Leone 12 Gauge Super

Overview

The Leone 12 Gauge Super, more commonly known as the M3 or pump shotty, is one of the shotguns featured in the Counter-Strike series. In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, it was replaced by the Nova.

Overview

The M3 is a very powerful pump-action shotgun available to both teams. The M3 is very effective in close quarters combat and is commonly seen on Office and Nuke. Because both shotguns are fairly similar, both are used. For those reasons, the M3 is a fairly popular weapon although not comparable to the AWSM, M4A1, AK-47, XM1014, or Desert Eagle and is almost never seen in tournaments and in public servers.

This shotgun is not available for Terrorists in Assassination maps.

Properties

CS 1.6 and CS:CZ
Hitbox	Primary Attack
Hitbox	Unarmored	Armored
Head	684	484
Chest & Arm	171	85
Stomach	213	106
Leg	128	128
All pellets hit
Red signifies a fatal hit

CS:S
Hitbox	Primary Attack
Hitbox	Unarmored	Armored
Head	198*	146*
Chest & Arm	120*	108*
Stomach	124	105
Leg	114	114
All pellets hit
Each shot contains 9 pellets
* Damage done in 1 M
Red signifies a fatal hit

Note: Damage is reduced by 20% when pellets hits the same place at point blank, but it still instant kill. (Head and chest only).

The M3 is a fairly heavy weapon. While wielded, the player's movement speed is 220 units per second (default speed is 250), meaning they suffer heavy speed reduction. The M3 is one of the few weapons that is unable to fire underwater.

Advantages

High damage at close range
Has a high chance of receiving an instant kill if all pellets hit a target, especially if the target is unarmored
Deals higher damage per shot than the XM1014 on an armored target
Good weapon for close range combat and flanking on a single target
Lower spread compared to the XM1014
High damage for a cheap weapon

Disadvantages

Pump-Action (low rate of fire)
The pumping animation will hamper the user's view (Only in Counter-Strike 1.6)
Not reliable at longer ranges
A poor weapon of choice against large groups of enemy players
Long reload time, especially when reloading all 8 shells.
Heavier than the XM1014
Easily countered with rifles and SMGs
Cannot fire underwater

Gameplay

Tactics

Aiming for the head is the best technique to obtain easy one hit kills at close quarters. However, it can be risky as some of the pellets may miss your target so be sure to confront the enemy within acceptable distances and when no one is aware of your presence. If you have trouble scoring headshots, aim for the chest or neck.
Take cover while reloading, try to take cover or strafe between each pump.
Combining this weapon with the use of grenades and/or pistols with a high rate of fire is a good strategy. If the first shot does not kill, switch to a sidearm which may increase your chances of survival.
If hiding in corners, this weapon and the Benelli M4 Super 90 are the best for easy and quick kills.
Try not to be out in the open with this weapon equipped. Players can easily kill you at long range. Instead, switch to a sidearm at medium and long ranges; a Desert Eagle is usually an acceptable sidearm to engage enemies due to its high damage and good accuracy. However, if the small magazine size is a deterrent, use a Five-SeveN or the Dual Elites. If your sidearm is not effective as well, retreat to a safe place.
- Try to pick your fight, that means taking short routes whenever possible, avoid being spotted at long range will increase your odd of survival.
This may be a shotgun but do not underestimate its range. Shotgun pellets do not disappear after a certain distance in Valve games so this weapon has a longer range than would be expected in an FPS game.
Getting a second shot is unlikely against rifle or SMG users. This weapon relies on its one-shot-kill potential to be effective, thus when possible, don't fire until you can expect 100 damage or if enemy is still not aware of your presence.
Work with your teammates; if your shot doesn't kill, your teammates can take the opponent down or you can finish up wounded enemies at close range.
Use a smoke grenade or a flashbang to help you get closer to your target.
- Alternatively, use HE grenade to soften up opponent for an easier killshot.
When facing an enemy close to your position, ensure that you fire your M3 first, preferably at the head or chest, and retreat when you have to pump the weapon after firing a shell. You can also use a flashbang with this tactic to assist you.
Shooting while hiding around a corner can increase your chances of scoring a kill.
If friendly-fire is enabled, avoid shooting with the M3, along with the XM1014, at clustered groups of enemy and allied players. The high spread of the pellets can lead to unintentional damage on allies.
This shotgun is often used by campers to ambush enemies in enclosed areas. Vice versa, highly skilled players use the M3 to swiftly kill camping players, providing that they are fast enough, especially in Source.
When against an enemy that is standing behind a crate or any other non-destroyable object while their upper body is visible (like in the map Prodigy) and you are at medium range, switch to a sidearm if possible; the spread of the shotgun cannot guarantee kill an enemy player unless they are on low health, which is just wasting ammo and giving the assailant is using cover an opportunity to easily kill you with any other weapon.
In Counter-Strike: Source, the M3 is more effective as it has lower spread compared to early games, thus killing enemies is much easier when aimed at the chest. Also, if all pellets hit the chest of a target, it results in an instant kill unlike in previous games. At closer ranges, aiming at any other areas will usually have the same result as long as all pellets hit a target. At medium to close ranges, an assailant can only be immediately killed if a headshot is scored.

Countertactics

Use long and medium range weapons against its users.
Grenades against its users also works, flash enemies armed with the M3 if you need to fight in close quarters.
Avoid close contact with M3 users.
If you have the XM1014, you can use the rate of fire to your advantage, though this is still risky.
- If you have a sniper rifle and an enemy M3 user is close, keep moving and use your sidearm to defend yourself.
Automatic weapons may give an advantage due to the M3's slow rate of fire. SMGs that inflict low damage may give a shotgun user a chance to fire a second round though.
The pumping animation for the M3 can hamper the sight perspective for users thus making them unable to clearly see where their targets are moving. Due to this, use this exploit to your advantage by strafe left-right and gunning down the M3 user.
Make evasion your top priority; the enemy player's pump time will be your best opportunity to counter-attack.
Use cover if possible if they are at medium range; the spread of this shotgun is ineffective against an enemy that is standing behind a object. Note though you must kill an M3 user before they are able to charge you at close range.

Comparison to the XM1014

Positive

Higher damage
Lower pellet spread
Higher magazine size (8 shells vs 7 shells)
Cheaper ($1700 compared to $3000)

Neutral

Available for both factions
Same ammunition type (12 gauge)
Same amount of reserve ammo (32 shells)
Both weapon cannot fire underwater

Negative

Slower rate of fire (68 rpm compared to 240 rpm)
Pump-action (if one shot misses, it will give the combatant less likely to resist retaliation, unlike the XM1014's semi-automatic.)
Lower movement speed (220 units per seconds vs 240 units per second)
Longer reload time (4.6 seconds vs 4.2 seconds)

Achievements

Counter-Strike: Source

Weapon

Leone 12 Gauge Super Expert
Kill 200 enemy players with the Leone 12 Gauge Super.

Appearances

Condition Zero

In Tour of Duty, Kenny is the only bot that uses the M3 as his main weapon. Other shotgun wielding bots will buy the M3 when they cannot afford the XM1014. Bots who have a weapon preference of using the M249 may also purchase the M3 if their cash reserves are low.

Deleted Scenes

The M3 has appeared in most missions of Deleted Scenes. It serves as a powerful close range weapon as enemies will die in one or two shots. The M3 seems to have a tighter cone of spread than its multiplayer counterpart though if you miss, an assailant will have plenty of time to fire back.

If the nightvision goggles are not available, the player can use the flashlight mounted on the M3 to navigate in the darkness.

It appears in the following missions:

DrugLab: As a starting weapon.
Motorcade Assault: Found on a box near the area where the GIGN had fought the Midwest Militia.
Thin Ice: Found at the side of the gear.
Hankagai: Found at the side of the plant, shortly after you encounter a wounded civilian.
Fastline: Found at an area where two Kidotai were hit by a M72 LAW rocket.
Run!: Near a partially destroyed wall in the beginning.

Trivia

In Counter-Strike, the M3 has two different pump animations while in Condition Zero, there are two identical pump animations.
- Due to this. This weapon suffers from obstructive pumping animation used in 1.6 (blocking 3/4 of the screen including the crosshair); making it harder for players to focus and score some kills with it.
- The obstructive pumping animation was removed in Condition Zero and reworked in Source so that the pump animation would only use 1/2 of the screen without blocking the crosshair.
The M3 is one of the four weapons that cannot fire underwater, the others being the FAMAS, XM1014, and the IDF Defender.
In-game, the M3 does not have the ability to switch from pump action to semi-automatic operation (which can be done with the real life counterpart). The pump action mode of the M3 is mainly used to fire low velocity defense loads for non-lethal, riot control ammunition, which can cause stoppages while firing in automatic mode. These types of ammunition is common among police, law enforcement, and sometimes used by counter-terrorist units.
The M3 does more damage than the XM1014, despite they share the same ammo. This was implemented for balancing reasons. This is not true in real-life, as pump-action are less lethal than semi-automatic.
- In Deleted Scenes however, the effect is the same.
In Counter-Strike: Source, the view model shows that the rear sights have been removed, but the sights still show up on the weapon's world model. In first-person view, it has a ghost ring sight attached and a usable flashlight kept on it. This shows that the view model is remade after the BETA stage.
The M3 is the only weapon capable of performing an instant kill if all pellets hit the target, regardless of the position hit, possibly to balance the pumping action.
- This weapon inflicts the highest amount of damage per shot, the second is the AWP.
- Like AWP, this is also a "high risk, high reward" weapon, as it has good killing potential but the role is very limited.
The flashlight attached to this shotgun is only usable in Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes. Thus, it produces different fire sounds.
Before Global Offensive, the M3 is the only pump-action weapon available.
The sounds for the pumping animation may not be properly synced when the user is reloading this shotgun.
The shooting sound in Counter-Strike: Source also includes the pumping sound.
In Source, the damage is reduced roughly 20% when all pellets hits the enemy's head or chest at point blank range. However, when fired at 1 meter, the damage is higher, if all pellets hits a target.
- It is possible to get several kills with one shot when enemy targets are lined up, provided the first enemy target is killed. The pellets will penetrate through a body/hitbox and will impact other players.

References

↑ csgo.fgd

External links

Benelli M3 on Wikipedia

[1] csgo.fgd

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