Shotgun

The shotgun being used on MAP11.

The pump-action shotgun is one of the most versatile and useful weapons in the Doom player's arsenal.

The shotgun packs a deadly punch at close range, and the grouping of the pellets is tight enough to make the weapon useful for medium-range attacks. In a pinch, the shotgun can be used for sniping, though the spread of the pellets makes it hard to do much damage at long range. Unlike the super shotgun of Doom II, which spreads pellets in a rough cone, the standard shotgun's pellet spread is horizontal; presumably this was a consequence of the game's predominantly planar level design.

Packs of weaker enemies are particularly vulnerable to shotgun fire, and it is often possible to kill two or more zombie troopers or sergeants with a single shot. Against tougher enemies, such as cacodemons, it is usually best to run up close and fire at short range, then dodge the enemy's attacks as you reload. This tactic works well when combined with circle strafing.

The shotgun's main disadvantages are the slow rate of reloading (which can leave you open to counter-attacks) and the lack of long-range capability.

The shotgun fires seven pellets. Shots from a zombie sergeant's shotgun have only three pellets.

A shotgun contains 8 shells when picked up. Shotguns looted from the corpses of zombie sergeants contain 4 shells.

Notes

The images for the shotgun in Doom are of those of a toy shotgun called the "TootsieToy Dakota", manufactured by the Strombecker Corporation of America.

The shotgun was the earliest weapon to appear in Doom, dating from the February 1993 pre-release alpha of the game (Doom 0.2). The shotgun model and animation were present, although the gun graphic had a muzzle brake. The alpha version of the player's in-vision display screens attributed it with 'DAM 30, RPS 20, MAX 99, RNG 50'.

Shotgun data
Weapon number	3
Damage	5-15 (per pellet) 35-105 (total)
Included ammo	8 (16 on skill 1 & 5), 4 (8) when dropped by an enemy
Max ammo	50 (100 with backpack)
Ammo type	Shotgun shells
Shot type	Hitscan
Shots / minute	57
Sound	DSSHOTGN (firing) DSSGCOCK (reloading)
Appears in	All Doom versions
Thing type	2001 (decimal), 7D1 (hex)
Radius	20
Sprite	SHOT (before pickup)
Class	Weapon Pickup

Stats for IWADs

Game	ITYTD and HNTR	HMP	UV and NM
Ultimate Doom	34	28	27
Doom II	19	18	18
TNT: Evilution	41	41	41
Plutonia	12	12	12