Shotgun

Lore & Background

XCOM's standard doctrine favours engagement at range. Rifles, shotguns aside, are the backbone of a squad's firepower because most alien encounters unfold in open corridors or across a tile grid where distance can be maintained. The Shotgun exists for the doctrine's failure state: the moment a Sectoid lunges from a doorway, a Muton rounds a corner, or a squad is pinned in a narrow alien-base hallway where there is simply no room to aim a rifle. In the fiction of the series, the Shotgun is a standard-issue military primary weapon, the kind of brutal, over-penetrating tool that a soldier grabs when the fight has collapsed to inches. It is not a precision instrument; it is a volume-of-lead instrument. At one tile, the spread is irrelevant because the target fills the entire frame. In XCOM 2, the Shotgun is a primary weapon that does not prevent equipping a secondary weapon (e.g., pistol or grenade launcher), allowing soldiers to maintain versatility even at close quarters. In tight XCOM 2 base interiors and the cramped corridors of alien facilities, that combination of close-range lethality makes the Shotgun a specialist's tool rather than a generalist's default.

In Their Own Story

The corridor smells of ozone and burnt polymer. Sergeant Voss never hears the Sectoid's click—only the wet parting of air as it lurches out of the side alcove, already inside her personal space. Her rifle is still raised, still aimed at the far end of the hall where nothing is. There is no time to lower it, no time to bring the secondary up. Her right hand is already on the Shotgun, already shouldered, already firing. The report is a single, flat crack that swallows the corridor's echo. The Sectoid's thorax is simply gone. Voss lowers the weapon, breathes once, and keeps walking. The next tile is empty. The one after that, too. She does not lower the Shotgun until she reaches the door.

Reader's Guide

SPEC: Shotgun Class: Close-range firearm | Hands: One | Range: 1–2 tiles Damage: High at 1 tile, reduced at 2 tiles. No spread penalty at point blank. Obtained: Researched in the Weapons lab. In XCOM: EU it is an early-to-mid research slot; in XCOM 2 it is available through the standard weapons research track. It is not an alien-tech exclusive—this is a human-made weapon. Tech tree position: Sits in the Weapons research column, generally before or alongside mid-tier rifle upgrades. It does not gate behind alien-tech salvage, making it accessible to squads that have not yet cracked an alien weapon blueprint. Class suitability: Best on soldiers who will operate in tight corridors, base interiors, or flanking positions where range is inherently short. Pairs well with a one-handed secondary (pistol, SMG, or melee) in the off-hand. Less ideal on soldiers whose role is sustained mid-range suppression. Tactical niche: The Shotgun is a burst-damage tool. Use it on the tile where the encounter collapses to close quarters—doorways, narrow alien-base halls, the moment a Muton charges. It is not a replacement for your rifle; it is the weapon you switch to when the rifle's range advantage no longer exists. In a squad loadout, one Shotgun-carrying soldier covers the close-range gap that every other weapon leaves open.

Did You Know?

• The Shotgun is a primary weapon; in XCOM 2, it does not restrict equipping a secondary weapon like a pistol or grenade launcher, offering tactical flexibility.
• In XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM: Enemy Within, the Shotgun has a range of 1-2 tiles, with a point-blank damage bonus at 1 tile; in XCOM 2, its range extends to 1-3 tiles.
• The Shotgun is a human-made weapon researched in the standard Weapons lab, not an alien-tech salvage reward, distinguishing it from alien-derived firearms.
• In tight alien-base corridors where multiple enemies can occupy adjacent tiles, a Shotgun's close-range burst makes it disproportionately effective compared to a rifle's single-target focus.