Support's Shotgun

Am I the only one that thinks the Shotgun is downright abusive at this point? I understand that it should be a force in close quarter combat but does it need to be better than the Tank's Jet Gun? I ran into a support 1v1 as a Tank running Gold Armor and Silver RoF and the Support was out-damaging my Jet Gun with ease. Sure, he didn't win every single confrontation but I had to use a Product Grenade or Charge to win a fight against a Support. I thought the Tank was supposed to be the king of CQC? Instead the Support is currently.

Just to be clear, you're upset because one of your attacks doesn't counter one of the support's attacks, even though you have two others that do?

I don't understand why people don't understand the Support is the ultimate fighter of the game, that is why he is called the support. He is carrying everyone so hard, he is the support of the team.

No, I'm upset because the Shotgun has a higher DPS and range than the Jet Gun currently. The Tank has the most life of any Pro and even that is not enough to offset the Shotgun's damage and range. The bottom line is that the Jet Gun has a very limited range and a focussed stream so why shouldn't it be the strongest CQC weapon? Instead a weapon with a longer range and wider area of fire is stronger, that just doesn't seem quite balanced to me.

its all skill. i RARELY get outdone by a support with a shotgun, and AS a support, i can kill most tanks, or at least can learn which i can and cant kill and let them be.

Sounds more like connection than skill to me. If all connections were equal then I would say it is easily skill, as they are not it sounds like latency is benefitting you in most cases.

ive NEVER had a problem with support shotguns, unless thew catch me off guard, are someone like SXD, or are juiced. end of story. AND the jet gun doesnt make him the king of cqc. his jetgun, railgun grapple, charge, deploy(not really i guess), and product bomb make him the king of cqc.

Just made a Shotgun build for my Support, it's downright brutal. You will have a problem with the Support's Shotgun in the near future, give it some time. The best part is that despite everything you stated for the Tank, the Support will still have a chance to win every fight against them.

is that a threat?
just kidding.
thats the support build i use, shotgun build. i just find a good place for my firebase, set it, hack it, and leave it there.

and he will have a chance, in the same way an assassin has a chance to kill a tank.

I was just shocked to see how effective the Shotgun has become and now you actually need to be cautious when closing the distance on a Support. It seems a bit too strong though and the Support has become a viable offensive class now.

The reticule is huge on that thing, and yet it's incredibly accurate. I don't get that.

If the Shotgun is so powerful, stay away from the Support and open fire. The Shotgun is MEANT to be strong in close-range combat, and a lot of people forget he doesn't have a long-range weapon (easily able to pick off by Tank's railgun or Product Grenade). That is why the Shotgun was made in the first place - to be powerful enough to hunt and kill prey in very close range. It has VERY limited range, and even if it's in range and able to hit you, the Shotgun greatest power is within hugging distance, so if you're that close, then that's your bad.

I'm not saying that the Shotgun should not be powerful, only that when compared to a Flame-thrower, i.e. Jet Gun, it should be slightly weaker. Given than a Tank and Support have a very close battle and the Support has close to half the health of a Tank that makes the Shotgun almost twice as powerful. This should not be the case. It has nothing to do with the Shotgun not being powerful in CQC, only that it should not be stronger than the Jet Gun.

Personally the spread pattern of the shotgun is much too tight. It should disperse over distance and just like the Assault's AR, it should lose damage as it travels but still hit a target within reason. This would make accuracy more important for the Support as without it the Shotgun would only be effective at point-blank range and with it the shotgun could hit a target at a greater distance.

I think people are overstating the limited range of the shotgun since the hit detection had been improved, its certainly not hugging distance. Ive been hit for ~40% of my health as a gold armor assault while I was on the upper walkway on Steelpeel/G3 while the support was on the ground floor. (and not even jumping their little hop of fury!)

That said it is funny to see the glut of shotgun only supports right now running around and pretty much trying to be tom121212121212(whatever the # you know who you are you bastard! From playing them i can tell it takes skill to be dominant like he is with the shotgun. Also there is a lot less healing going on because of this.

Question about the jet gun: Is it effected by RoF? Maybe tanks having trouble could try that? Its been a while i can't remember, if it isn't then maybe it should be! Of course i think most tanks run RoF for the railgun anyway...

Yes.

simple enough.
12 - 12 - 11 - 12

Thats the maximum spread, the closer you are the less spread and the more accurate, therefore the more damage per shot. So the damage output is exponential with distance, I believe thats the term.

Not true, a lvl3 Support has about 65/70% of the HP of a lvl3 Tank plus with Gold Armour a Support will probably have more health than a starting Tank without Armour endorsements

Here are some exact damage numbers. In some cases the killing shot is against <1% health remaining so some values should be rounded down slightly.

# of Railgun shots needed to kill:
Support w/ no Armor: 3, 5 (Passive 1, 3)
w/ Bronze Armor: 4, 5
w/ Silver Armor: 5, 6
w/ Gold Armor: 5, 7
Tank w/ no Armor: 5, 6, 7 (Passive 1, 2, 3)
w/ Bronze Armor: 6, 7, 8
w/ Silver Armor: 7, 8, 9
w/Gold Armor: 7, 8, 9