Unfortunately, Call of Duty: Vanguard continues the trend of each Call of Duty game containing at least one extremely overpowered or broken weapon at launch. With a huge amount of variables available to players with regards to perks, attachments, and gun combinations, there will inevitably be balancing issues with each title. For Call of Duty: Vanguard, one of the biggest issues comes in the form of the Combat Shotgun.
While it was initially overlooked by many, the Combat Shotgun has managed to gain a reputation in the early days of Call of Duty: Vanguard as one of the highest priority guns in need of a nerf. Like the STG44 Assault Rifle, the Combat Shotgun has become a staple in most players' kits and has more or less become essential to success, especially in the smaller maps like Das Haus.
The Best Shotgun in Call of Duty: Vanguard
Despite all of the excitement surrounding the Combat Shotgun, the race for the title of "the best shotgun in Call of Duty: Vanguard" remains a relatively close one. While shotguns are still largely viewed as situation-dependent, mostly owing to the current state of powerful assault rifles, they are all absurdly strong at close range. The Double Barrel Shotgun and the Gracey Auto work well since they can both get off two shots in quick succession, and even the AS44 Assault Rifle can be effective in short-range combat, but they all pale in comparison to the Combat Shotgun.
With the right setup, the Combat Shotgun offers great mobility, a relatively large magazine, and the ability to one-shot players at unreasonable distances. For longtime Call of Duty players, the weapon in its current state will bring back memories of the R9-0 with Dragon's Breath in Warzone. Like the R9-0, the Combat Shotgun will likely be hit with a series of nerfs that will bring it to a more reasonable point, so players should jump on it while they have the chance.
Essential Attachments for the Combat Shotgun in Vanguard
Without the correct attachments, though, the Combat Shotgun is fairly underwhelming. The key is to use attachments to guarantee that the Combat Shotgun is a one-shot kill at a relatively far range. As it stands, Call of Duty: Vanguard's biggest balancing issues can be broadly characterized as problems with weapons dealing too much damage at unreasonable distances. For example, the Bayonet attachment currently manages to secure kills from several feet beyond what players might expect. Similarly, with the Buck and Slug attachment, the Combat Shotgun becomes a one-shot kill from extremely far away.
As such, the first and most essential attachment is going to be Buck and Slug, as this completely morphs the Combat Shogun from a middling close-range weapon into a one-shot killing machine that excels over many guns due to Call of Duty: Vanguard's pesky bloom mechanic. From there, players are going to want to prioritize mobility and hip-fire accuracy. For this, the best choices are the M97 Full Choke, Sawed-Off Barrel, SMLE Pistol Grip, CGC 3M Adjustable, and the Fabric Grip. For what it's worth, these attachments tend to work well with the 5 Round Tube attachment, but players can tweak the magazine attachment to suit their playstyle.
To complete the build, players can choose between a variety of different choices for the Proficiency and Kit slots, but the best choices are Frenzy in the Proficiency slot since it offers players a bit of health regeneration—which tends to come in handy for shotgun-range engagements—and Quick in the Kit slot since the main priority for the Combat Shotgun is increased mobility and speed. For a bit more wiggle room, players can tinker with their use of perks such as using Forward Intel to help plan their route around the map.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.