Pump Shotgun

Lore & Background

The Company doesn't hand out military hardware. What it issues are tools—industrial, utilitarian, and just enough to keep a worker alive long enough to hit their scrap quota. The Pump Shotgun fits that philosophy perfectly: a chunky, no-frills shotgun that a line worker could load, pump, and fire without a training seminar. In the Company's internal ledgers it's catalogued alongside pry bars and headlamps, a piece of equipment rather than a weapon of war.

Inside the facilities, where corridors narrow and the geometry of the space forces encounters into close quarters, the shotgun's pellet spread becomes an asset. A single trigger pull can catch two or three hostiles at once, something a single-round rifle simply can't do in a cramped loading dock. For a crew of two or three Scrapers splitting up to hit different sectors, that area-of-effect reliability is the difference between a successful run and a body bag.

There's a particular grimness to the sound it makes in the dead silence of a facility—the sharp crack of the pump, the concussive bark of the shot, the clatter of empty shells on concrete. It's not a quiet weapon, and in a game where sound draws attention, every pump-and-fire is a decision. Use it and you clear the room; use it and something three corridors over just heard you.

In Their Own Story

The hallway smelled of rust and old grease. Mara's headlamp carved a pale cone through the dust, illuminating nothing but the far wall and the faint scuff marks on the floor. Behind her, Jax was already counting his pistol rounds—three left. Three.

Something in the storage bay to the left shifted. A wet, dragging sound. Then another, closer.

Mara didn't turn. She racked the pump shotgun with one hand, felt the cold steel slide home, and swung the muzzle toward the gap in the doorway. The thing that poured through was wrong—too many joints, too wide a smile. It lunged.

She fired. The pellets hit it square in the chest and the one behind it, and both went down in a spray of something that wasn't quite blood. The echo rolled down the corridor and died.

Mara pumped again. Slower this time. Jax was counting his last round.

"Quota's still two hundred kilos short," he said. His voice was steady. His hands weren't.

She racked the bolt one more time and stepped past the bodies into the dark.

Reader's Guide

Pump Shotgun — a pump-action shotgun that fires a spread of pellets per shot, ideal for clearing tight spaces and dealing with multiple close-range threats in a single trigger pull.

Practical stats: • Damage: Multi-pellet spread; each pellet deals moderate damage, so total output is highest when multiple pellets connect at close range. • Effective range: Close to medium. Past roughly mid-corridor distance the spread widens and per-pellet impact drops noticeably. • Magazine: Small capacity; expect to reload frequently during sustained fights. • Fire rate: Limited by the manual pump cycle between shots—slower than SMG or AR options. • Weight: Moderate; manageable for extended runs without significant stamina penalty.

Tactical note: The Pump Shotgun shines in narrow corridors, loading bays, and any situation where two or more enemies appear simultaneously. Its spread turns a single shot into a mini area-denial tool. Avoid it as your primary in open plazas or long sightlines where a rifle's single-pellet accuracy will outperform the shotgun's diminishing spread.

Common new-crew mistake: Firing the shotgun at medium range and then wondering why the pellets only chip at the target. If you're more than a few meters out, switch to a rifle or close the distance before you commit a shot.

Did You Know?

• The Pump Shotgun is one of the most immediately accessible weapons in the armory, making it a natural first choice for new Scrapers or for crews running lean on scrap budget.
• Because it fires a spread of pellets, a single well-placed shot can damage or eliminate multiple enemies at once—something single-round weapons can't replicate in a tight room.
• The manual pump action between shots means it has a slower effective fire rate than semi-auto or fully automatic options, so timing and positioning matter more than trigger discipline.
• In a co-op run, the shotgun's close-range crowd control complements a teammate's long-range rifle, creating a layered defensive setup without either player needing to cover the other's range.