[Suggestion] Making Jackhammer more viable against full-auto shotguns and heavy guns

The Jackhammer is also classified as a "heavy gun." I say this again and again: heavy guns should be unique to each faction and hold a unique role. The Jackhammer does not have this, and I would like more differentiation between other "regular" weapons to make it a little more worthwhile compared to other heavy guns and shotguns.

That the MCG has a unique attachment to augment its purpose is also interesting. Maybe the Jackhammer could do the same thing to achieve this "Empire-ness."

Again, that's my personal opinion. A lot of people in the thread seem to like the Jackhammer as it is.

In other words you want separate ammo pools for slugs and pellet shells and the ability to switch between. This is a very cool concept and I think something like the UB shotgun/grenade launcher mechanic would be perfect for this purpose. But this is more for shotguns and not the Jackhammer since slugs most likely will never make it to the Jackhammer, and will buff shotguns to the point where the Jackhammer doesn't even make sense to use.

The Jackhammer almost kinda has this, in that you can stick a laser sight on it. Other shotguns need the ammo more than the laser sight, but the Jackhammer starts with 9 and has quick reloads. I'm currently using the laser sight and seeing if the difference is noticeable -- my initial feeling is that it might be.

Obviously any shotgun can equip a laser sight, so it's not the same as the MCG, but the Jackhammer's the only one you might actually want to.

Ah, but that gives up on one of the great benefits of the Jackhammer which is its extended magazine of 12 shots. Sure, if you stick a laser sight on a regular shotgun it's 6 rounds compared to 9, but if you compare extended mag shotgun to laser sight Jackhammer it's 10 to 9.

Also, even without the laser sight the Jackhammer has a cone of fire just slightly larger than SMGs. That's ridiculously small to begin with IMO, and having run laser sight as well I think it's more worthwhile keeping the extended mag.

I was thinking something more in line with a "remove choke" option that would widen not only the CoF but also the pellet spread as well.

Jack of all trades is what Jackhammer is.

Do you need OHK pumplike shotie? Here is your 3 burst.
Feeling semi shotie is what you need ? Jack is there for you.
Longer ranges situations? But you dont have your slugs equiped? Wait you no need slugs cuz jack pelets reach slugs ranges.

Jack is a shotgun that fits in any situation, without have to go terminal and change, and rewards good aiming.

P.S. With jack you can aim for headshots without worry about pellet spread.

Jackhammer does need a buff, but not due to it being weak or underpowered, rather because the MCG has an attachment available that makes it flat better at its job that is faction unique.

If the jackhammer recieved, say, a variable choke attachment that made it have higher spread and RoF when hipfired, and tighter spread and slower RoF when ADSing, that would give it a very unique niche among shotguns, able to go from CQC auto-esque shotgun to long range slug-esque shotgun.

I don't think the JH can really be buffed (it would have to lose its flexibility which is its main advantage)........... but all these people saying the JH has "massively more" range?

It has a bit more effective range...... a bit. Which still doesn't even really take it out to SMG effective range, TTK-wise.

It's not like with a JH you'll suddenly be out-killing people with SMGs/Carbines/ARs/LMGs at anything over 15m (and with SMG and CQB Carbine/AR/LMGs argueably ~10m), it is just you'll be doing better at that range that with a PA or Auto Shottie and a tiny bit better than the low spread semi-shotguns.

That's precisely my point. At the range where the Jackhammer outranges other shotguns, you have much better choices to go with.

And the rest of the saying goes, it is master of none.

TTK for a THKO with a full-auto shotgun is still faster than TTK for a 3-burst OHKO on Jackhammer, with the added bonus of 1 more THKO potential with its 10-round clip (10/2=5) versus the Jackhammer's 12-round clip (12/3=4).

Slug ranges can remain effective over 30m if you use it right. Like I said, I can snipe people at those ranges as LA with semis. Moreover keeping slugs on still keeps your THKO potential with normal shotguns up to 8 meters (500 damage per shot), which makes using slugs is pretty much equal to using the Jackhammer in CQC and only marginally worse at longer ranges, granted you are able to land most of the pellets with the Jackhammer.


The Jackhammer takes 0.91 seconds per 3-shot burst. That works out to 66 RPM. The slowest pump-action shoots at 71 RPM. Granted, the Jackhammer will be more effective in that it fires more pellets with a tighter spread, but the speed advantage that the Jackhammer offers is negligible at best.

The only straight upgrade that the Jackhammer offers is from a semi-auto shotgun. The 2 extra rounds does make a difference. And the versatility to switch between pump-action OHKO and semi-shotgun ammo management is there, but the full-auto shotguns completely nullify both benefits.

My point? Full-auto shotguns with slug ammo for all factions fill exactly the same role as the Jackhammer, and does it slightly better. Thus the Jackhammer needs something unique to differentiate it, as a heavy gun should be unique to each faction.

Wanna do an experiment?

I will play the Jack u pick any auto-shotgun with slugs and i will beat u every single time.

In that regard I have pretty good experience with the Jackhammer. The full-auto shotgun trades kills roughly 80% of the time (for me) because of 2 reasons:

1. Targets are moving. My aim isn't the best with the Jackhammer, so I miss a good deal. If you're good with the aim, then this isn't an issue. Given I use ADS + slug on auto shotguns under 8 meters, this is a non-issue.

2. Clientside hit detection. Lag is measured in microseconds (which should technically be µs not ms, but that's beside the point). The difference in the TTK of the two guns is in the realm of lag difference. I play on Emerald NC from either West Coast or Asia, which means ~130 ms (0.13 seconds) or ~270 ms (0.27 seconds) of lag. It seems the best case scenario would be 30 ms at which point yeah, the Jackhammer has a decent chance to come out on top. Otherwise, the average player (incl. me) will trade kills.

The only possible way the Jackhammer will win is if you land headshots with every pellet on your first shot. But try doing that at shotgun range while moving against a moving target. At longer ranges between 10-15 meters the Jackhammer does hold an advantage over slug ammo, but you are unlikely to land all 6 pellet headshots even with the tight pellet spread.

I speak from live in-game experience, not some synthetic test between two people on PTS. If you're able to coordinate timing with me against 0.27 seconds of lag, then sure, go ahead (I won't be able to play for a week though).

Pretty sure it's millisecond...

Brain fart, you're right lol. Point still stands.

Well, the only thing I understood is you use shotguns :/ therefore I do not like you! I wish it could be otherwise, but I can't. Weapons that shouldn't be in most games. Ah, well, at least I'll acknowledge you exist... Not like a tomcat user.

My go-to are still LMGs which are perfectly fine as they are. Couple headshots with a Gauss/Godsaw and I'll send you to heaven in a jiffy.

show a vid of making THAT loadout work as well as the Jackhammer. I dare you.
The Jackhammer is an excellent weapon.

You won't see me sneak on you The I-Win shield will not save you from me!

Other than his complaining about using it as a pseudo-battle rifle (4x scope lol) and the lack of an extended mag (he runs darklight to entertain us), he does pretty darn well in CQC. Comment section says pretty much the same thing. As for my own video, give me a couple days to save up 880 certs for a fully-certed Piston with extended mags and 1x scope.

Then my Rebel shall find your head with its darklight

Teamkilling even on the forum now? Pure blood NC right there. The only thing your rebel will find is my Ghost.

(yes yes, that was an amazing pun with the word ghost!)

Jackhammer has the 6X scope for a shotgun which is almost as redundant as an engineer with ammo belt. I still secretly believe the Jackhammer was originally supposed to have Slugs available because why else would you have 6X sniper scope on it.

Adding Slugs to the Jackhammer while having the Separate ammo pool for Slugs and Pellets or even adding Flecehtte rounds as an in between would work for me.

Hey, NC and VS, you can count yourselves lucky that you don't have to choose between extended magazines or the special thing. Burst fire and splash damage in this case. TR's MCG has to either choose the BRRT or extended mags or laser sight.

Not to mention MCG doesn't have ANY optics. MCG has only three unlocks. And ALL of them occupy the same slot. Not even SPA.

We have 3 attachments on the Jackhammer: Laser sight, Extended mags and Darklight. Of those three we're pretty much forced to use the extended mags for the Jackhammer to truly show its benefits. In other words, we don't really have a choice while MCG does. MCG is left with an option between sustained fire and increased RoF, giving it adaptability that neither the Lasher nor the Jackhammer provides.

The MCG would not benefit much from anything bigger than a 2x scope IMO. It's a close-range gun, not something you would slap a 3.4x on. The default 1.35x (I think? As that is default for most guns) is the middle ground between 1x and 2x, and your aim is not obscured at all by the gun unlike other guns' iron sights, where the barrel takes up most of the lower half the screen.