Super shotgun/Doom 3

"The Vulcan 1270 Double Barrel Shotgun fires two 12-guage [sic] rounds simultaneously and can take down even the largest of game."

- PDA Description

The Vulcan 1270 Double Barrel Shotgun, also known as the Super Shotgun in Doom 3 is a callback of the Super Shotgun from Doom II: Hell on Earth. It is essentially an enhanced version of the normal Shotgun that utilizes two shells simultaneously from both barrels.

The Super Shotgun cannot be found in Doom 3 but in its expansion pack, Resurrection of Evil, and the BFG Edition exclusive campaign, Lost Mission.

Combat analysis
The Super Shotgun of Doom 3 can only hold two shells at a time. As one shell fires 13 pellets, the Super Shotgun doubles this to a total of 26 pellets, making it very devastating against larger targets. Every fire requires the weapon to be reloaded.

Like the classic iteration, the Super Shotgun has a break-action design, in which the barrels are hinged to allow the user to open the compartment and insert two shells before re-closing the barrel.

It uses the same shotgun shell ammunition as the normal Shotgun.



Tactical Analysis
As the standard shotgun in Doom 3 possesses similar firepower as the original Super Shotgun, this iteration makes it more powerful than its classic counterpart.

One shot from the Super Shotgun will instantly kill most monsters at close range and severely wound more powerful monsters. It can kill any enemy up to a Revenant in one body shot, (provided that all of the pellets connect), and even an Arch-vile in one headshot. If aiming for the head, the Super Shotgun can kill powerful foes such as Hell Knights with two shots.

While a very devastating weapon in close quarters, the Super Shotgun loses effectiveness at long range, often requiring the player to occasionally risk closing in on more powerful monsters to unleash the shot. It is also a slow weapon to use against multiple enemies, as its low ammo capacity and single shot can prove slow in a crowd of monsters. This will occasionally require the player to usually be on the move, dodging from other enemies' attacks while focusing on one enemy.

As the weapon can eat up shells a lot quicker than the regular Shotgun, the Super Shotgun is not recommended against enemies that can be killed with one shot using the regular shotgun, such as Imps and Z-Secs. However, due to the high abundance of shells, this is rarely an issue. And novice players may use to ensure one-shot kills on enemies that can generally survive one shot from the regular Shotgun, like the Tentacle Commandos and Revenants.