A Love Letter to the Terminus
(DISCLAIMER: FUN TRUMPS ALL META SO RUN WHAT YOU LIKE BUT IF YOU WANNA WIN LISTEN UP)
I've done 1000 hours as a hard stuck 6* on an account where I used shotgun only to prestige 100 and I have made a list of best to worst in order on shotguns. Handconnons apply in the same order aside from obviously the ones without handcannons. This list also works under the assumption that your version of fun involves winning consistently like it does for me and with that in mind it is assumed that you will only run buck shot on these shotguns as it is unequivocally the best option for consistent kills. Many may argue slugs are a good option but if u tag someone in the arm at 0m with slugs it's capped at 125 dmg but if you insist on slugs run a Romero with half slot slugs with lemat or haymaker with slugs to stack and use them as you push for the funny haha long range headshots.
- Terminus Levering 12m one shot:
It has 11 reserve ammo, 7 actively loaded shells, and only cost sum 130ish dollars. If a team is aping u down it is very well in your ability to kill all of them without reloading or even moving. If you're aping a team down u can start shooting a guy even at 20m and it'll take 4-5 shells to kill but the whole time they can't fight back as you're applying a very heavy bullet flinch per bullet. Sometimes I'll even run a mosin down at 50m by just timing my shot just before his cycle time allows his next shot so he flinchs every time allowing me to run up scott free.
- Romero 16m one shot:
Arguably the best shotgun as it has the ability to win every shotgun fight by default off of ranged 1 taps but the terminus is just too braindead easy to ignore. It has lots of reserve ammo, 2 slotted ammo (for u silly slug enjoyers), and a talon variant for breaking down doors and killings bosses. It has the highest skill ceiling for a shotgun as it requires a lot of map knowledge to know where to rotate between shots and where to position let alone bc of its crazy tight pellot spread if you're not dead center and end up shooting on arm you'll only hit maybe half you're pellots if you're lucky.
- Auto 5 12m one shot:
It's a lot like the terminus but doesn't require levering, the downside being a lot more kick, less reserve ammo, less active ammo, and a 5 slotter being it's biggest downside let alone the term does it all better.
- Slate 12m one shot:
Now we're just another downgrade from the Auto 5 and rightfully so as it's essentially the 4 slot u run instead. Decent fire rate and overall very fun feeling but at the end of the day fun doesn't=good.
- Spectre 12m one shot:
I'm gonna go into much depth here as it's just another downgrade from the the slate but it does have the fact that it's a nice chunky VERY FUN shotgun to run but it just doesn't truly compete.
- Rival 11m one shot:
I have a lot of hate in my heart for this gun as everyone runs it whilst the terminus is just sitting there perfectly available x10 better in every way. This abomination has the lowest one shot range and everyone counters that with. "Yea but it can double tap really fast". Well the the term with levering can do the same thing except better. Farther one shot range, more bullets loaded, less recoil, more reserve ammo total, and if you're this poor it's actually even 2 dollars less to buy a term over the rival.