Shotguns are a type of weapon in Fortnite: Battle Royale. The purpose of these weapons is for short range combat. All Shotguns use Shells.
Functionality
Shotguns fill the role of a short range weapon and are often used for up close engagements, due to their high damage per shot. Shotguns uniquely fire a spread of pellets rather than a single shot. Swapping between two shotguns after firing results in a small cooldown to prevent the player dealing too much damage per second. Shotguns are very weak at longer ranges and oftentimes cannot even hit a player at medium range.
List of Weaponry
Name | Image | Rarities | Ammo Type | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Normal Modes | ||||
Pump Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
High Damage, Pump Action Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Tactical Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
Fast Firing, Full Auto Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Heavy Shotgun (Old) | Epic | ![]() |
High Damage Semi Auto Shotgun. | |
Legendary | ||||
Heavy Shotgun (New) | Common | ![]() |
Fires a single high damage slug instead of a buckshot spread. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Double Barrel Shotgun | Epic | ![]() |
High Damage Shotgun which only holds two rounds. | |
Legendary | ||||
The Dub | Exotic | ![]() |
Exotic version of the Double Barrel Shotgun. Knocks player back. | |
Combat Shotgun | Uncommon | ![]() |
Longer Ranged Semi Auto Shotgun. | |
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Drum Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
Fast Firing, Full Auto Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Charge Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
Shotgun which must be charged to deal full damage. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Kit's Charge Shotgun | Mythic | ![]() |
Charge Shotgun used by the Kit AI. | |
Dragon's Breath Shotgun | Epic | ![]() |
Single shot Shotgun which can ignite structures. | |
Legendary | ||||
Lever Action Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
High Damage, Lever Action Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Makeshift Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
High Damage, Low Magazine Size Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Primal Shotgun | Uncommon | ![]() |
Fast Firing, Full Auto Shotgun. | |
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Spire Assassin's Primal Shotgun | Mythic | ![]() |
Primal Shotgun used by the Spire Assassin AI. | |
Auto Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
Automatic Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Striker Pump Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
High Damage, Pump Action Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Ranger Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
Single Shot, longer ranged Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Two-Shot Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
Two-Round Burst Shotgun. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Mythic | ||||
Prime Shotgun | Common | ![]() |
Deals increased damage with the first shot of the magazine. | |
Uncommon | ||||
Rare | ||||
Epic | ||||
Legendary | ||||
Other Modes | ||||
Pump Shotgun | Epic | ![]() |
High Damage, Pump Action Shotgun. Exclusive to the Spy Games LTM. | |
Heavy Shotgun (Old) | Rare | ![]() |
High Damage Semi Auto Shotgun. Exclusive to the Spy Games and Team Brawl LTMs. | |
Auto Shotgun | Mythic | ![]() |
Automatic Shotgun. Exclusive to Fortnite: Creative. | |
Striker Pump Shotgun | Mythic | ![]() |
High Damage, Pump Action Shotgun. Exclusive to Fortnite: Creative. | |
Prime Shotgun | Mythic | ![]() |
Deals increased damage with the first shot of the magazine. Exclusive to Fortnite: Creative. | |
Unavailable | ||||
Ostrich Weapon | Rare | Infinite Ammo | B.R.U.T.E.‘s built-in weapon with little damage falloff. | |
B.R.U.T.E. Weapon | Rare | Infinite Ammo | Salvaged B.R.U.T.E.‘s built-in weapon with little damage falloff. |
Strategy Guide
- Many Shotguns load one shell at a time. This means that if you are careful, you can interrupt your reload in order to shoot at an opponent if you are unable to complete a full reload. Some shotguns load multiple shells at once, such as the Combat Shotgun, meaning the same is applicable but with two shots.
- The Combat Shotgun is more of a medium ranged weapon than a close ranged one, meaning it should be handled differently to the other shotguns.
- Though cross-hairs show where the spread will hit, players should still rely on the center of the reticle when aiming, otherwise they risk only getting a partial shot in, thus dealing out sometimes much lower damage.
- Some shotguns are inaccurate in general, so (this works with all guns) crouch, stay still, and aim down sights to get your maximum accuracy and minimum spread.
- The Dub and Striker Pump Shotgun will shoot faster when you swap between several of them in your inventory, rather than waiting for the delay between shots to pass.
- For slow firing shotguns like the Pump Shotgun, it is best to follow up with an Assault Weapon or SMG to eliminate an opponent if you deal enough damage with the shotgun. This is not needed for shotguns with a fast fire rate like the Auto Shotgun.
Trivia
- In season prior to Season 5, shotguns, especially the Pump Shotgun, could be swapped quickly without needing to 'pump' the weapon. This allowed for much higher than intended damage per second outputs, and so a delay was added between swapping guns and firing.
- In Update v20.30, every single shotgun was reworked. Most shotguns now do heavy amounts of body and headshot damage. To combat these adjustments, every shotgun was given a maximum damage cap, which affects the highest possible damage able to be delivered in a single shot (all pellets hitting). Due to these changes, the Legendary Dragon's Breath Shotgun is (currently) the only shotgun able to deal 200 damage exactly.
- As an example for how the damage works, the Legendary Pump Shotgun does 128 base damage with a headshot multiplier of x2. Theoretically, this shotgun would deal 256 damage (enough to eliminate a player with full health, shield, and overshield). However, the maximum damage cap for this weapon is 185. Thus, the weapon only deals 185 damage total.
- This is the first time that an entire weapon class was changed in a single update.