Shotgun

(Up to Weapons)

Shotgun
Type:	Firearm (2 shots)
Keyboard selection:	F3 (x1)
Standard effects:	25hp injury (max.), very small circular crater (for each shot)
Present in:	Worms, Worms DC, Worms 2, W:A, WWP

Power settings
Power	Maximum injury	Crater diameter
11	12 hp	23 px
12	17	35
1	20	47
2	22	47
3	25	47
4	27	61
5	30	61
19	32	61
14	37	73
15	50	97
Values are per shot.

The Shotgun is one of the weapons that makes up the backbone of the Worms arsenal, together with such weapons as the Bazooka, the Grenade and the Fire Punch. The Shotgun is markedly easy to use: it fires in a straight line regardless of wind or gravity, and its blast radius is far smaller, giving it more utility in a close quarters situation.

The one aspect of the Shotgun that makes it so powerful a weapon is its two shots, which can be fired in separate instances. Once the first shot has been fired, the player is free to move around the terrain for the remainder of his turn time before taking the second. This quality, shared only by the Longbow, vastly increases the number of possibilities available and deepens the strategy of the game.

Tactics

The ability to fire two shots independently of one another makes the Shotgun a powerful tactical weapon.

• The Shotgun can be used to shoot two different worms in two different locations.
• The first shot can be used to move an enemy worm to a more perilous location (e.g. nearer water or a mine), before finishing it off with a the second shot.
• The first shot can be used to prepare the terrain for the second shot (e.g. shooting a hole through a bridge and then shooting the enemy worm through the hole)
• The first shot can be used to overcome an obstacle (e.g. to get access through a girder), then the second shot to attack.
• On a long-distance shot, the first shot can be used as a "tracer" for the second (i.e. firing the first shot in the general direction required, and then refining the second shot based on the results of the first).
• At fairly close range, the Shotgun gives it a near-guarantee of 50hp damage.
• If there is no use for the second shot, it can be used to make a safer retreat location out of the land (e.g. a foxhole).

Criticisms, Problems and Weaknesses

• The Shotgun is obviously not particularly useful when a large mass of land stands between you and the enemy: in such situations you would need the parabolic trajectory of the Bazooka or Grenade.
• The Shotgun behaves nothing like a real-world Shotgun, a device that is short-range and gives a wide area of effect, unlike the long-range precision of the Worms Shotgun. The only similarity is in the double barrels. However, there is plenty enough unrealism in Worms already without quibbling too much about this.

W:A Cheats

Gaining a Gold Medal on the Rifle Range training mission unlocks the Golden Shotgun scheme cheat. When activated, the Shotgun deals twice the damage, twice the blast range and twice the shots. (firing 2 bullets/round, for a total of 4 bullets/turn) This means that with the default health and power, the Shotgun can kill a full-health worm at once! (100 damage/turn)