S12

The  (originally the Saiga-12) is a semi-automatic Shotgun featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Campaign
The S12 is the standard shotgun of the Mercs and the ISI. It is one of the earliest unlocks for customized loadout and is available after completing "Pyrrhic Victory" . However, it is never part of any recommended loadout (most likely because it's never used by friendly factions). The weapon is semi-automatic by default and sports a 10-round magazine (14 with Extended Clip), moderate damage, range, firecap, recoil and hip fire spread, making it sufficiently consistent with one-hit kills in close quarters. Although, outside of close quarters, the high rate of fire is enough to offset the lower one-hit-kill range than other shotguns.

Multiplayer
"Semi-automatic shotgun. Deadly at short range."

- Description.

The S12 is unlocked as soon as Create-A-Class is unlocked at level 4, however, unlike the Remington 870 MCS, it must be bought with an unlock token. The S12 has a 10 round magazine, a reasonably high firecap (much higher that other semi-automatic shotguns in the previous games), mediocre hip accuracy and a moderate range. These combine to cause the S12 to burn through ammo quickly if attachments are not used to their full potential, and since the S12 has a relatively long reload time, this will leave the player vulnerable as reloads are common or slow without Extended Clip or Fast Mag respectively. The near-identical applications of both magazine modifications means that both are somewhat equally useful. On a smaller map, Extended Clip may be more useful due to the possibility of providing prolonged firing, whereas on a larger map, the necessity to do this is reduced, resulting in Fast Mag being a better choice. When using the S12, due to it's lower-than-average firecap, it is advised that players do not oversample the trigger, as it will result in slower firing. Instead, it is recommended that players wait a short while between shots for maximum output.

Another attachment that hugely benefits the S12 is the Long Barrel attachment. This attachment dramatically increases the S12's killing potential at ranges unusual for a semi-automatic shotgun, and so it excels in conserving ammunition and keeping reloads to a minimum, as well as providing incredible power at ranges that the S12 would otherwise perform poorly at. The usage of a sight on the S12 is rather redundant considering most kills will probably be attempted from the hip on account of the S12 being a shotgun, and also because the iron sights on the S12 are clear and open, more than is sufficient for the close-range encounters the S12 would ideally be used in. Out of all the shotguns, the S12 is arguably the best one for a "crowd control" role, as it is the only shotgun that can be fired without interruption — the other shotguns must either be pumped (Remington 870 MCS, KSG) or have its chamber cycled (M1216).

Attachments

 * Reflex Sight (unlocked weapon level 2)
 * Long Barrel (unlocked weapon level 3)
 * Fast Mag (unlocked weapon level 4)
 * Laser Sight (unlocked weapon level 5)
 * Adjustable Stock (unlocked weapon level 6)
 * Suppressor (unlocked weapon level 7)
 * Extended Clip (unlocked weapon level 8)
 * Quickdraw Handle (unlocked weapon level 9)
 * MMS (unlocked weapon level 10)

Zombies
The S12 appears in all Zombies maps, available out of the Mystery Box for 950 points. By default, it has the same high damage with 10 rounds and 30 reserved ammo as from multiplayer. It is not a very effective shotgun, taking numerous shots to take down one zombie as early as round 10. Having only 40 rounds, a slow magazine reload speed, and decent automatic fire makes this a sub-par weapon.

When Pack-a-Punched, it becomes the Synthetic Dozen. This increases the guns reserve ammo to 50 rounds and increases damage. Pack-a-Punching the Synthetic Dozen a second time adds a random attachment, such as Fast Mag or Reflex Sight.

Trivia

 * When using the Fast Mag attachment, the character will change the magazine then pull the bolt backwards and forward (instead of pulling it backwards then changing the magazine and pulling the bolt forward).
 * Marlton refers to this weapon as the 'Saiga 12', the weapon's real-life name.
 * In the alpha and beta stages, the S12 had a small skull on the charging handle.
 * The small skull can be seen sometimes when the map loads, as it will load the gun's camouflage after that. In the game's coding, the small skull remains a "camouflage" and rarely loads the skull for a brief second during the loading process.
 * The reload of the S12 is similar to the AK-47, albeit much slower. However, the cocking animation is different
 * "Made in Russia by Izhmash" can be seen stamped on the left of its receiver.
 * Interestingly, there's a small heart on the iron sights, on the lower right.