Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-29781728-20170320021743

The SPAS-12 is the best weapon in the game at the moment. You might say "oh, but the minigun's ok, and the flamethrower's pretty good, and the ak and barrett aren't bad either! One of them have to be better!". No. They are not. The SPAS is way too powerful in its current state.

Let's break it down.

The SPAS and the other shotguns are the only guns in the game aside from a Rank 20 rifle that has only 10 total ammo that can one shot most zombies. In fact, they can one shot even Tickers, while the Barrett can't. The SPAS deals 496 damage per second if all pellets hit. 248 damage per shot at the most. This easily one shots everything except Tickers and Brutes. The only thing that outdoes the SPAS is the Minigun, with an extremely high DPS of 1625, which is DESERVED DUE TO ALL OF ITS DOWNSIDES.

Look at the SPAS' downsides. Here are a few:

...

Um.

Shotguns are supposed to only be good at close range. That's what balances them in a lot of FPS games, and even a few other zombie survival games. However, the SPAS has tight spread, extremely high damage per bullet (on par with the AK-47, an automatic rifle), and decent range (tied with the Thompson, another automatic rifle). This means it's usable at long ranges (the few maps you cannot use this at "long ranges" on are maps like Last Harvest and Zero Kelvin, where there is actually sometimes more than 100 studs distance between you and zombies). 90 studs is a very generous range for a shotgun. And most of the time, you can hit 2-3 pellets at the least at ~50 studs, dealing 60-90 damage. Which is stupid, because that means you can technically kill a normal zombie at mid-range AT THE SAME SPEED AS AN AUTOMATIC RIFLE WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO EXCEL AT MID-RANGE.

Furthermore, the SPAS' spread actually helps it at long ranges. It's harder to aim at long ranges, due to b-hoppers, glitchy hitboxes, etc. However, the spread mitigates that and acts as a crutch, especially at long ranges. You cover a much larger area, and this lets you hit your shots easier. It's actually easier to hit zombies with a SHOTGUN at long range then it is with a sniper rifle.

There's even more going for the SPAS, however. Extremely fast reload time. Unlike other guns, where you may have to switch to your secondary every now and then becuase you find yourself out of ammo, you can simply reload one slug in ~0.3 secs and then fire. And you can do this a total of 12 times, in a scenario where you have to reload one at a time no matter what.

The AK-47 can kill a total of 14 zombies with all its ammo in about 8 seconds with absolute perfect aim. The SPAS can kill a total of 18 zombies with all its ammo in about 13 seconds with no need for perfect aim, as you only have to hit 5/8 of your pellets to secure a kill.

A few similar weapons to this are the Flamethrower and Minigun, here are their downsides:

The Flamethrower cannot be used against Tickers and Elementals, and is bad to use against Brutes most of the time. The Ticker/Elm problem can be mitigated with a Fire Extinguisher. The Brute problem really can't. Also, it can only be used at short range.

The Minigun has the ever impending threat of limited ammo. Bad aim can cost you. A spinup time renders it useless against zombies like Leapers and Charged Brutes at close range, as you can easily be clubbed/pinned. The ammo problem can sort of be mitigated by a Bandolier, but then you'll get shredded by Elementals, so you'll have to bring a Fire Extinguisher, but that doesn't help with the spinup time.

Both of these weapons will always have a downside hurting you no matter what. But the SPAS? Not countered by any zombie. Close range threats are easily one shot, Brutes are shredded quickly with no spin-up delay, there's no threat of running out of ammo, and can be used at mid, even long range!

If you got this far and actually read the whole thing, good job. The SPAS damage nerf is completely justified, and makes it quite balanced, to be honest. It now takes more shots to mindlessly take down a Brute, snipe Edgars, and kill Elementals/Tickers.

Thanks, Place.

TL;DR

The SPAS is way too good as an all around weapon, and requires little to no skill to use. Nerf needed. 