M870 Shotgun

The M870 Shotgun or the M870 is a weapon that is available in, , and its expansion. Its functionality and effectiveness is very similar in each installment.

SAS: Zombie Assault
The M870 is usually the first weapon bought by most players. On normal and hard mode, the M870's high damage can keep most zombies at bay, and at close range can kill most zombies in a single hit.

Its main problem is its very short range and low rate of fire, which makes its effectiveness very limited at higher rounds. Wile these shortcomings are negligible on the early levels of normal or hard difficulty, they become noticeable very soon on nightmare mode.

SAS: Zombie Assault 2
The M870 shotgun is found in the Reception area of SAS: Zombie Assault 2, meaning that it requires $200 to access the room it's in, in addition to the $125 cost for the gun. In Insane Asylum, it is found in the Cafeteria, which costs $250 to unlock along with the $125 price for the gun.

Overview
The M870's is an extremely powerful weapon for early waves. Its piercing ability can penetrate multiple zombies at once, and its large damage means that it can eliminate swarms quickly. These advantages make it an excellent close-quarters weapon, and is perfect for quickly getting rid of trailing hordes.

While the M870 has excellent advantages, it also has equally debilitating disadvantages. The slow rate of fire can make it difficult against swarms that are rushing from multiple flanks, its low magazine size is also a nuisance, and its slow reload time is also extremely inconvenient. Being caught reloading can be a death sentence with this weapon, as zombies can overcome a player well before reloading is complete. Due to this, it is recommended to switch to another weapon instead of reloading when a swarm is encountered.

Trivia

 * The M870 is based off of the real-world shotgun known as the Remington M870.