When Call of Duty: Modern Warfare first launched, there was one gun that immediately flooded headlines for being overpowered. While players had a wide variety of assault rifles, sniper rifles, and shotguns, the 725 consistently dominated the battlefield in a strange way. Now, one year and several Call of Duty: Modern Warfare patches later, the gun remains a problem.
While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has a constantly changing meta, the 725 shotgun continues to be a topic of conversation among fans. Powerful meta items can be disastrous to competitive play, and despite Activision and Infinity Ward's efforts, the gun is still considered unbalanced.
Professional Call of Duty player Marksman has been one of the many players vocally upset with the state of the 725 shotgun in Modern Warfare. The weapon launched as a powerful option with questionable balancing, despite receiving several post-launch nerfs. At first, the weapon was able to take down enemies across the battlefield, far exceeding the range that any shotgun should have. Since then, the weapon has undergone five different nerfs by the development team, but that still hasn't had enough of an effect on the overall strength of the weapon.
Marksman has gone so far as to call the reworking of the 725 shotgun the largest "failure in the history of CoD to balance a weapon." Considering that there has not been another weapon in Modern Warfare to go through as many reworks, members of the game's community tend to agree with Marksman's assessment.
It is hard to pin down exactly why the gun remains as strong as it is. The weapon continues to have a one-shot kill capability, a fact that many players exploit when using the sawed-off barrel for increased mobility. Still, many fans argue that countering Modern Warfare's 725 shotgun is simple due to its limited range and ammo capacity.
The difference is that in professional circles, many players know how to use the 725 shotgun to its best potential. While casual players may be able to counter it, in a professional circle it is difficult to win if the weapon is used properly by a professional player.
Many Call of Duty: Modern Warfare professional players hope that when Infinity Ward nerfs the gun for a sixth time that it will be the last. Balance is an important factor in the professional community, as every change affects the outcome of competitive Call of Duty tournaments.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.