While Call Of Duty: Vanguard has already received some new guns since launch, we haven’t got a new Shotgun yet. If a new Shotgun comes in a future update, we’ll update this guide to let you know how it fits into the current meta. Make sure to check back regularly, as Vanguard receives frequent balance patches that drastically alter the meta.
Best Shotgun in Call Of Duty: Vanguard
The best Shotgun in Vanguard is the Combat Shotgun, without question. The Combat’s effective one-shot-kill range is simply ridiculous, whether you’re hipfiring or aiming down sights, and its fast rate of fire and high magazine capacity makes mowing down enemies at close range easier than with nearly any other gun in the game. We’ll talk about the Combat Shotgun and its competitors below, but first let’s go over our tier list to see how each one ranks in our estimations. Here is our Call Of Duty: Vanguard best Shotgun tier list:
Combat Shotgun Einhorn Revolving Double Barrel Gracey Auto
Combat Shotgun
No other Shotgun can come close to claiming the top spot - not while the Combat Shotgun exists in its current state. This close-range monster can kill an enemy with a single shot up to a startling range even when hipfiring - particularly with the right attachments. It almost feels like cheating sometimes when you’re using this Shotgun, particularly when you consider its 10-round magazine, fast rate of fire, and fast reload speed, which minimises the possibility of you being caught out while you have the Combat Shotgun equipped. The truly broken thing about the Combat Shotgun is its potential with both Slug rounds and 12 Gauge magazine attachments together. If you perfect the Combat Shotgun’s loadout then you can one-shot-kill an enemy with a shot even to the limb, up to a staggering, bonkers range. I’m talking beyond the effective range of most Assault Rifles. I fully expect to see a nerf coming soon, as it’s absolutely one of the best guns in Vanguard right now, and makes its way into more than one of the best Call Of Duty: Vanguard loadouts I’ve been using recently.
Einhorn Revolving
With the exception of the Combat Shotgun, the Einhorn Revolving Shotgun is miles above its competitors. It doesn’t quite reach the same level of long-range one-shot-kill potential of the Combat Shotgun, but it’s still an exceptionally powerful close-range gun with a very high fire rate that makes it very forgiving. Add to this the fact that the same broken Slug rounds and 12 Gauge combo exists for the Einhorn, and you’ve got another Shotgun that really does creep into overpowered territory. For more information, be sure to check out our dedicated Call Of Duty: Vanguard best Einhorn Revolving loadout guide.
Double Barrel
The Double Barrel Shotgun falls a long way behind the Combat Shotgun and the Einhorn, not simply because it can’t use the same broken Slug rounds/12 Gauge synergy, but also because by default its potential for consistent one-shot-kills is a bit low. Not a good look for any Shotgun. It’s also a high-risk weapon as you have to reload after firing just two shots. What truly sets this Shotgun apart (and the reason it doesn’t come last in the list) is that you can pick up the Akimbo attachment to dual-wield two Double Barrel Shotguns at once, which I have to admit is very fun indeed - and quite devastating under the right circumstances.
Gracey Auto
The Gracey Auto Shotgun comes last in our list mainly because its extremely short effective range makes scoring one-shot-kills on enemies very inconsistent. The idea is that its high fire rate allows you to quickly follow up with further shots to down an enemy, but it’s just not fast enough considering most enemies you encounter at this range will have already mown you down in that time with some of Vanguard’s best SMGs, like the MP40 or Type 100, not to mention any of the other Shotguns higher up in this list. That covers everything you need to know about the best Shotguns in Vanguard Season 1. If you want to see how these Shotguns compare to other weapons available in Season 1, check out our Vanguard weapon stats guide. If you want a strong weapon to use alongside your Shotgun, take a look at our lists of the best Assault Rifles and best Sniper Rifles in Vanguard. When you’ve settled on the perfect guns for your loadout, check out our guide on how to level up fast in Vanguard to make sure you’re maximising the XP you earn in multiplayer.
