Modern Warfare 2 has no shortage of great weapons. Players can already choose from a wide array of different classes. For those who prefer to pick off enemies from a distance, you’ve got snipers and marksman rifles that scale very nicely with distance. For people who prefer to close in on their enemies and mow them down with bullet sprays, you’ve got Assault Rifles and SMGs.
But here, we’ll focus on catering to the absolute extreme contingent of players. The abhorred, erratic, bunny-hopping individuals who prefer to get up close and personal and demolish their enemies with a single, unforgiving pump. Here, we’ll focus on ranking each shotgun alongside all its pros and cons so you know which weapon you’ll use to make your next opponent rage-quit.
5 Bryson 800
The Bryson-800 is just a very lackluster weapon when it comes to pump-action shotguns. The only reasons why one would consider rocking a shotgun in multiplayer is either their ability to one-shot at close range or make up for it through their rapid-fire rate.
Unfortunately for the Bryson-800, it simply doesn’t deliver on either of those. And unlike its cousin in the Bryson-890, you’re basically shooting yourself in the foot if you ever run out of ammo mid-fight since you have to reload each shell.
While the 800 can host a decent magazine size, those eight shells hardly come in handy unless you’re at the optimal distance. In defense of the Bryson, you can have some luck running around with it in smaller maps, but you’ll have to compromise on some of its damage output by decking it out with some mobility attachments so that you can close the distance between you and your opponent.
Otherwise, you should consider other CQC options since most other guns will outperform the Bryson in both Multiplayer and Warzone.
4 Bryson 890
Now, the Bryson-890 outperforms the 800 because of one apparent reason: reload time. The Bryson 890 comes with a detachable mag. You can refill your ammo in one swift animation rather than having that painfully drawn-out animation of slotting in each individual shell appear on your screen. Other than that, the two guns are almost exact replicas of each other.
However, if you do want to get into the nitty-gritty of it, the Bryson 890 fares slightly worse than the 800 when it comes to pellet spread and rate of fire. The rate of fire stat is pretty much negligible with shotguns since you can expect to get melted if you miss your first shot, but pellet spread may come into play in very niche scenarios if you compare the best builds for these two shotguns.
What the Bryson does have going for it is better, slightly better mobility, ADS speed, and sprint-to-fire time.
If you really want our opinion, though, we’d recommend staying away from the Bryson family unless you want to level it up. There’s a reason they’re both at the bottom of the ranking here.
3 Lockwood 300
You all remember the busted 725 from MW 2019, right? Well, it’s made an epic return in the form of the Lockwood 300. The 725 was one of the most hated weapons in the game, although most of those sentiments originated from the Warzone player base.
The 250 max health in Warzone meant that the 725, now the Lockwood 300, could two-shot fully armored enemies within its optimal range. This attribute gave it one of the lowest Warzone TTKs (Time-to-kill) in the game, and it’s also carried over to the Lockwood 300.
However, the Lockwood is held down on the rankings due to its mediocre performance in multiplayer. Since you have a 100 base health in Multiplayer game modes, the Lockwood is just another one-shot weapon, except it has the smallest magazine size you could ask for. Being a double-barrel shotgun, you only get two shells per clip, so you’ll be stuck reloading for most of the game.
The weapon still has some redeeming qualities, like a low pellet spread and a noticeably greater one-shot range than most other shotguns.
If you’re feeling a bit frisky, you can also try giving the alternate ammo types a spin. The slug rounds are an unorthodox option that turns it into a pseudo-marksman rifle, and Dragons Breath can give you that extra bit of chip damage to down an opponent in Warzone solos if all the pellets don’t connect.
2 Expedite 12
‘Solid’. If there’s one word to describe the Expedite 12, that would be it. It boasts respectable stats across the board, is exceptionally versatile in multiplayer modes, and just looks great when you finally complete the camo grind for it.
What set’s it a notch above the weapons further up this list, though? Well, the Expedite 12 has a pretty healthy one-shot range, meaning you can quickly demolish enemies from across a corridor, room, or stairway.
Furthermore, it has the best mobility stats for any shotgun in Modern Warfare 2. So you’re also killing enemies from a decent range and have the ease of closing that distance before you fire.
The only reason the Expedite isn’t in the first place is the unforgiving rate of fire. You have to wait roughly half a second to fire your second shot. So, basically, anyone who’s not a bot has more than enough time to panic-swerve and spray you down if you miss your first shot.
Reload times can also get painfully annoying if you empty your magazine since it’s another one of those shotguns where you have to reload each individual shell.
1 KV Broadside
Of course, the most recent addition to the shotgun category is also, consequentially, the most overpowered shotgun on this list. Gotta sell those Battle Passes somehow, right? That gorgeous camo looks way too good to pass up.
All satire aside, the KV Broadside is a fantastic shotgun for all Modern Warfare 2 modes, and that's because it’s the only proper semi-auto shotgun we have right now.
Unlike all the other shotguns on this list, you’re not heavily penalized for missing your first shot since you can fire the second in roughly a quarter of a second. Unsuspecting enemies will never have the reaction time to punish you for not downing them within your first shot.
In Warzone lobbies, you can afford to throw in three successive shots and maintain a more competitive time-to-kill than most close-range weapons.
If you want to add to your opponents’ woes even more, then you could put on some Dragons Breath ammunition and have them die a slow, agonizing death as they burn down. If there’s one downside to the KV Broadside, it has a smaller effective range than other shotguns, so the rapid-fire really comes in handy.