Call of Duty: Vanguard Combat Shotgun class - the best build and loadout for the Combat Shotgun
Looking to dominate with a shotgun in Vanguard? Believe it or not, it's possible!
Call of Duty: Vanguard is proving to be a tricky game for Combat Shotgun users. With few spots with tight corners and small spaces to lurk in, it’s easy to be picked off from afar out in the open. Worse yet, with the speed at which assault rifles and submachine guns can take you out, you’re given few opportunities to go wild as you’d like.
However, that doesn’t mean the weapon class is useless. This guide will take you through our Combat Shotgun class; starting with the attachments you’ll want to equip before moving onto the wider loadout decisions. Each choice will be paired with some justification, so you know exactly why we’ve made each choice.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Combat Shotgun loadout - best attachments
There are always two avenues for shotgun builds: a build that focuses on enhancing close range capabilities, and meme ranged builds that allow you to pick off enemies at a far greater range. After some testing, we believe that the effort it takes to make the shotgun work at mid range isn’t worth it as you get the same results with any assault or marksman rifle.
Therefore, we’re going all in on the close range build like you’d expect. This is all about sticking to whatever buildings and enclosed areas you can reach, and keeping that space locked down from all attackers. We’re going hard on fire rate, damage of course, and will aim to keep recoil manageable while we do so. ADS speed and reload speed be damned, we don’t need it where we’re going.
The attachments you should equip are as follows:
- Muzzle: G28 Compensator - increases recoil control. Just a handy stat boost with no negatives.
- Underbarrel: Carver Foregrip - Gain loads of recoil control, and a little bit of accuracy. Costs ADS speed, but we don't really need that.
- Barrel: Sawed-Off - Provides wider pellet spread, increased movement speed, and damage. Recoil control and accuracy go down, but this is a small cost for how perfect this barrel is for this build.
- Magazine: 16 gauge 10 round drums - Adds a lot of magazine capacity. You do lose a lot of ADS speed and reload speed. These don't really matter, and are worth it for the extra mags. The reduced movement speed hurts, but we make up for it with other attachments.
- Ammo type: Hollow Point - Increases limb damage. Don’t have to hit the torso straight on to kill, and helps remove those pesky hit markers.
- Optic: Personal preference - Due to us dumping ads speed and relying on hiperfire its not really important. Stick on a short range sight like the ZC2 1.35X lens if you want to still ADS.
- Rear Grip: Pine Tar grip - Gain a tonne of recoil control, and some hip fire accuracy. Lose ADS speed but once again this is a nice trade for us.
- Stock: CGC 2M Wire - Gain a big boost in sprint-to-fire speed, plus movement speed. Brilliant boon for this build at the cost of initial accuracy and recoil.
- Proficiency: Frenzy - Provides health regeneration after kills. Vital is the other choice, but since you’re likely killing people with 1 shot anyway (especially with hollow point rounds) it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense here.
- Kit: Quick - Increases sprint speed. Gotta go fast to run up on players and get in their faces.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Combat Shotgun class - best secondary weapons and grenades
When it comes to a secondary weapon… there’s some bad news. Regardless of how we tweak our shotgun build, we’ll face serious issues when caught out in the open. It’s bound to happen eventually. Therefore, it’s recommended that you take the Overkill perk and grab an Assault rifle, Marksman rifle, and sniper of your choice.
This sucks, obviously. So if you’d like to stick with a shotgun primary without Overkill, the Top Break pistol is a good mid-range option that can win gunfights every now and again. To reiterate, an AR with Overkill is absolutely your best bet, but you have an alternative.
When it comes to grenades, there are some picks that’ll help you out massively in multiplayer matches as you run around with the shotty. Gammon Bombs are useful if you know exactly where someone is, and those hit with it will be affected by an explosive effect allowing you to easily push them.
For tactical grenade options, smoke grenades can absolutely make rushing into a building safer. Sometimes you have to cross a street, and this will keep you out of the sights of pesky snipers.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Combat Shotgun class - best perks
When it comes to the perk 1 slot, you can’t get much better than Ghost. Since you’ll be sticking to tight spaces, being able to remain there undetected by Spy Planes are the like is incredibly useful. This just makes your whole game plan easier.
If Ghost keeps you hidden, Radar in the perk 2 slot stops enemies from doing the same. The knowledge of where roughly enemies are is incredibly useful if you’re trying to rush them down. Not having radar allows you to get sneaked up on far more often, and can lead to bad positioning on your part.
For previously stated reasons in the secondary weapons section, Overkill is just the best for this class. You can’t avoid a longer-range engagement every now and again, and having an AR you can swap to is obviously preferable to being stuck with just a shotgun. If you’re against Overkill, take Lightweight so you can move faster. Maybe you can dodge the bullets!
That marks the conclusion of our Call of Duty: Vanguard Combat Shotgun build! If you want to see why Hollow Point ammunition is included in this build, Dorrani showed off just how strong it is in his MP40 two-shot build video. If you’re looking for the best guns to take as an Overkill secondary for this class, we’ve also got a list of the top five best guns in Vanguard.