 35% crosshairs' size, a feature that suits perfectly with shotguns and dual wielded weapons, guns with which you mostly hipfire. This vast shrinking in crosshairs increases the hipfire accuracy, eliminating the need to ADS or to get very close to zombies, actions that were giving you a better view on your target, but they were questionable, and they could be proved fatal for you. In contrast to common belief, the Deadshot Daiquiri neither reduce or eliminate the recoil from shotguns nor target immediately to zombies' heads each time you ADS (the last happens only in consoles, like PS3 or XBOX).

Another perk, that I must clarify what exactly does, is the ''Double Tap Root Beer'', also known as Double Tap and DT. I will explain exactly what the Double Tap does, trying to solve all the misunderstandings and false impressions that have been created about this perk, but pay attention. Contrary to the common belief, the Double Tap Root Beer increases ONLY the fire rate at weapons by 33%, regardless of their fire mode (Fully-automatic, semi-automatic, pump-action or bolt-action), having no effect on the damage's amount. This decent increase in the fire rate implies recoil's and ammo consumption's increase, which though are easily noticeable only in fully-automatic weapons. At fully-automatics, the DT appears to be very interesting, increasing directly only the rate of fire. This direct increase means that bullets are fired faster than usually. The fact that the bullets are fired faster means that they hit at zombies faster than usually. Bullets that hit at zombies faster means that the zombies are harmed faster. As you see I explained you how the Double Tap works by the damage aspect. The Double Tap Root Beer doesn't affect weapons' damage, but affects the speed with which damage is caused (or speed zombies are killed), meanings that are frequently confused, creating this way misunderstandings. In semi-automatic weapons, the Double Tap increases the firecap, which is usually low, allowing you to fire with semi-autos at the highest possible fire rate, something that is notable only from players with fast trigger fingers. At pump and bolt action weapons, the DT increases respectively the pump and the bolt speed, resulting this way a faster rate of fire. In all non-fully automatic weapons, the Double Tap Root Beer doesn't have the same effect on recoil and ammo waste as at fully-autos. Also, it seems to give a slight bonus in shotgun's damage, but this increase can be from low to negligible, even unobservable sometimes.

Since the shotguns belong to the category of light weapons, they offer you the highest possible run speed and mobility, making the ''Stamin-Up'' a secondary perk. Working like the ''Lightweight'' perk in multiplayer, the Stamin-Up increases to 110% your run speed, a useless feature if you use shotguns, since they already offers you the maximum, 110% run speed, so by this aspect, this perk is useless with shotguns. Also, the Stamin-Up increases the duration you sprint, like the "Marathon'' perk does in multiplayer gameplay, something that's useful, but not a priority, if you use shotguns. To sum up, a good perk, but it's secondary if you use shotguns, and you shouldn't get it, unless you play in maps where you can buy or get 8 perks or you have a LMG at your weaponry.

The ''Quick Revive'' perk increases the speed you revive a downed player in co-op and allows you to revive yourself in solo mode, having no effect to any class of weapons, so either using shotguns or not, this perk will not offer anything meaningful to your weaponry.

14 - Bonus!

This section was added in my guide on 18/8/2013. It's a summary of the previous sections, containing short but comprehensive descriptions and reviews of all shotguns used in zombies!

Olympia/Hades: The worst -by far- shotgun in Call of Duty: Black Ops' zombies gameplay. Low damage and a 2-shell magazine (which makes reload legthy and constant) are serious problems to deal with, though it's the cheapest shotgun and it has the longest range among the class. Being one-shot kill until round 5, it's the favorite weapon for those who steals kills at the starting rounds. Buy it only in tight situations (no ammo or downed teammates), and pass it up after round 5-6 unless you want to upgrade it. If you keep, you will need a good wall weapon (MP40, MPL, AK-74u etc). The upgraded Olympia is called Hades, which is an average shotgun. Damage and reload are vastly increased, but the constant need to reload negates this increase. The Hades is one-shot kill until round 18, but it's great advantage is that zombies killed by it are setted on fire, which is visually cool but pointless. Upgraded or not, the Olympia needs Speed Cola, Mule Kick and Deadshot Daquiri. Awful non-upgraded, average but fun to use it when upgraded.

Stakeout/Raid: Best shotgun in the game, though it isn't the most powerful. The Trench Gun and the Double-Barreled Shotgun may cause higher damage but Stakeout prevails over them due to its much easier handling, lovely iron sights and amazing ADSing, solidness and hipfire steadiness, lower recoil, fine penetration and decent ammo reserves. It has balanced, above average stats, and it hasn't blatant disadavantges like the DBS (constant and long reload, questionable ADSing) or the Trench Gun (huge crosshairs, inaccuracy, high recoil, worthless ADSing). It's one-shot kill until round 11, 12 if you ADS, but you can use until round 15 in conjuction with the Bowie Knife (shot zombies once and then knife them), making lots of points. The Raid is a powerful shotgun using the grip attachment, which helps a lot, since it reduces recoil and increases pump speed and hipfire's steadiness. One-shot kill until round 18, still you can use it in conjuction with the Bowie, a combo pretty effective until round 24. Even passing the round 24, keep it until the very late 20s or the very early 30s, since it can damage zombies significantly. It presents great utility in "Kino Der Toten" and in "Five", if you run circles in the War Room. Good choice in "Moon", if you get all 8 perks and hack ammo. Like the most upgraded shotguns, it's counted on the best hellhounds' killers. Useless against ''special'' zombies (George A. Romero, Pentagon Thief).
Tip #1: Shoot at zombies' chests while ADSing, as closest as you can.
Tip #2: Shooting noxious crawlers while standing down will give clear view on their head. This means one-shot kills until round 22 and 100 points per kill!

SPAS-12/SPAZ-24: Second or third best non-upgraded shotgun. Fine power and spread, but the ''huge'' clip makes the reload a slow, painful process, making Speed Cola extremely necessary. Good weapon if you get early off the box, a great choice to fight against the hellhounds on the first hellhounds' round, if you haven't the Juggernog. Questionable iron sights and ADSing at all. Upgraded, the SPAS-12 becomes the SPAZ-24. The SPAZ-24 is as strange as powerful. A magazine with 24, reloaded all at once rounds and a fully-automatic fire mode are unusual abilities for a shotgun. Extremely powerful with fine ammo reserves and nice spread. Still the Raid is superior to the SPAZ-24 due to its much easier handling, immediate availability, re-buyable ammo, tighter spread, lower kick, solidness and hipfire steadiness, clear iron sights and devastating ADSing. Also, SPAZ-24's usually forgetable fully-automatic fire mode in conjuction with the low, for a fully-automatic weapon, fire rate (312 RPM) could be pretty annoying sometimes. Still it's powerful, it can do serious damage, and it's a great weapon to eliminate puppies!

HS-10/Typhoid & Mary: Average non-upgraded shotgun, very similar to the SPAS-12. It has a 6-shell magazine and slightly higher spread and rate of fire. All other features and stats are extremely similar to SPAS-12's. Upgraded, you get a dual-wield piece of ♥♥♥♥, called Typhoid & Mary. The reason to hate shotguns, dual-wield weapons, HS-10 and the PaP machine. The biggest crosshairs ever, huge inaccuracy, relatively slow reload and the awful, weak spread negate totally the devastating power. Even with Deadshot Daquiri, crosshairs are unthinkably big. In order to use it, you will need Juggernog, Speed Cola, Stamin-Up, Mule Kick, Deadshot Daquiri, Double Tap Root Beer and a lot of luck and prayers, so never use it. Decent non-upgraded, a piece of ♥♥♥♥ (actually two pieces of ♥♥♥♥) upgraded.

M1897 Trench Gun/Gut Shot: High power, tight spread and infinite disadvantages!? Well, disadvantages aren't infinite, but still there are so many, making the Trench Gun the hardest shotgun to handle, negating somehow its strength. For me it's a piece of ♥♥♥♥, still you can love it if you want, but stop telling it's superior to the Stakeout. IT ISN'T!! The Gut Shot gets vastly improved stats (damage, range, penetration, reload etc.), but some of them remain below average. Damage is increased at 2,400 per shell, getting also a 3x damage multiplier to the lower torso. Still it's hard to hit zombies there due to Gut Shot's accuracy problems (big crosshairs, high recoil and kick, worthless ADSing). It's easier to handle it than the non-upgraded Trench Gun, still it's hard to control it, especially without Double Tap and Speed Cola. In its disadvantages, count also the awful wall location. Prevailing over the Raid by damage's aspect, still its blatant disadvantages and hard handling, make the Raid slightly better for me, though saying the opposite thing (that Gut Shot is better) is fine. It definitely belongs to the three best hellhounds' killers, maybe the best.

Double-Barreled Shotgun/24 Bore Long Range: You can say WaW's Olympia. Higher range and damage among all shotguns. Reload isn't too bad, but the fact that it should be done constantly makes the Speed Cola necessary. Mule Kick and Double Tap Root Beer offers great aid. Spread is fine, though hipfire accuracy isn't the best existed, cause of the huge -for a shotgun- crosshairs and moderately high recoil. Aiming down the sights is from questionable to forbidden. One-shot kill until round 16, very effective against the hellhounds. The upgraded version of the DBS, the 24 Bore Long Range is a slaying beast. Tighter spread, increased range, increased damage and a 2x damage multiplayer, to the head!? Damage multipliers is good to exist, but it's impossible to hit with the Double-Barreled Shotgun, either hipfiring or ADSing, a zombie to head. Hipfire and ADSing accuracy are improved, still they can be problematic sometimes. Reload speed is also increased. It's pretty powerful against the hellhounds, second best dogs' killer.

Sawed-Off Double-Barreled Shotgun w/Grip: Improved copypasta of the normal Double-Barreled Shotgun with no grip. By aspect of stats, it slightly outweights the DBS in some spots (spread, steadiness etc.), but the fact that it's non upgradeable really ♥♥♥♥♥ it off. A piece of ♥♥♥♥ in Nacht Der Untoten, with the worst wall location, never buy it. In Verrückt it's a good weapon, if you're using Speed Cola and Mule Kick. Still I suggest you to change it for something else at round 13, though it's one-shot kill until round 16, because the constant need to reload, in conjuction with the hordes of zombies which will be coming on you, will really mess you up.

15 - Conclusion

Well, that's all I had to say about shotguns. I hope I solved all your questions, misundestandings and false impressions that had been created about shotguns and how they work. I hope I made some things clear, such that the non-upgraded Stakeout is superior to the non-upgraded Trench Gun, that Olympia isn't necessarily a bad thing, and how exactly the ''Double Tap Root Beer' and the ''Deadshot Daiquiri'' perks work. I really hope you have a better image for shotguns after reading this guide.

If you have any questions or if you want to note or add something, please let me know by leaving me a comment, telling me also your impression from this guide.

I really hope you enjoy this guide. Please don't forget to rate up and leave me a comment, telling me your observation, remarks or quiestions.

I will see you soon, when I will publish my next guide, which will be about wonder weapons. Until then my friends, have some fun and GOOD LUCK TO ALL!!

[9-Volt]

Is there any disadvantage to using the grip on the stakeout? Any reason at all not to buy it aside from the points cost?

[Guy Fleegman]

My favorite shotgun is the olympia because of the nostailga

[Feelin' Salty?]

@Jomo On Delta-9
Thank you for reading my guide. Shotguns, upgraded or not, are bad weapons to rack up points as long they have their one-shot kill ability, but since when they lose it, they can help you earn a decent amount of points, especially if you have Bowie Knife or Sickle (i.e. stakeout is one-shot kill until round 11, so until then you can earn from 50 to 100 points, if you kill a zombie with stakeout, but after passing round 11, when the stakeout loses its one-shot kill ability, you can shot zombies once, getting 10 points, and then knife them with Bowie or Sickle, getting 130 points, meaning you totally earn 140 points by killing a single zombie. This process (shooting with shotguns once and then knifing with Bowie or Sickle) can pay you a lot of points until round 16, when you should upgrade your shotgun. You can repeat this process with a upgraded shotgun until round 22, making a lot of points, and eliminating the need to buy ammo until the end of round 22

[Feelin' Salty?]

@[GSLF]Mr.AkillEasy
Thank you for reading my guide. I am glad you liked my guide and found it helpful!

[GetGruntled]

your totally right:P and i have to admit i might have said ''piece of **** '' a few times:P but also its not just about their viability but also the fact shotguns are friggin fun to use. The main reason why i have such a strong aversion to them is due to the lack of ammo you have compared to the amount of points you can gain from your gun fire. They need to up the maximum ammo especially with the paped versions so you can making 4500 points from a full clip or perhaps close to that, otherwise you can never afford to buy the upgraded ammo. Bottom line is your right and its time to start the shot gun love!!

[Γιώργος Καραγκούνης]

the best guide ever!! helped me alot!! :D

[Feelin' Salty?]

I checked my guide and I didn't see refering the phrase ''slower movement sped'' neither on Stakeout's revivew or Trench's. You have right about the movement speed (I check it on the internet), and I erased all descripritons about Trench's run speed, though it seems to me that Trench has lower run speed and mobility. I checked also the penetration thing, and I was right about that: Stakeout has slightly better penetration and range. It's easy to find out that Stakeout has longer range than Trench (a simple test will convince you).About the penetration thing, If you line up 3 zombies and you shoot them with Trench, you will hit 2 of them, while with the stakeout, firing from the same distance, you will hit all three of them. That's a test to show you stakeout's better penetration. Trench has slighlty lower penetration than ''stake'', a fact that's hardly noticeable, but it's true.

[Feelin' Salty?]

Something last that I must renotice: Read better my guide, with more calmness and clear your mind! I say things as they are and I dont try to make false impreesions or misunderstandings. For me, no matter what, Stakeout (upgraded or not) will be better than Trench (upgraded or not), though the Gut Shot is better than Raid. The -by far- Stakeout's easier hadling and the absence of blatants disadvantages make Stakeout best shotgun. You shouldn't judge only by the aspect of damage. There are more factors you should look at (i.e. snipers rifles have incredibly high damage, but noone chooses them. You know why?)

[Feelin' Salty?]

One last thing: Before you write me again read the entire guide, because you have created false imprresions for me and my work. Also, about the hipfire and ADSing thing read the "Zombies perks" section on Deadshot Daquiri's review

[Feelin' Salty?]

@ANALCRUSADED
I haven't played WaW, and you may be right about the Trench's run seped, so I won't insist on that as I will insist on penetration's aspect. I don't need tests to prove something that it's easily noticeable: Stakeout has slightly better (NOTICE: slightly) penetration than Trench, as it has also slightly longer range. About the ADSing, you misunderstood again. I don't tell to my readers to ADS with shotguns. I am telling that ADSing with certain shotguns, not all, you increase their capabilities. You should hipfire with shotguns, especially if you use Deadshot, but stakeout is fine for ADSing. For example, if I have SPAS-12, HS-10 or another shotgun, I hipfire, but if I have stakeout, I would prefer ADSing than hipfiring, if it's possible (i.e. If a zombie block me my way I will hipfire with stakeout, but if I am running circles to a open space, like Kino's theatre, I will ADS)