I'm fine taking a poll, but is an explanation of why really needed?

Either way I'll usually run gunboats in a competitive format since I have awful hitscan aim. I might run a wierd combination of something like cow mangler + shotgun in a pub, but I usually prefer gunboats because I enjoy to jump and have much better projectile aim.

I was just curious what you prefer using, gunboats or shotgun, you don't need to take it if you don't want to.

Shotgun because I have better shotgun aim than I do rocket jumps

Shotgun for pubs, I run out of rockets quickly and often don't have a way to back myself up. I'm fine with taking the extra damage since it's a pub and I don't have to rocket jump as much.

Gunboats for competitive, you have to rocket jump a lot and you take less damage when using gunboats.

I play more pubs than competitive, so I voted shotgun.

Unless i'm being healed I need gunboats for all them jumps.

Shotgum.

Shotgun is for pussies

shotgun is for pockets who don't believe in their scouts

shotgun is bad. gunboats are good

Shotgun isn't bad, gunboats are just better

righteous bison

Shotgun because I have the worst jumps of any player besides Mustardoverlord. I run Shotgun on Roamer sometimes too. If the game is really slow and boring I'll stand on flank with Black Box and Shotgun and I use it on last holds.

gunboats are better in almost every situation at the highest level of competitive tf2 and if you choose not to run them you are probably limiting the ceiling of your team

I like gunboats because my shotgun aim is terrible, and i feel guilty if i take too many heals so i just jump and get healthpacks instead... being able to jump anywhere even if i am low makes me more confident, and rocket jumping is fun.

Gunboats: on mid, fast-paced games, and viaduct
Shotgun: if I die on mid
Battalions backup: if I die before a stalemate

Gumboats vs Shotgum

Same thing can be said about pockets who, in 100% of scenarios, refuse to unequip their gunboats for sg/conch. The gunboats are generally more effective but that doesn't mean you should never use the other options.

Could you explain why this is?

They allow you to be more mobile and make you less dependent on heals (so other classes can get some more). Assuming you can aim your rockets, you should be fine without a shotgun.

shotgun is more risky to jump with and really fucks up any scouts getting too close is why i find it fun

good weapon but gunboats are a direct upgrade with good scouts tbh

Soldier's weakness is mobility and you can fix that with gunboats without any serious drawbacks, the shotgun isn't that good especially when you take only 20 damage from rocketjumps.

Scouts got buffed in MyM. Your medic's gonna run fast as fuck and be EVEN MORE with scouts. -> You don't need shotgun because he's already with scouts -> Gunboats pocket more mobility.

Healing scouts also gives you more "value". 60hp to a scout is a full overheal. 60hp to a soldier is a little more than half an overheal. (Stole this from MR.Slin video don't sue me)

Don't ignore the banners

Don't ignore the BASE Jumper

shotgun pockets xD

This thread is basically just asking how many of you are roamers/pockets.

All I'll say is that I miss having the shotgun whenever I'm getting embarrassed by a scout in a 1v1

wait, pockets run gunboats nowadays?
i can't keep up with all these meta changes I missed :-(

is it sad that im a scoutmain but cant aim a shotgun to save my life?

id still run shotgun anyways.