The Heavy Automatic Shotgun or Abzats, is a makeshift heavy automatic shotgun and a powerful addition to Artyom's arsenal. It is the single most powerful non-explosive weapon in both Metro 2033 and Last Light in terms of concentrated damage. It resembles (and is derived from) a cut down DShK 12.7mm Machine gun, re-chambered and re-bored for shotgun shells, and completely redesigned to be wielded by one user. The weapon is only made available in game by purchasing the Ranger Pack for Metro 2033 or the Metro: Last Light Season Pass, after the Redux version released, it becomes the rare but obtainable weapon.
Overview
After the war, Andrew the Blacksmith obtained a wide variety of old pre-war guns, that were in a barely-serviceable condition, and set about making them useful in some fashion or another. One of these projects was on finding a use for the DShK 12.7mm Machinegun, which, being quite old, was comparatively easy to come by in the industrial areas above-ground. As the DShK's 12.7x108mm rounds are extremely hard to come by, the wily smith went about refitting the barrel to accept shotgun shells.
Very little needed to be actually changed for the Abzats - with the gun already designed for a very large, powerful round, he did not need to make big changes to the firing mechanism to accept smaller shotgun shells. The end result was a powerful close-combat weapon, well-suited for handling the biggest of threats found in the Metro, especially against hordes of mutants. Unfortunately, the design was also beyond expensive and quite bulky, ensuring that only a few in the Metro could actually afford them, and that other designs remained more popular. The weapon itself also had problems - as its machine gun parent, it is extremely heavy, weighing in at over 20 pounds, even with numerous steps taken to reduce weight being made.
Tactics and Use
The Abzats is the most powerful weapon in terms of concentrated damage in the game; no enemy can take a full belt of ammo from it, even with less-than-optimal hits, and survive. Its huge ammo capacity gives it a great advantage over the Uboinik/Shambler and Duplet, and its rapid fire rate overpowers the advantages of the bayonet attachment and rapid follow-up shot ability of the Uboinik/Shambler or Saiga-12. These traits make the Abzats an overwhelmingly powerful weapon for close-quarters combat, capable of gunning down entire swarms of mutants without having to reload. In Metro 2033, its alternate fire allows to the player to fire the weapon semi-automatically in order to save accuracy and reduce recoil; in Metro: Last Light, this was changed to a rapid 5-shot burst requiring a brief cool-down period.
Despite its power, the Abzats has more than a few drawbacks. First, it is the weakest shotgun in terms of single-shot damage, and second, it has the shortest effective range of any shotgun. While it does not spray quite as widely as the Duplet, shots fired from the Abzats tend to spread in a random pattern and cannot be compensated for by the Duplet's ability to fire both barrels simultaneously, which saturates a much larger area than a single shot from the Abzats. The biggest weakness of all, however, is that the Abzats is a bullet-hose - it eats through shotgun shells about as fast as the Kalash 2012 consumes 5.45mm rounds. With an ammo type as expensive as shotgun shells, the Abzats quickly becomes an expensive investment.
While the Abzats offers unrivaled punch at close-range, it must be used effectively and carefully or it will quickly suck your supply of shotgun shells dry. With this in mind, it is imperative to conserve and collect as much shotgun ammo as possible, also, trade the ammo you are not using and get more shotgun shells. If playing at Ranger difficulties, with no crosshair, you should use this weapon while you are facing multiple enemies at close range, otherwise, you will most likely waste your ammo.
Even if you don't intend to use it, the Abzats is worth obtaining due to its high trade value: exchanging it for a Duplet gives you a net total of 58 military-grade rounds. You can also use it as a trade-in towards other guns at Armory or Hole stations, or the trader at the end of Quarantine; this can lower the price of a scoped Helsing to a very reasonable 82 MGR.
In Metro: Last Light, it is still an immensely powerful weapon, although it is now semi-automatic by default. It can be upgraded with a muzzle brake (which reduces recoil), an autofire adapter (increases rate of fire and enables fully-automatic operation), a laser sight (to maintain accuracy when firing from the hip, especially in Ranger difficulties), and extended ammo box (doubles ammunition capacity).
Attachments (Last Light and Redux only)
- Muzzle Brake
- Autofire adapter
- Laser sight
- Extended magazine
Variants and Obtaining
Metro 2033
The Heavy Automatic Shotgun is a promotional weapon, requiring a download code to obtain. Once the code is redeemed, there are several chances to obtain the weapon. Note that for the weapon to appear, you will need to be logged into Xbox Live. You can, however, obtain the shotgun, disconnect, and load the save, and still have it in your inventory. The code could be obtained through pre-ordering the game or getting the "Special Edition" from Gamestop. PC gamers who have bought the game through Valve's Steam service will find that the weapon is included in the purchase as it counts as part of the free DLC. The Abzats is also available in Metro 2033/Last Light Redux.
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Heavy Automatic Shotgun:
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Metro Last Light
The Abzats is a promotional weapon that requires the player to have purchased the Season Pass in order to appear.
- Can be taken from the armory in D6 for free, though it will be lost after Ashes unless playing on Ranger difficulties.
- The only one found, not bought, is found in Undercity, near the door that uses a wooden crank to open, and makes short work of the nearby Nosalis horde.
- One can be bought in the Depot level, costing 200 MGRs on Hardcore.
- One can be obtained at the end of the game in D6 for free.
Related Achievements/Trophies
Metro 2033
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Gunman (Metro 2033) | 20 
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| Kill 50 enemies with Heavy Automatic Shotgun. | ||
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Weaponsmith (Metro 2033) | 40
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| Kill at least 1 enemy with each weapon available in the game. | ||
Metro 2033 Redux
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Gunman (Metro 2033 Redux) | Bronze Trophy - 15
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| Kill 100 enemies with shotguns | ||
Trivia
- The Heavy Automatic Shotgun, like the VSV, is an example of a successful pre-war design becoming an even-more successful post-war design.
- If left idle with it equipped for a while, Artyom will play around with the weapon's grips and stock.
- This weapon, like all other shotguns in Metro 2033 and the Duplet in Last Light, can only be fired from the hip, which makes it hard to aim on Ranger difficulties. While this should not be a problem when dealing with mutants, consider attaching a laser sight to aid accuracy.
- The Abzats is also unique for being belt-fed, belt-fed shotgun is extremely rare in real life due to its impracticality, most shotgun users will prefer box-fed or tube-fed shotgun.
- Despite the various modifications made to lighten the weapon, it would still be too heavy to be effectively wielded by one person: the DShk on which it is based weighs 75 pounds (34 kg) unloaded and is unlikely to be reduced to any practical level.
- The word abzats (абзац) actually means "paragraph", but in slang its meaning is "Wow!" or "Oh crap!" - both applicable to this weapon.
- In the Redemption ending of Metro: Last Light, a Red Line heavy soldier is seen wielding the Abzats.
- The Abzats is the most valuable shotgun in game, worth about 200 MGRs, its also the rarest.
- This is a great weapon to use against librarians as its high damage at close range often kills them in a few shots to the head or chest in full auto, its good against other boss-type mutants encountered in Last Light.
- Although the shotgun rounds in game are referred to as 12x70 Buckshot, this type of ammunition has vastly different dimensions than the 12.7x108mm rounds that the Abzats was originally chambered for. In order to fire shotgun ammunition, the Abzats would require extensive modifications to its firing operation, to the extent of being rebuilt entirely from scratch.
Sources
- http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/05/22/metro-last-light-dlc-season-pass-announced
Weapons of Metro 2033 Melee Handguns Primary Weapons Secondary Weapons Automatic Shotgun (Uboinik) • Duplet • Heavy Automatic Shotgun (Abzats) • Helsing • Tihar • Volt DriverExplosives Emplacement Weapons Attachments Weapons of Metro Last Light and Metro Redux Melee Handguns Assault Rifles Sniper Rifles Shotguns Pneumatic Weapons Heavy Weapons Explosives Emplacement Weapons Attachments