What would a zombie game be without a shotgun? How could you mow down hordes of mindless creatures without a serious area-denial weapon? In FPS games, there is nothing quite like the satisfaction gained from blasting a tightly packed group of enemies with a shotgun. Left 4 Dead provides plenty of opportunities to experience that joy, and gives two different shotguns for the ride.
The shotgun is not a difficult weapon to learn. By now, I’m sure you’ve mastered the “point, shoot, and reload” technique, so we’ll skip the easy stuff. The point of this guide is to illustrate some subtleties, not hold your hand from the beginning.
To get it out in the open, I’m writing this because no matter what server I’m in, everyone takes the bloody hunting rifle or assault rifle. I’m certain they know exactly what they’re doing with it. However, now and again I’ll see a player decide to “branch out” and roll with the ol’ street sweeper. Before you can say “this phrase is a cliché!”, they’re fumbling for a reload while a zombie gnaws on their face. No finesse. Yet, without this barking piece of metal, things can get real ugly in a hurry. So scoff if you must at a “guide to using the shotgun,” but our good friend the hand cannon deserves a little attention. A quick aside — and in bold, for all you article skimmers — THE REALLY IMPORTANT PART OF THIS GUIDE IS PHILOSOPHY #2. If you already know that stuff, this guide is probably of little use to you.
The philosophy of buckshot
There are two major philosophies I would like to discuss in this guide. The first is positioning, and this technique can be used well with either shotgun. The second is reload efficiency and, while not completely exclusive to the automatic shotgun, is most useful when pumping is unnecessary. Before I get to the philosophies, though, I must address the following two points of order to assure that we are on the same page.
Targeting: The shotgun is a center mass weapon; aim for the torso, not the noggin. Your smug, sniper friends will scoff at your low headshot count but you’ll be the one taking home the “most infected killed” title at the end of the round.
Range: The shotgun is capable of blasting targets at a moderate distance, not just those all up in your face. Don’t expect miracles, but don’t pull out that pistol just yet. Practice your range; it’ll make a difference when you need to pop that smoker off your friend out there! Now on to the good stuff…
Philosophy 1: Positioning (All good shots go to zombies)
The wisdom of positioning is often well known by experts to the FPS genre, but the philosophy of efficiency is nothing without positioning. Even veterans are encouraged to peruse this section to make sure their skills are up to snuff. They are, right?
The shotgun has excessive piercing damage, particularly through flesh, but it’s no slouch against drywall. In addition, the beginner’s pump-action only has 8 rounds. You need to make them count! Proper positioning will make the difference.
There are—excluding special zombies, for which each scenario is different—three typical situations a hand cannoneer may find themselves in. The first is a general skirmish, the second is a swarm (we call them shitstorms in my circle), and the last is a regroup. Each of these will be covered with respect to positioning.
First is the general skirmish. In this situation, the group may be moving through an alley in tight formation or running about like chickens in a yard. There isn’t an overload of zombies, but there are a fair few, and they know you’re around. Shotgunners in this scenario will quickly find themselves outgunned by players with other weapons. This is the perfect opportunity to experiment with the range of the shotgun or be a hero. Your position should be at the center of the group (if formation is tight) to protect teammates (with melee if you can’t get a clear shot), or slightly ahead of the pack to lure zombies into line of fire. Luring zombies into a line can leverage the shotgun’s piercing damage to virtually guarantee you a shot/kill ratio greater than one.
Second is the shitstorm. This is where the shotgunner shines. Your best position is just in front of a bottleneck, be it a doorway or a hallway; anyone with a shotgun can hold this bottleneck if someone’s got their back. It is imperative that your teammates fall back until this highly defensible spot is available. From this position, the shitstorm can be dispatched with ease. Obviously you can’t shoot behind yourself, so it is assumed that teammates are taking up the rear to monitor other routes. “But what,” you ask, “do I do if caught in the open? In a lobby, maybe?” Eliminate as many possible vectors as you can. Get against a wall, in a corner, or near a teammate. If none are available, center your shotgun to blast as many zombies as possible with every shot. It’s the best you can do.
The final common scenario is the “regroup” situation. Chances are that you’re the first one finished with a zombie rush. If your teammates have rifles, though, they are probably encircled and in serious trouble. If they’ve been incapacitated, you should start blasting as you’re at no risk of friendly fire. Three well-placed shots along the right angles often removes the crowd.
If the teammate is not down, you must be more careful. Position yourself to evaluate the direction your friend is facing, then shoot the outside edge of the opposite side of the zombie circle. From here, you can close to melee range directly behind your friend (to actively help them see and hit more stuff), or you can take another angle and pick off another six zombies. Both are acceptable moves, though the teammate’s health (and server difficulty) should be taken into consideration. Friendly fire can really piss someone off, and this operation is practically surgery!
Finally, quick advice for all situations: Be sure to turn around and melee now and again to keep the stragglers off of you!
Philosophy 2: Efficiency (All That Stuff You Didn’t Already Know)
This is the part of the guide you should pay close attention to. Positioning is nice if you’re an experienced sniper trying to figure out how to use a shotgun, but most people are pretty skilled with the “good to stand here, bad to stand here” stuff. However, nobody seems to understand how to reload the shotgun properly. Here’s the deal: You have 10 shots and a pretty quick reload-per-shot. It takes a long time to reload an empty clip. But there’s one end-all secret to shotgun efficiency. Read it three times, now:
You can fire your weapon at any time during a reload on a clip that hasn’t been emptied!
That’s right: If you hadn’t noticed, any time your clip reaches ‘empty,’ your character has to re-cock the weapon before firing. This isn’t so bad on the pump-action shotgun, but it is horrifyingly important for the auto-shotgun. So never, ever, ever, ever let your ammo counter reach zero! Tap that reload every time between shots, and slow your firing rate! Remember: You have piercing ammo. When the swarm cometh, take down a small pack of zombies and go for the reload. By the time that extra shot is in the chamber, there’s another group ready for you to shoot, and you’re still high and dry. If they’re coming faster than that (like if you’re running into them), you can stop the reload and fire instantly as long as your ammo counter never touched zero. Thus, there is no penalty for reloading!
The other important trick to note is that you can melee during reload. Poke the reload button and start hitting that right mouse button like a madman. While you’re whacking zombies, you can watch your ammo counter go up. If the counter never hit zero, feel free to switch from melee to gunfire without ever hitting a lull in the action.
The real take-home message is this: “Reload like you’re a soldier in Team Fortress 2.”
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