Hello. I'm eminutia and I'm a Gearsaholic. lol really, I love the game but I can't seem to compete with these pros, they take me out with their shotgun every time. I'm back into playing it because I want to prepare for the third and final installation in the series, to get my skills up. The guys (Cliff, Rod et al) say that the shotgun mechanics are going to remain the same, and I really want to learn how to use it but I always miss, and I can't seem to strafe and shoot, my reticule is always off a bit and the ******** get me every time. This is a weird post for many of you, because the majority of you don't play the game much but I KNOW theres some Gears guys around here who can help me, who've been playing it for a long time. I've just been too afraid to ask before, but I love this game and I want to stand a chance against these vets. You know, these..vets *scrubs*. lol Anyway thanks for reading, and thanks for letting me share.

lol "vets", you mean cheap ******** that think they're skilled because they can get kills with a one hit kill close range weapon? Sorry, I don't have any tips. When I used to play it seems that they could be aiming ten feet to the left of me and get a headshot with the shotgun, and I'd have the gun pointed directly at their chest point blank and they wouldn't die. That's one of the reasons I never really got into Gears of War that much, too unbalanced.

So I guess my only tip to you would be, BE HOST! (and have a good connection) lol

Everyone has their own style for shotgunning in Gears and different situations make for different styles.

I like to roll and strafe while firing from the hip. I find it easier to do that and you make yourself less of a target then when you have to aim down your sights. I'd say just practice a bunch with the shotgun and different styles. Also, if you can, check out some Gears gameplay by some good players on youtube. It always helps to try and emulate others and their styles. It helps you build off of what they have and make your own style.

Funny how complicated the explanation sounds for shotgunning lol.

Here's the best way to use the shotgun in Gears:

Bridge yourself host. Bam, your shotgun is now the most powerful weapon in all of multiplayer

Ask Tai for some tips

Haven't played since like march of '09 but basically my strategy was to just be as quick as possible. In my mind I'd rather be fast than powerful. I would constantly be wall bouncing and roadie running, and another this is "Pot shots" tap the left trigger when aiming at them the reticule gets smaller. And heres a video that I watched awhile back and it gave me the "Skills" (Luck) That I needed.

As Sam and Cody have said, try to make yourself less of a target. While in some cases it may be impossible due to host, it's still wise to get used to being quick. Reaction times are also a somewhat big factor, if you are blind firing you have to get a sense of where your gun is pointing. Since the shotguns are held by the side of player, you have to visualize where to move your character so that he shoots where you want him to.

Mine's pretty simple. I would just active reload, strafe, and popshot.

Thanks guys, this is the only game that gives me a complex every time I play it. I lose faith in myself and think "I'm the worst player in the world". Everyone who's played this game with me knows how I feel. I still love the game though, which is confusing, since I hate everything about it.

I know how you feel dude.

Every game gets that way at one time or another.

i get that feeling when my party goes in team snipers in halo lol...

You will need:

A single Cheerio

A piece of scotch tape

Pull your aiming trigger and hold it down. Tape the Cheerio to your television, directly in the middle of where the aiming reticle was. Now you can run around and shoot your shotgun from the hip and have an exact location of where you're aiming. After practicing like that for a while you should be able to have no problem shooting without the Cheerio taped to your screen. LoL

Chris that sounds like all the screen dotters in Vegas 1 & 2

I switch between pop shotting and blind fire, depends on the situation, havent gotten wall bouncing down much but I rarely try it, I have killed more players with the shot gun than I have been killed so I must be doing ok. Honestly I think with GoW it comes down to your connection thats about 85% 10%skill and 5% luck. And the screen dot doesnt work on GoW2 cause the shot doesnt come out in the middle of the screen anymore.

Edit: here's my shot gun numbers

Kills 2,062 Deaths 1,836

You will need:

A single Cheerio

A piece of scotch tape

Pull your aiming trigger and hold it down. Tape the Cheerio to your television, directly in the middle of where the aiming reticle was. Now you can run around and shoot your shotgun from the hip and have an exact location of where you're aiming. After practicing like that for a while you should be able to have no problem shooting without the Cheerio taped to your screen. LoL

I've thought of putting a dot on my screen, but I think of that as cheating. I don't cheat or boost games I like to play for fun. I'm sure you're idea has been tried and true for some players though.

*edit* I lied about the boosting part. For my last two achievements in GoW2, I boosted a: Seriously 2.0, and b: Veteran Gear. I was coming up close to those ones anyway, so I figured I'd get them eventually (but I reeaally wanted to 100% it!)

I switch between pop shotting and blind fire, depends on the situation, havent gotten wall bouncing down much but I rarely try it, I have killed more players with the shot gun than I have been killed so I must be doing ok. Honestly I think with GoW it comes down to your connection thats about 85% 10%skill and 5% luck. And the screen dot doesnt work on GoW2 cause the shot doesnt come out in the middle of the screen anymore.

Edit: here's my shot gun numbers

Kills 2,062 Deaths 1,836

I only blind fire when I feel I just don't have time to hard aim. Other than that, I ALWAYS hard aim, and that requires a lot of skill if you plan on strafing while doing that. I've been experimenting with wallbouncing, and with some success. I'm about at 50/50 when I'm 1v1ing. The shotgun is such a comfortable weapon, it's the one weapon you think of doing the most damage with when the round starts, unless there's another power weapon you feel more comfortable with. I also believe that host powers can be harnessed and yield high success rates when you think as tactically as you would as if you weren't host. I make that mistake a lot: Ok, I'm host, so I can rush everyone and not worry, because I'm the "great" host. My connection sucks real bad as well, so it's always funny at the end of the match it usually ends up being a 2v2 cause everyone else quits out. I get major trash talk for it, but always end up on the top of the list lol.

Oh yeah, my k/d for pretty much every game type hovers around .7-.9, and that's just cause I'm careless and always rush the field. It's a hard habit to break, believe me when all I want to do is go in there and kill kill kill.