INSANE Budget Shotgun! Romero Mastery | Hunt: Showdown 1896

Intro

Hi guys, Rex here! The Romero is one of the most basic weapons in Hunt: Showdown, but don’t underestimate it! Despite its very low cost of just 66 hunt dollars and the fact that must reload between each shot, it is one of, if not the most reliable shotgun in the game. The Romero comes with three main variants. The regular Romero has a cycle time of 4 seconds, meaning it takes 4 seconds to reload and ready up for the next shot. This variant also allows you to run two ammo types at once, unlike the other variants. Next up, the Alamo features a magazine, allowing you to load up 5 shells instead of 1, and has a cycle time of 2.8 seconds, which is noticeably faster than the regular Romero. Finally, the shorty variants behave just like the regular Romero, but has worse stats overall, including slightly lower damage, lower drop range, slightly bigger spread, higher recoil and slightly worse reload speed.

With regular buckshot, the Romero has good and consistent damage output and can penetrate wooden walls. This is the best all-round ammo type in my opinion. Next up, dragon breath has much lower damage potential, far bigger spread and can not penetrate surfaces, but has the benefit of dealing massive fire damage to the target. Dragon breath will set enemy hunters on fire on impact and deals additional fire damage which often results in lost health chunks. This ammo type can also be used to burn dead hunters as an alternative to flares, fuses or other fire sources. The second special ammo type, penny shot, deals a lot of blunt damage which is great for killing bosses, breaking open doors and windows or fighting players in the open, but has the downside of no penetration power meaning it can’t wallbang the way regular buckshot does. I see this as more of a utility ammo type compared to buckshot, but some might prefer it for PVP as well. Penny shot has a bigger spread than buckshot, which potentially makes it easier to land shots with in close range, but less effective on distance. The third ammo type, slugs, are single large projectiles which are effective on longer distance than the other ammo types. Slugs can one-shot to the chest in situations where the other ammo types wouldn’t, and is the only ammo type that can land direct headshots, allowing for long range kills if your aim is true. For game balance purposes, slugs have a slight deviation in their accuracy, making them somewhat inconsistent on longer distances. Finally, star shells are flares loaded into your shotgun and behaves similar to a flare pistol. These shells can be used to illuminate dark areas, burn bodies or set enemy hunters on fire, but deal extremely low damage, making them best suited for utility or memes.

I played the Romero for a couple of days, and this video features the best rounds. For my sidearm I mostly played the conversion pistol with FMJ and grabbed the fanning trait for increased fire rate in close range when possible. At the end of the video I will share my thoughts and recommendations for the Romero, so stay tuned, but without further ado – let’s dive into it!

Thoughts & Recommendations

After having played the Romero for a couple of days, I have some thoughts and recommendations I’d like to share with you. First off, as expected and as I’ve previously experienced, the Romero is a very reliable and powerful shotgun in capable hands. It takes a while to reload, which is a downside compared to other shotguns, but with good movement and positioning it really shines. Being in the right place at the right time and moving in and out of cover efficiently is key to succeeding with this weapon.

For this challenge I primarily played the regular Romero with half buckshot and half penny shot, but I also had a few rounds with the shorty, and one round with the Alamo, which turned out to be an absolute banger. The regular Romero and the shorty are what you’ll see people play the most, as they behave very predictably and are both solid picks. The regular Romero makes for a great primary weapon if you’re on a budget, and likewise the shorty is a fantastic and reliable close-range secondary to any 2-slot weapon or as part of a quartermaster loadout paired with any weapon that doesn’t perform well in close range.

As for the Alamo, I’ve had bad experience with it in the past. This variant has often thrown me off, likely due to my expectation that it would reload faster than it actually does. 2.8 seconds is still a significant reload time, and if you’re not positioning yourself carefully in the meantime or you overestimate it and push too early, you’ll often end up dying. Luckily, I learned my lesson with my original Romero mastery challenge about a year ago, and this time around the Alamo worked like a charm, making me excited to take it for another spin again soon! As a final recommendation, I would suggest you run half buckshot and half penny shot for utility on the regular Romero, buckshot on the shorty and buckshot or slugs on the Alamo, depending on your preference.

What do YOU think about the Romero, and what is your opinion on the Alamo variant? Let me know in the comments, and until next time – I’ll see you in the bayou!