So there's a lot of guff been going around back and forth about how bad our shoota is.
I got tired of conjecture from both sides and decided to test the damned thing myself; after several minutes in the garrison of both Space Marines and Orks, I've got my results.

OOPS!: Rounds per second for the Bolter should be 6, not 8. Point and laugh at me for botching simple math!

As you can see from my very technical chart here, the body-shot DPS of the Bolter and Shoota is almost complete the same. However, considering that the accuracy of the Shoota is pretty obviously worse than Bolter (see picture here), we can say that the damage of the Bolter is better at longer ranges. That's fine, but given that bolter hasn't an advantage at closer ranges*, I am somewhat befuddled.

*Disclaimer: If you can consistently land head-shots with the Shoota, it can actually prove more damaging that a similar placement of shots with the Bolter. It should be noted that doing so consistently in this game will be difficult, at best. However, why the hell is the ork gun designed for head shots?

So, to put this debate to rest: Is the shoota worse than the bolter?
For most intents and purposes, yes because of the lower accuracy. However, a sufficiently skilled player can turn the Shoota in a bit of a boon by aiming appropriately at closer range. But that doesn't feel very orky to me... As the ork saying goes, "Aiming? Wotz dat?"

The real advantage is the clip size. In a straight out fight, they're kinda equal, but you have to remember that people dodge and find cover. That means wasted shots, which means a full clip doesn't always kill.

So in reality, the longer a shoota vs bolter fight goes on, the more advantage the shoota has. Often I see a tac run away to reload, realize I still have 30 rounds in my clip, so I push on him and get the kill.

That gives a real tactical advantage.

Hm.. that is a good point. I hadn't really considered that as I was mostly focusing on the numbers. Not seeing the forest from the trees and all that.

Not that I dont believe you but the shoota (both types) really has the same RoF as the Bolter? I never knew. That's very interesting. It always felt like the shoota was slightly faster.

That being said, playing as a shoota is kinda like playing as a Dire Avenger, except you don't stand still as often. It's nothing like playing as a tactical, who's comparitive accuracy is somewhat wasted below the 22m mark. So below 22ms the bolter is about dead even with a shoota. Above 22 ms the shoota may lose accuracy, but it has higher dps than a Shuriken. So it's odd. You have two way different playstyles with the shoota entirely depending on the enemy.

Now use two shoota boyz. If you place right you can hoze an area down at around 15m with so many bullets they require a shield.to push through.

Disregard my number for the rounds/second for the Bolter. It should be 6 and the Shoota should should be 8. I think I must just have had a huge brain-fart. x-x

Also, given my calculations, the Shuriken Launcher actually has better DPS (It's clipped off in the forum; right-click my chart to see it in full), but it's probably not completely accurate to say it has better actual DPS because, VERY ODDLY, the Shuriken Launcher has worse accuracy (along one axis).

Why not take the fusion gun? That seems by far and away the best gun in the game right now.

I'm better with a bolter than with a shoota. I can say that. Yes I agree that in terms of potential damage they are pretty much equal. It's just that a bolter vs a shoota means the shoota has a harder time hitting you in the head while you have double easy time because bolter is more accurate AND ork hitbox is bigger.

that gets worse vs an eldar, because eldars have even smaller hitboxes.

However I've come to accept I'm just bad with a shoota so I just don't play it. I play bolter on my chaos guy when we need a capper and I feel like shooting while staying versatile.

Then I saw that loyalist thread about buffing the bolter because at short range marines have no options and I was like... I'd rather have the storm bolter do that than have a bolter that is better both at short and medium range.

Unless of course it's a whole mod thingy where you can sacrifice mid range accuracy/firepower for better dakka at close range. I'd be perfectly fine with that, as long as it doesn't become a conquer all range firefights thing.