4Game

I'm referring to the standard buckshot, not necessarily specialized, expensive ammo.

Back when Tarkov launched, shotguns were bananas. A bog standard MP-153 was absolutely devastating upwards of 50 meters on any unarmored part of the body. You could drop people from decent range.

When armor was getting strong, legging people seemed to be the meta, and quite powerful. After all, filling someone's legs with dozens of buckshot pellets would probably severely inhibit their ability to fight, let alone stand and run.

Having been gone for so long, I've come back and actually point blanked a PMC hatchling, with an M870, and he chopped me in the head. Game said he took 8 pellets and 273 damage, no armor.

Next scav run, I run into quite the thicc boi. I blast his legs with 4 shots from the MP-155 from maybe 15 yards, and he turns and hoses me with whatever Gucci gun he was running. He took 25 pellets to the legs, and like 200 damage with some pellets somehow hitting his armor to soak 40 damage.

Point is, that guy's legs should have been shredded cheese that couldn't support his weight, but he can just pop a painkiller and run on disconnected bones and muscle to an exit.

Maybe we don't need the super cheap death cannons we used to have, but I currently feel like having a sharp stick might be better than a shotgun at this point.