Shotguns in Starfield are one of the best weapons to use early game since they deal high damage at close range with very little Combat Skills investment. To get the most damage out of a shotgun you must ensure that all the pellets fired hit the target. The better the accuracy of a shotgun the tighter the spread of pellets will be.

There are a number of Unique Shotguns to collect. Unique Weapons range from; rare, epic, legendary and come with pre-defined Weapon Effects that increase your damage output.

Using the science skill weapon engineering you can modify your Shotguns with the best mods for your playstyle. This will affect the damage, fire rate, magazine capacity, range, mass and accuracy of the weapon. Each gun has a limited number of mod slots to utilise.

Below you will find a list of all the common and unique Shotgun locations in Starfield along with the weapon ID which can be used to add the weapon to your inventory using console commands.

Ballistic Shotguns

Ballistic Shotguns deal physical damage and ammunition while rarer than other weapons is relatively easy to acquire for most shotguns.

You can increase the damage that Shotguns do by investing skill points into the following Combat Skills: Ballistics, Shotgun Certification, Marksmanship, Rapid Reloading, Armor Penetration, Crippling and Sharpshooting.

Name	Image	Damage	Fire Rate	DPS	Ammo	Mag Capacity	Accuracy	Range	Mass	Mod Slots	Value	Item ID	Unique
Boom Boom		50	60	50	Caseless Shotgun Shell	20	44.1%	24	3.75	3/8	18113	001AC6BB	Yes
Breach		99	10	16.5	15x25 CLL Shotgun Shell	7	55.3%	20	7.3	8	6780	000547A3	-
Brute Force		68	20	22.6	15x25 CLL Shotgun Shell	7	57.1%	20	4.4	5/6	15146	001AC6E0	Yes
Coachman		52	47	40.7	Caseless Shotgun Shell	2	38.4%	20	3	7	1650	0026D96B	-
Experiment A-7		119	10	19.83	15x25 CLL Shotgun Shell	6	50.6%	20	6.9	3/8	19662	0031F257	Yes
Old Earth Shotgun		73	6	7.3	12G Shotgun Shell	6	56.3%	20	3.6	5	2870	00278F74	-
Pacifier		59	20	19.7	15x25 CLL Shotgun Shell	9	45%	20	2.8	6	4590	002953F8	-
Rapidshot		99	18	29.7	15x25 CLL Shotgun Shell	6	56.9%	24	7.45	6/8	23730	0016CFA	Yes
Shotty		50	60	50	Caseless Shotgun Shell	12	35.2%	20	3	8	7368	0026D960	-
The Cursed Shotgun		73	6	7.3	12G Shotgun Shell	6	67.9%	24	4.8	4/5	10391	001AC6E7	Yes

Particle Beam Shotguns

Particle Beam Shotguns deal both energy damage and physical damage combined. The advantages of dealing two damage types are that one of them will still be effective against even the most heavily armoured enemies. The disadvantage is that you will need to spread your character build over multiple Combat Skills to deal the maximum amount of damage with Particle Beam Shotguns.

You can increase the damage that Particle Beam, do by investing skill points into the following Combat Skills: Particle Beams, Lasers, Ballistics, Shotgun Certification, Marksmanship, Rapid Reloading, Armor Penetration, Crippling and Sharpshooting.

Name	Image	Damage	Fire Rate	DPS	Ammo	Mag Capacity	Accuracy	Range	Mass	Mod Slots	Value	Item ID	Unique
Big Bang		32 + 94	14	29.4	Heavy Particle Fuse	8	54.7%	20	7	7	12870	0026D963	-
Jake's Hangover Cure		32 + 94	14	29.4	Heavy Fuse	8	54.6%	20	7.0	0/7	12870	002BD871	Yes

Particle Electromagnetic

EM Weapons also known as Electromagnetic weapons deal electromagnetic damage. EM Damage is considered non-lethal and will only knock out targets making it perfect for a pacifist playthrough. EM weapons use standard ammunition.

However, it should be noted that there are very few combat skills that increase EM damage compared to the other damage types in Starfield. Strangely at rank 4 of the Incapacitation Skill its possible to deal 300% additional damage.

You can increase the damage that EM Weapons, do by investing skill points into the following Combat Skills: Incapacitation Skill, Shotgun Certification, Marksmanship, Rapid Reloading, Armor Penetration, Crippling and Sharpshooting.

Name	Image	Damage	Fire Rate	DPS	Ammo	Mag Capacity	Accuracy	Range	Mass	Mod Slots	Value	Item ID	Unique
Riot Shotgun		25	10	19.83	15x25 CLL Shotgun Shell	6	50.6%	20	6.9	7/8	14965	0031F257	Yes