Before I get into this post I need to give credit to TmarTn, a full time YouTuber who is pumping out some great Black Ops 2 content right now. If you’d like to add to his tally of 703,000 subscribers you can do so here: Best Black Ops 2 videos on YouTube.

Since you’re in the mood for hitting the subscribe button, why not check out my own gaming channel.  Right now I’m preparing for Black Ops 2 with this Road To Commander series.

With that shameless self promotion out of the way, let’s get down to business. You’re here because you want to know which shotgun class is going to dominate when Black Ops 2 is released, right?

Black Ops 2 shotguns: R-870 MCS, M1216, SAIGA-12 & KSG

Treyarch are giving us the choice of four shotguns: the R-870 MCS, the M1216, the SAIGA-12 and the KSG. For a full comparison of each weapons’s specifications, skip to 01:49 in the video below. However, in game stats are often misleading so we’re more interested in how they feel.

From TmarTn’s comments it looks like the SAIGA-12 is comparable to the MW2 AA-12: high fire rate, rubbish range. This will probably be the weapon of choice for people who wish to spray and pray in close quarters combat.

Now I’m no Sandy Ravage but I absolutely loved the Modern Warfare 2 SPAS-12. Pump action, massive range and a pretty much guaranteed one hit kill. People say it’s overpowered but if you miss that first shot you’re probably toast. The SPAS-12 did appear in the original Black Ops as well as Modern Warfare 3 but it just just didn’t feel the same.  It should come as no surprise that TmarTn captured my attention when he described the R870-MCS as a very “Spas-12y shotgun”.

However, I suspect this won’t actually be my shotgun of choice. TmarTn goes on to describe the characteristics of the KSG which, for the first time in any Call of Duty title, will shoot slugs as opposed to pellets. In essence, what you have is a short range sniper rifle which guarantees a kill if you connect, or consigns you to an extra death if you miss.

Wondering about the R-870 MCS? Don’t bother: it sounds pretty bad.

Black Ops 2: shotgun attachments

There are four attachments which will be of interest to anyone choosing to run a shotgun as their primary weapon. In no particular order these are ‘long barrel’, ‘quickdraw’, ‘laser sight’ and ‘adjustable stock’.

Long barrel does the same as the range proficiency in MW3;  quickdraw is akin to its MW3 namesake or the Sleight of Hand pro perk from MW3;  laser sight does the job of the stead aim perk by improving hip-fire accuracy; and adjustable stock has characteristics of the Stalker perk in MW3, allowing you to move faster when aiming down sight.

Black Ops 2: best shotgun class?

I like the look of the class above, which is based around the R-870 MCS and a wildcard to make use of long barrel, quickdraw and laser sight attachments. Personally, I think I will drop the wildcard so I don’t lose the use of lethal or tactical grenades.

What does this mean? Well, the R-870 MCS with lightweight, extreme conditioning and dexterity will be a class for those that like to rush. If you want to remain silent you’ll need to sacrifice dexterity for dead silence, which means care should be taken when sprinting as you won’t be able to aim as quickly.

Black Ops 2: TmarTn on Shotguns