When it comes to clearing rooms and other tight quarters in Battlefield 6, it's hard to beat shotgun in terms of pure deadliness. A single blast to the chest is enough to send someone back to the respawn screen, and given the game's relative generosity when it comes to the effective range of shotguns, players can get a lot of mileage out of this weapon class.
There are only a few shotguns in BF6 compared to other weapon categories, but the ones we have right now are all worth using. However, they vary greatly in terms of overall feel and performance, and in this guide, we'll be going over the strengths and weaknesses of each of them to help you figure out which is best for you.
Best M87A1 Loadout in Battlefield 6
The M87A1 is the best shotgun in Battlefield 6, but it can become even more overpowered with a few more tweaks.
Best Shotguns in BF6
- M1014
- M87A1
- 18.5K-SK
The M1014 is the best shotgun in the game in our book thanks to its fire rate and a couple of very specific attachments. It doesn't fire as quickly as the 18.5KS-K, nor does it have the same one-hit-kill range of the M87A1, but after spending some time with it, we've found that it's the most consistent over close-medium range across the majority of maps in BF6.
There are quite a few important pieces of information about each shotgun that players will want to know, so we'll break each of them down in individual sections below.
M1014
- One-hit-kill up to 8m; two-hit-kill up to 15m (25 with slugs)
The M1014 is a tube-fed, semi-automatic shotgun with a fairly quick fire rate of 200 RPM and a max damage value of 115 with Buckshot ammo at very close ranges. This weapon is best used within 0 to 8 meters, where it can reliably drop people instantly with a solid hit to the chest.
While the M1014 doesn't have the 1HK potential of the M87A1, it's still very reliable in ranges where you'd expect a shotgun to be good at. More importantly, it's significantly more forgiving than the M87A1 — if you miss your first shot, you can always just shoot another immediately after whiffing.
The cherries on top that make the M1014 our top pick are the Slug ammo and 4-Shell Tube attachments. With Slugs, you'll be extending your 2HK range up to 25 meters while still having a reliable 1HK range of ~8 meters. Meanwhile, the 4-Shell Tube limits the max amount of ammo in your shotgun, but it lets you immediately cancel your reload animation. This means you can more readily deal with more targets as long as you pace your shots. We're not sure if the latter is intended or not, but if it isn't, just go back to the default 6-Shell Tube.
Given this shotgun's low 1HK range, it's best used as a secondary weapon when playing as the Assault class in BF6. Your max ammo will take a hit, but it's a small price to pay for the versatility that the M1014 will provide in exchange.
Keep in mind that Slug rounds are very slow, and you'll likely have trouble hitting moving targets with them.
M87A1
- One-hit-kill up to 15m; two-hit-kill up to 25m
The M87A1 is the starting shotgun, and it's as reliable as you'd expect a pump-action shotgun to be. It has a very generous 1HK range of 15 meters, and it can reliably 2HK people at up to 25 meters away with just regular buckshot. You can't really go wrong with this gun, but given its slow fire rate, you'll be in big trouble if you fail to kill your target with your first shot.
When equipped with Slugs, the M87A1's effective range stays mostly the same, except it becomes more useful at targets at around 35 meters. Unless you plan on slapping a scope on this and using it as a counter-sniper gun, we recommend staying away from using Slugs and focusing on improving hipfire and/or ADS speed instead. Buckshot is more than enough for fighting within shotgun range, and you might even find Flechette rounds to be good when fighting more than one enemy.
Lasers will tighten the spread of your pellets when firing from the hip, making them a more attractive option over attachments that improve ADS speed. However, aiming down sights does basically the same thing, but without the downside of exposing your position when you have a laser on. It's up to you to decide which build path suites your playstyle.
Flashlights are generally great for shotguns. Not only do they blind enemies, but they also improve recoil recovery when firing from the hip.
18.5KS-K
- No 1HK range; two-hit-kill at 15m
The 18.5KS-K is an interesting weapon. Unlike the shotguns, this one can't kill in one shot regardless of how close you are to your target (unless you're using Slugs and hitting heads within 10 meters). It has the fastest fire rate in its category, and it's also magazine-fed, which means you'll always be getting a full load of shells every time you reload the weapon.
The reason why we ranked the 18.5KS-K last is because of its lack of a 1HK range. Sure, it technically kills faster than the M1014, and it can load more shells at once, but without the ability to kill players instantly, you're left with a shotgun that has a base TTK of 0.26. At this point, you might as well use an SMG like the SCW-10. The silver lining of this weapon is its 300 RPM fire rate, making it the most forgiving of the shotguns we have so far.
Unfortunately, attachments don't do much to help the 18.5KS-K. It doesn't get any larger magazines, nor does it get anything that boosts its damage (apart from the aforementioned Slug ammo). If it received Incendiary Ammo or BF3's Fragmentation Rounds in the future, then it might be worth using over the rest, but for now, it belongs in the backburner.
The 18.5K-SK tends to be a bit better in the RedSec Battle Royale mode since it has high DPS with good ammo efficiency, but even then, it gets outperformed by the M1014 at point-blank range.
Battlefield 6
- Released
- October 10, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, In-App Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Battlefield Studios
- Publisher(s)
- EA
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Cross Save
- Via EA Account
- Franchise
- Battlefield
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unsupported
- PC Release Date
- October 10, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 10, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- October 10, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
- How Long To Beat
- 6 hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 87.44 GB
