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This season of Fortnite has a surprising array of shotguns to choose from, with differences in fire rate, damage output, and optimal ranges.
The latest Fortnite patch introduced a new Lever Action Shotgun to the game, a gun which boasts high damage and a reasonable fire rate, rounded off with a short range, wide spread, and long reload time. Many Fortnite players are comparing the Lever Action Shotgun to the Pump-Action Shotgun, and they aren’t that far off.
Shotgun strategy in Fortnite
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Shotguns are a staple in Fortnite for their ability to quickly deal incredibly high amounts of damage. At close range, shotguns can take out most opponents in two shots or less, regardless of how much health they have. This incredible raw power has been the meta-defining feature of Fortnite.
In Fortnite, it’s usually easy to identify which strategies are strong or weak by asking how it performs when being attacked by a skilled player with a shotgun.
Any strategy that can block, outmaneuver, delay, or prevent someone with a shotgun from landing hits is probably a good strategy. Inversely, when using a shotgun, anything that can be done to score close range hits is probably a good tactic, so long as it doesn’t involve taking damage in return.
Fortnite shotguns by the numbers
This chart shows how the main shotguns of Fortnite Season 5 and the vaulted Pump Action Shotgun all compare to one another. Keep in mind that this data doesn’t include other vital information, such as range, rate of fire, or ammo count - all of which are important considerations when picking one shotgun over another.
Nevertheless, it’s clear that up close, the Lever Action Shotgun has some significant potential. The highest damage per shot is possessed by a fully charged Charge Shotgun, but fully charged hits require significantly more setup to land than a single blast from a Lever Action Shotgun. In situations where players are firing as quickly as possible, the Lever Action Shotgun in Fortnite can reach vital breakpoints faster than any other shotgun.
At just the Rare rarity, the Lever Action Shotgun can already hit for over 100 damage, something that Charge Shotguns can only do at Legendary, or by charging their shot. The Lever Action Shotgun is also the only shotgun that can hit for over 150 damage on a single headshot below the legendary rarity. Under optimal circumstances, the Lever Action Rifle will almost always eliminate a 200 health opponent in just two shots.
Is the Lever Action Shotgun the new Pump Action Shotgun?
It’s clear from playing Fortnite that these two guns have a similar feeling, but there are some critical differences. The Pump Action Shotgun had a tighter spread and longer range, making it a little bit better under most situations. The Pump Action Shotgun, when it was last available, had an incredible 2x headshot multiplier, compared to the Lever Action Shotgun's 1.45x multiplier.
This meant that a Pump Action Shotgun could hit for over the maximum total health in a single headshot, something which only the Charge Shotgun can do now. The Lever Action Shotgun will always take at least two hits, whether headshot or body shot, to deal over 200 damage.
This means that Fortnite players using the Lever Action Shotgun should concentrate on aiming for the center of mass most of the time. The wide shot spread and low headshot multiplier means that it will often be more useful to get all the shots to land than to go for a headshot on a smaller target. By comparison, the Pump Action Shotgun strongly encouraged players to go for headshots.
Overall, the Lever Action Shotgun seems to be an excellent weapon in Fortnite, and while it has some similarities with the Pump Action Shotgun, the two weapons play very differently.
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