Are heisted shotguns any good?

In the latest variation of Battle Royale, V23.40, Fortnite has introduced a host of new "Heisted" weaponry that players can use to battle their opponents. In this article, we are going to consider the new "heisted" shotguns (Heisted Accelerant Shotgun, Heisted Breacher Shotgun) and compare them to the other available shotgun options. 

Let's first consider the Breacher Shotgun. This weapon is a hard hitting, slow firing shotgun known for its incredible ability to destroy cover quickly. Given these capabilities, its primary competitor is the Thunder Shotgun. Let's compare it to determine which one is best.  

When compared to the Thunder Shotgun for its primary capability of hitting opponents hard, the Breacher is very similar. However, at higher tiers the larger critical hit multiplier (1.85x vs. 1.75x) and the Thunder's increasing capability mean the Thunder shotgun hits the hardest especially when leveled to legendary. 

If we consider structural damage, however, the Breacher has a considerable advantage:

(Since the writing of this article the Structural Damage of the Breacher has been brought down from 759 to 255, a material decline.)

In practice, this means that most walls are destroyed with one shot, making it an interesting strategic option in close quarter structural battles. It also has a slightly higher fire rate than the Thunder Shotgun (1.0 vs. 0.8) that means you can get more rounds off. 

In Build Multiplayer variants I could see the Breacher Shotgun as an exciting new strategic addition. In No Build game variants I likely prefer the higher Damage per Round of high tier Thunder Shotguns, passing on the structural damage advantage.

Let's first now consider the Heisted Accelerant Shotgun.

The Accelerant Shotgun is an immediate contender in terms of TtK. Putting it materially ahead of the best Heavy Shotgun and Maven Auto Shotgun. Let's take a closer look at it's individual qualities before making a final call.

 

As the low TtK implies the Accelerant hits hard and fast enough to rank highest in DPS. It's reload time, although lagging the heavy shotgun, is comparable to other options making it the only potential area of concern.  

However, despite losing some ground to the heavy shotgun on reload time, the Accelerant has an extra round in the mag making it possible to dispatch two full health opponents without a reload. This combined with its DPS advantage make it win out in my mind over the heavy shotgun. 

In our opinion, the most lethal shotgun as a singular standalone weapon option in a two gun loadout is: The Accelerant Shotgun outpaces all versions of the Heavy Shotgun, which only makes sense to use if you prefer the tight sights and have a legendary version.

And as a complementary weapon in a three plus gun load out: we still pick the Thunder Shotgun for it’s hard hitting capabilities and class leading critical hit damage at high tiers, although we can see interesting uses cases for the Breacher.

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