Should I use the Hand cannon or the Shotgun for close-range combat

bioshock-infinite

I'm playing Bioshock Infinite with a build that I thought of – I use a sniper rifle as my long-range weapon of choice, and (currently) a shotgun for close-up crowd control. For the vigors, I generally use one of Murder of Crows or Shock Jockey (occasionally Bucking Bronco, if enemy is behind cover). The former two are mainly to distract them, so I can
a) Move in close with the shotgun
b) Back off, find cover and pull out the sniper
Also, Shock Jockey is useful for turrets, Handymen, Patriots, etc. As I write this, I'm relatively early on in the game, so I haven't upgraded anything except the sniper rifle and I don't have too much useful gear, so I won't list that.

The main question is – should I use the Shotgun or the Hand Cannon?
I have used the Hand Cannon a little bit, and both seem pretty similar weapons – I use them in close quarters and they are extremely good alongside the sniper rifle and my above mentioned vigors. The only difference I could see was that the Hand Cannon seemed to have a higher rate of fire (though I'm not sure, maybe it's just me) as well as noticeably better range. The damage output seemed rather similar too. So, factoring in the upgrades and all, and also the rest of my build, will the Hand Cannon work better than the Shotgun?

Best Answer

Shotgun. Always the shotgun.

The benefits include:

  • reload that can be interrupted to fire a partially empty clip, with upgrades it becomes crazy fast
  • Do damage to a whole bunch of enemies at once - useful in areas where there are many enemies rushing you, and if you use Bucking Bronco to stun them
  • Ammo is more plentiful, as far as I could tell
  • It's a better panic weapon as it tends to hit a wide area in front of you - you don't have to worry about aiming as much

The Hand Cannon is an OK weapon, and it can sub in for a carbine or machine gun at medium range in a pinch. However, for close quarters, there's nothing quite like the shotgun. I cycled through several medium/long range weapons, but the shotgun was almost always my close range choice. It was the lynchpin of my 1999 Mode run.

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