Let’s recap on the situations a street sweeper typically faces.
The first situation, as I’ve detailed, is the skirmish. As I’ve already stated, your friends have this part down. Let them do your job. Your ammo chamber should seldom get below 7 in this situation. Consistently reload. This is a good time to practice using your reload. The second situation is the shitstorm. Except for an exception which I’ll detail in a moment, never go full auto.
One shotgun blast is enough to remove almost all infected within range of the blast. That second shot? It might damage some infected further down the way. The third and fourth? Practically pointless. By the time you stop your full-auto panic reflex, you have to reload and that spells trouble. If that ammo counter made it to zero, you must waste time to cock the weapon before firing again. Your panic reflex has effectively cost you an extra half-second of vulnerability, in addition to the vulnerability inherent to putting one shell in the weapon. That’s enough time for a zombie (or horde) to get within range and hit you once. On expert, that could be fatal.
When met with a rush, position yourself as per philosophy one. Narrow door? Fire and reload. Repeat. If they get really close, give ‘em another quick shot to give you more room. Don’t forget to reload! If, for some reason, you get down to 1 or 2 shots, start the reload and begin to melee. Resume firing when you feel you have enough loaded rounds to get back in the saddle. Shitstorms are cake, even on expert. But, as previously mentioned, you’re seldom in such easy positions.
Should you end up outside, or with little cover, there is one maneuver you should be familiar with: The sweep. This is the one time you should break “no autofire” the rule of thumb. To begin, identify a starting position that will allow you to fire in a 120° arc without hitting friendlies. Start at one end of the arc and break the rule of thumb by going to the other end on full auto. Practice your turns so you don’t over or under-shoot your arc. As long as you’re careful with friendly fire, this will break you out of circles very quickly. Never forget to keep a watchful eye on the status of your ammunition! Letting your ammo drop to zero could quickly undo all your hard work.
If the sweep is not a feasible maneuver, you simply must make do with firing into the ranks. As always, do not fire quickly, and never let your ammo get to zero. This may seem counter intuitive as you may be tempted to fire quickly to escape your poor position. Instead, let melee be your friend. Start interleaving melee swings with buckshot and reloads. With the combination of this and the sweep, shitstorms— even when in a poor position — can be easily dispatched.
Hopefully this piece has helped you learn some new techniques for the venerable shotgun. And if I see you in game with one, hopefully you won’t let me down by pulling the full-auto at every opportunity!
Happy hunting!
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