Epic Nerfs Gears of War 3 Sawed Off Shotgun on Fan Request

Sawed-Off still gibs from further range than the Gnasher most of the time. Epic really didn’t fix anything – we still see them running through stopping power and gibbing us from ten good feet. The Gnasher can’t even one-hit down someone from that range without an active-reload headshot.

Believe it or not, it’s actually really hard to keep someone from getting within ten feet of you, even with the bottomless clip and amazing stopping power of the Lancer. The distance between most cover points in Gears 3 is fifteen feet, and running five or six feet under fire isn’t all that hard. At that range, the Sawed-Off player can just roll toward you, slide up against the wall near you, and shoot you in the bottom of the foot while you’re rolling away. BAM, you’re dead. The only way to survive once they get within ten feet is to get really lucky and hope they miss (which is almost impossible considering the spread).

Mostly though, it’s the way we have to play the game now that frustrates everybody. When everybody on the other team, even the high level players, comes running at you with an insta-kill starting weapon, or hiding around every corner, you can’t take power weapons. The Sawed-Off just creates unbreakable, impassable walls in choke points. Granted, the Retro Lancer can deal with Sawed-Off rushers, but I’ve still seen way too many of them run through my Retro stopping power to gib me from ten feet away and then trashtalk me later.

Fun fact – the Sawed-Off is mostly used by the higher ranked players, and it’s driving away the newcomers that the gun was designed for. Can you say irony?