A guide to the Shotguns in Quake

Shotgun[quake.fandom.com] vs Super Shotgun[quake.fandom.com] (Double-Barreled Shotgun)
Which one is better?
"Obviously the Super Shotgun!"
Probably, but in this guide you will find this out.

Starting with the Damage

Super Shotgun

It is obviously the Super Shotgun that does more, with 56 damage if all 14 pellets hit, which is 4 damage per pellet, it means: if you hit 50% of all pellets you will do 28 damage, 75% (most of them) 42 damage and so on.
With quad damage[quake.fandom.com] it can kill fastly pretty much anything at a close range.

Shotgun

24 damage if all 6 pellets connect, 57.1% damage less than the Super Shotgun, 4 damage per pellet (the same as the Super Shotgun), two shots of it dont do the damage of the Super Shotgun with 1 shot (at close range), with 8 damage less (48 damage), im not going to talk about the percentage of the damage if you miss half and etc, because it has only 6 pellets per shot and has less spread (I am going to talk about it later.)
With quad damage it becomes a beast, dealing high damage at any range.

Ammo

The ammo[quake.fandom.com] is kinda important in Quake, since you are going to be shooting a lot in Quake because it is a chaotic game, but, i dont feel why to talk about it when talking on the shotguns, because it has a common ammo that is really easy to find around the maps in Quake, but i will talk anyways.

Super Shotgun

It wastes 2 shells each shot and can carry a max 100 shells, so it can shot only 50 times, it means, if you miss it will be worse since you have less chances to hit, if you pick it off the ground you will get a extra 5 shells, with 5 shells you can shot 2 times with it.

Shotgun

It wastes only 1 shell each shot and can carry a max 100 shells too, you can shot 100 times with it, so, if you miss it will not matter too much since you have 100 chances basically, and the ammo given if you get it off the ground, you cant get, because you already start with it every level, but you spawn with 25 shells in it.

Shooting and Spread

Super Shotgun

It is Pump-Action (the two are), but it has less fire rate than the normal shotgun, so it shots and *clicks* for longer, and the spread of it is a lot more than the normal shotgun, which makes it much harder to hit enemies at a longer distance, but it is easier to hit since it shots more pellets.

Shotgun

It is Semi-Auto, so you can shot it a lot more and spam it, the spread is smaller, which makes it harder to hit, but can hit more at long ranges.

How and when to use each one

Super Shotgun

• Use it to finish off enemies which are at low health and at close ranges, it is easier to hit since it has a larger spread.
  
• Never use it at long ranges, because it is a lot harder to hit at long ranges because of the spread.
  
• Remember to keep moving a lot, since the fire rate of it is slower.
  
• Great for ambushes.

Shotgun

• Use it to hit enemies at longer ranges and vulnerable enemies which are rocket jumping or airborne.
  
• Dont use it at close ranges because it doesn't deal too much damage, change it for another guns at close range like the Thunderbolt[quake.fandom.com], Super Nailgun[quake.fandom.com] or even the Super Shotgun.

Extra Tip:

if you are playing Ctf[quake.fandom.com] and want to play with the Super Shotgun, you can pick up the Rune of Hell Magic Haste, which makes you shot faster and basically removes a disadvantage of the Super Shotgun, which is the slow rate of fire.

Up and Downs

Super Shotgun

Advantages

• Is better at singleplayer killing pretty much any enemy in the game easily, since in singleplayer most enemies will let you get closer.
  
• Super good for dealing with waves at horde mode[quake.fandom.com], since it has a large spread and can shot multiple enemies at a time.
  
• Can be used instead of stronger guns to save ammo for them.
  
• Easy as hell to find ammo.
  
• Easier to hit shots.
  
• Can be used to finish enemies.
  
• Can one-shot enemies with quad damage, in multiplayer and singleplayer.
  
• Can Gib enemies up close (the best one).

Disavantages

• At long/mid ranges it is garbage.
  
• Uses 2 ammo (this may not sound that bad, but it is still a disavantage).
  
• Less fire rate than the normal shotgun.
  
• The spread is much larger, making it harder to hit all the pellets and potentially do max damage.

Shotgun

Advantages

• Is better at multiplayer because it doesn't offer too many oportunities to use it in singleplayer.
  
• Has a good fire rate for spamming shots.
  
• Good range for hitting enemies running away or airborne, or just poke enemies to irritate them.
  
• Easy as hell to find ammo for it too.
  
• Can be used to finish enemies too.
  
• It is probably the best option you have once you get quad damage because it is one of the only guns that is a hitscan and can shot at long ranges, basically a three shot sniper.
  
• Can gib enemies (sadly, only with quad damage).

Disavantages

• At close range it is garbage, basically because any gun can win of it at close ranges "even the axe!?" not all guns, actually.
  
• It is basically a BB gun, being just a little ahead of the nailgun[quake.fandom.com] in damage, but the nailgun still deals more, with 90 damage per second compared with the 48 damage per second of the shotgun.
  
• Takes too long to kill enemies without quad damage, or without help of other guns.
  

Conclusion

Both Shotguns are good

this question probably does not have a answer, because each Shotgun can serve in each way, the normal Shotgun is better at long ranges but the Super Shotgun is better at close ranges, if you have both in your inventory you can probably defeat anything!
Note that each Shotgun serve/fills the empty that the other has, the fire rate that the Super Shotgun doesn't have, the Shotgun fills it, they were made for each other.
I personally think that the Super Shotgun is better and looks cooler, but you can have your opnion.

Special thanks to: Quake Wiki[quake.fandom.com] (fandom), i got some information on there, like the damage, ammo and some on how to use the guns.

Thanks to Quake Sweps addon from Garry's Mod i could make the pictures of the Shotguns and the Thumbnail.

And thank you for viewing my guide.