SPAS-12

The  is a shotgun featured in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 it is pump-action, where as in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized and Call of Duty: Black Ops it is semi-automatic.

Campaign
The SPAS-12 appears frequently in several campaign levels; however, during the missions "Cliffhanger," "The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday", and "The Gulag", a SPAS-12 with Arctic Camouflage can be found. It is also possible, although extremely rare, to find a SPAS-12 with woodland camouflage on "Loose Ends" and "The Enemy of My Enemy". Its range is regarded as long in terms of a shotgun in both the singleplayer and multiplayer.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, it is the first shotgun available to the player, available in the "Grenadier" default class, with an attached suppressor. The SPAS-12 is one of three pump-action shotguns in the game, the others being the W1200, which is only available in the "Museum," and the Masterkey Shotgun attachment.

The SPAS-12 is a popular shotgun due to its high damage and outstanding range. Since the update which reduced the range of the Model 1887 when used with Akimbo, it has become one of the most used shotguns in online multiplayer. It is also the only secondary pump-action shotgun in multiplayer so it has the shotgun "feel" so many people use it as it takes a bit more skill to use effectively, the same reason some people prefer the Intervention over other snipers.

The Grip is partially ineffective as an attachment, as the sights reset by the time the next shell is in place anyway. The Grip does, however, keep the screen more still, allowing for easier detection and tracking of enemies. Extended Mags increases the SPAS's magazine to 16 shells, which is highly useful for prolonged CQB engagements. Optics are nearly useless on a SPAS, as shotguns are often hip-fired, and even when aiming down the sights, its iron sights are clear enough. However, many people aim down the sights anyway as it lowers their sensitivity, leading to more accurate shots. Because there are few instances of taking cover in close quarters engagements, FMJ is not a very good choice for this weapon as it does nothing aesthetically or functional to the weapon. Using a silencer will hide the player from detection on enemy radar when firing, but reduces the range of the SPAS. Seeing as how one of the SPAS's most valuable attributes is its long range compared to other shotguns, the suppressor is not an effective attachment, as it takes away the advantage of range.

Weapon Attachments

 * Red Dot Sight
 * Silencer
 * Grip
 * FMJ
 * Holographic Sight
 * Extended Mags

Campaign
The SPAS-12 appears in Modern Warfare: Mobilized as one of the two shotguns in game, the other being the AA-12. The SPAS-12 is only found in "Wrecking Crew", "Closing In", "Oil Rig Confrontation", and "Last Chance", used only by the Insurgency. The SPAS-12 is the same in appearance as the SPAS-12 in Modern Warfare 2, but it has a few differences in performance. Firstly, it fires in the semi-automatic mode as opposed to the pump-action mode. This allows a quick second shot if the first shot misses or does not kill. Secondly, the pellets have an unlimited range. This allows the player to fire all eight shells quickly (if necessary) to kill an enemy at long range.

Multiplayer
In multiplayer, the SPAS-12 is unlocked by default for the Insurgency faction. It is a decent shotgun to use, though it has a long reload time and a capacity of only 8 shells. Unlike single player, it usually takes two shells to kill, unless at point blank range or when firing at the head. On the contrary, it usually does not take more than three shells at long ranges, except when moving or firing at great distances. The SPAS-12 is often considered one of the best close quarters weapons in the game, having high damage, and unlimited pellet range. The SPAS-12 has very predictable spreads when firing crouched as the pellets always hit the same spots. Therefore, using the iron sights is not necessary if accuracy is desired.

Campaign
The SPAS-12 is featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops. The SPAS-12 is semi-automatic, unlike it's pump-action version in MW, and has its stock in the folded position. One of the key benefits of the shotgun is that it has the largest capacity of all the shotguns. They are commonly found on enemies in the levels "The Defector" and "Numbers" with no attachments. In "The Defector," the player starts the mission with a SPAS-12 equipped with Dragon's Breath incendiary shotgun shells. The Dragon's Breath is aesthetically identical to the rounds regularly fed into the SPAS-12, the only difference is that the Dragon's Breath has incendiary shells, meaning that the rounds let out fire, symbolizing it's name. The Dragon's Breath also has a wider reticle than the normal SPAS-12, which will allow for multiple enemies being taken out. However, the Dragon's Breath does not appear outside of the Campaign.

Multiplayer
The SPAS-12 is featured in multiplayer. It must be pumped after picking it up and reloading, but operates in semi-automatic mode. It is available for purchase at level 24. The SPAS-12's only attachment is the Suppressor. While aiming down the sights with shotguns in Black Ops will tighten the spread of the shot, the SPAS-12's sights are very obstructive and the recoil blocks the target completely, so Steady Aim would be a useful perk. The SPAS-12's key benefits lie in its larger magazine capacity than the other shotguns and its ability to equip suppressed with no penalty to range or damage.

It deals medium-high damage, but it excels at close quarters, and is best suited for medium distances, although it will often take two or three shells to get a kill (however at close range more often than not the SPAS-12 will kill in one shot). Contrary to what the in-game statistics say, the Suppressor attachment has no negative effect on the SPAS-12, so there is no reason not to use it.

Although the SPAS-12 has less range and damage per shot than the Stakeout, it does have a magazine that is twice as large (8 shells, versus 4 in the Stakeout) and a much higher rate of fire, because the SPAS-12 is semi-automatic. Even though the SPAS-12 is less likely than the Stakeout to get a one-hit kill, it is much easier to fire subsequent rounds if necessary. However, recoil is high, and, unlike the Stakeout, there is no Grip attachment to mitigate this. The SPAS-12 is relatively underrated in the online community but can actually be an extremely powerful mid-range and room clearing weapon once the player masters and compensates its rate of fire and range. It can easily out-perform most weapons in close quarters and even at range with an element of surprise with the Suppressor.

Zombies
The SPAS-12 is available in the Mystery Box. It is effective in the early-mid rounds, often capable of one-shot killing zombies, but it has a long reload time as each shell is loaded individually. It is also available as a weapon power-up in Dead Ops Arcade, where it is fully automatic, has increased range, and has a wide spread. This makes it very helpful when fighting large amounts of zombies.

When Pack-a-Punched, the SPAS-12 comes out as the "SPAZ-24" which has a 24 round magazine and when reloading it just takes one shell to fully reload. This version is also fully automatic. It can be very effective at killing masses of zombies in a fast rate making it more helpful when trying to get out of a large crowd. Using Double Tap Root Beer in conjunction with the "SPAZ-24" is a love-it-or-hate it as it can kill large crowds faster, but wastes ammo faster as well. The SPAZ-24 is arguably better than the Raid, as it has more starting ammo and is fully automatic. However, ammo for the Raid can be bought off the wall for 4500 points.

Gallery
For Camouflage images, click here.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
The SPAS-12 was seen in the E3 demo for Modern Warfare 3. Its pickup icon shows the weapon with an unfolded stock, however it is common for pickup icons to be misrepresentations. It uses the pick-up icon of SPAS-12 in Modern Warfare 2, most likely as a placeholder. Not much else is known.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

 * When the SPAS-12 is fired, the ejection port opens and closes as normal, however no shell is ejected; and then, when the player pumps it, the shell will eject but the port will not open.
 * There are multiple fingerprints visible on the SPAS-12. There appears to be one on the stock, a few on the receiver and one on the pump mechanism.
 * FMJ does not add the "fireworks" animation when pellets hit a surface.
 * Equipping a Suppressor to the SPAS-12 in multiplayer gives it the name "SPAS-12 Silencer", rather than "SPAS-12 Silenced".
 * While Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was in development, the SPAS-12 used the M1014's pick-up icon.
 * In "The Gulag" and some Special Ops missions, enemies can drop SPAS-12s with white pump and grip, serving as basic Arctic Camouflage. These SPAS-12s also have the firing sound of a M1014.
 * The third-person firing sound of the SPAS-12 is identical to the first-person firing sound of the W1200.
 * When using PC hacks & changing the field of vision, one can see that the shotgun shells are simply stuck on to the players right thumb.
 * In singleplayer, empty shells can be seen ejecting when the gun is cycled, but the shells aren't seen in multiplayer.
 * The SPAS-12 has somewhat noticeable idle sway while ADS with iron sights.
 * Even though the AA-12 and SPAS-12 have the same rounds, they have different marks in the ground when fired.
 * The SPAS-12 can fire off slightly but noticeably faster when hip fired during any game mode in that the player can fire off the next shot during the pump animation, roughly when the barrel of the weapon touches the cross hairs on-screen.
 * If aiming down the sights right after shooting, the player will zoom in the scope but pump in normal way, meaning most of the gun will be out of the field of vision.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized

 * The weapon's inventory icon displays the stock folded up, but when viewed from first or third person, there is no stock attached.
 * The SPAS-12 ejects pink shells. This happens also with the AA-12.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

 * In the "WMD" trailer at GTTV, "SPAS" was the original name/place holder name for the SPAS-12.
 * It was originally intended to make the SPAS-12 have the Dragon's Breath attachment in multi-player. However, this was scrapped in early development, possibly due to balancing issues.
 * If Gold Camouflage is equipped, the rounds being inserted will be gold. The same applies for the Stakeout and Olympia.
 * In Dead Ops Arcade the SPAS-12's icon has a suppressor, but it does not seem to show when the player fires the weapon.
 * When looking carefully at this weapon after fired in third person, it appears the holder pumps the gun after every shot. This cannot be seen in first person. It is due to all of the shotguns in Black Ops having the same third person animation.
 * The SPAS-12 is the only shotgun in Call of Duty: Black Ops to have a suppressor available.