We Ranked The Best Apex Legends Shotguns

Apex Legends arrival was a surprise to many, but it quickly turned into a hit with more than one million players on the first day. The game offers a variety of weapons, but for many players the shotgun is their weapon of choice. Need a hand in selecting your first shotty? Nerds and Scoundrels can help with that! Keep reading for our take on the Apex Legends best shotgun.

Apex Legends Best Shotgun Guide

There are three true shotguns in Apex Legends:

EVA-8
Mastiff
Peacemaker

Excluded from this ranking is the Mozambique Shotgun. Despite the name, the weapon is a mashup of a shotgun and a pistol and classified ingame as a pistol. As such, we’ll review it compared to other pistols.

When we ranked this list, we considered the amount of pure damage the guns could do, how easy it is to apply that damage, and how difficult the weapon is to come by. Without further ado, this is our ranking of the best shotguns in Apex Legends.

Damage is handled differently with shotguns than other weapons. While each gun is assigned a base damage, that figure is deceptive. While most guns fire a single bullet, shotguns fire an assigned number of pellets with each pellet having its own damage. It’s possible not all pellets will hit the target, so your actual damage applied can fall far below the amounts listed for each shotgun.

There are attachments like the barrel choke that can greatly improve your applied damage. The choke doesn’t increase your damage, but it makes your pellet spread tighter. That means while you may be less likely to hit anything, you’ll get more direct hits.

3. EVA-8 Auto

Fully-Automatic Shotgun
63 Bodyshot damage
90 Headshot damage
Available slots: Optic, Mag

The EVA-8 automatic shotgun comes in at the bottom of our list. It has the best rate of fire and the lowest recoil. It’s not bad in a pinch given that you can hold down the fire button and spray crowds when need be. The EVA-8 holds up to 8 shells at a time and has some options for customization.

The damage for the EVA-8 is lackluster. While it has a tighter spread than the Mastiff, the maximum damage for a headshot is only 90. That’s less than a bodyshot from either the Peacekeeper or the Mastiff. Each shot from the EV-8 fires 9 pellets, with each pellet deal 7 body damage and 10 head damage.

The biggest issue with the EVA-8 is he subpar damage. While the rate of fire is great, the reality is that your damage per second is far below the other shotguns available. The other benefits of the shotgun aren’t enough to make it worth using, as there are better auto options out there that deal more damage or have better range. You can make the EVA-8 work, but it’s not our favorite weapon in Apex Legends.

2. Mastiff Legendary

Semi-Automatic Shotgun
144 Bodyshot Damage
288 Headshot Damage
Available Slots: None

The Mastiff shotgun is a legendary weapon in Apex Legends, and is one the rarest drops in the game. On paper, it is easily the most powerful shotgun in the game. The Mastiff does a massive 288 headshot damage, but keep in mind that the spread of shotgun pellets means you won’t hit with all of them. The Mastiff fires 8 pellets per shot, and the spread from the gun is an unusual horizontal shape as opposed to circular pellet spread from other shotguns. This can make hitting your target difficult if you are used to other shotguns. The spread is much larger than other shotguns, and you can’t customize the weapon to tighten that spread either. That means despite your best efforts, you will rarely apply all your damage.

The other major drawback for the Mastiff is availability. The gun is one of rarest in the game and only shows up in the occasional drop. What’s more, the ammo for the weapon is limited as well. If you get your hands on one of these you should give it a go, but it’s hard to rely on the Mastiff as your go-to weapon from one game to another.

1. Peacekeeper

Lever-action Shotgun
110 Bodyshot damage
165 Headshot damage
Available Slots: Optic, Mag, Hop-Up

Despite the Mastiff being arguably more powerful, the Peacemaker edges it out based on the availability of both the gun and ammo. The peacemaker is arguably the best close-range weapon in the game and the favorite game overall for many players.

The Peacekeeper has more base damage than the EVA-8 but less than the Mastiff. The Peacekeeper holds six shells, which is useful. It fires 11 pellets per shot, which each pellet dealing 10 damage to the body and 15 to the head. With a barrel choke and careful aim, the Peacekeeper can absolutely wreck enemies at short to medium range. All in all, this weapon is a ton of fun. With three available slots, this weapon is also extremely customizable as well.

Nerds and Scoundrels

And that concludes our ranking of the Apex Legends Best Shotgun. Agree with our take? Think we’re clueless? Let us know either way by leaving us a comment below. And don’t forget to check out the rest of our Apex Legends content here at Nerds and Scoundrels.