The Alternate Shotgun, also known as the Impact Hammer and colloquially known as the Jackhammer, is the right arm of the Excavator, a yellow machine adorned by a small white flag on which it is inscribed "Vegter Vandie Volk"; ("Warrior Of The People" in Afrikaans,) acting as the Shotgun's alternate counterpart. It can be found in 7-2: Light Up the Night after interacting with three secret slabs found in secret Hookpoint challenges scattered throughout the level, and is the final alternate weapon in the game.
This fist-like contraption performs a melee attack by extending its piston arm out, punching through enemies with blistering damage. The weapon is powered by Speed; a moving turbine can be seen as the player moves, indicating the damage dealt; based on the red, yellow, and green speed-o-meter on the shotgun's right-hand UI.
Weapon Location
The Alternate Shotgun can be found in 7-2: Light Up the Night. Each timed Hookpoint puzzle has a metal grate that remains open if both the beginning and end switches have been activated in time. Within each grate is a slab, and after activating all of the slabs, the Alternate Shotgun will be located in the building where the two Guttermen ambush the player on the tram tracks.
The building can be entered through a small hole in the ceiling caused by a Gutterman's drop pod. Inside the building is a sealed container that opens to a small room. This contains a crude hole that holds the dead remains of the Excavator, which wields the Alternate Shotgun as its right arm.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Higher damage per hit.
- Allows for an easy retreat by recoiling away.
- Can parry things that are normally immune to parrying.
- Breaks Gutterman Shields.
Cons:
- Slower attack speed.
- No projectile boosting.
- Has extremely short range.
Comparison
Core Eject
The Alternate Shotgun is pretty versatile in this form; the Core Eject can perform Grenade Driving, giving a good amount of hit-scan range. Coupled with the high melee damage and combo potential, this gun is nothing to sneeze at. Grenade Driving can also chain to coins, allowing for easy, accurate, and explosive strikes, the damage with one coin being the same as a Malicious Railcannon. The ability to drop the core as if it were a grenade gives it the ability to leave a trap/ mine at your position, clearing an area around you similar to a Knuckleblaster
The regular Shotgun has the advantage of being able to launch the core, giving it more agency over where the explosion is placed, as well as being faster and having the ability to projectile boost. Projectile boosting is not possible with the Alternate, so it misses out on fast crowd control.
Pump Charge
The Alternate Shotgun retains its versatility in this form but in a more AOE-focused way. The pumping gives the Alternate a larger "explosion", allowing you to hit enemies outside the piston's range. Overpumping causes the gun to undergo a larger meltdown, resulting in a red explosion. This explosion, despite being larger than the normal shotgun's overpump explosion, can still be dodged by quickly dashing twice with precise timing.
The normal pump allows it to get more damage, and the triple-pump can certainly do a lot; one shot a Sentry, Malicious Face, and a Virtue with a parry, and do good damage even without the parry. The over-pump can also be used directly at you, and with a lot more control. The over-pump can one-shot Sentry with a Knuckleblaster punch, Malicious Face by reflecting its projectiles, and a Virtue.
Overall, if you want a fast and controlled gun, use the normal. If you want a good AOE tool with a lot of burst damage, choose the Alternate.
Sawed On
The only difference is that you can use the piston to push the saw back, otherwise everything about the chainsaw remains the same.
If you want to keep the ability to +PROJECTILE BOOST in your arsenal, choose the normal. If you want to have another reserve piston on hand for those sick triple-fist combos or just want to juggle the saw more, use the Alternate.
Strategy
As V1 is light, the weapon creates a ton of recoil when used. The distance is still based on the player's speed, but the highest damage can send them even farther than a nuke. Getting the Shotgun to Red Speed and firing at an enemy will do lots of damage, but put the shotgun on cooldown. Use another variant while it's on cooldown.
There are some techniques universal across all variations:
Whip Cancelling
Whip Cancelling is a tech used that guarantees a fully red drive when hitting an enemy.
How to perform:
- Charge your drive.
- Whip a heavy enemy.
- As you are approaching that enemy, un-grapple. This allows you to exceed the normal Whiplash's speed, causing a red drive.
Trivia
- The arm comes from a machine type known as the Excavator. A complete model for the machine is available in the game files, intended by the developers to be used as a free modding resource.
