# Hellgun vs hotshot vs bolter



## GabrialSagan (Sep 20, 2009)

Is there an actual difference between hotshot lasguns vs hellguns? 

How do advanced laser weapons stack up to bolters on the battlefield?


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## Fallen (Oct 7, 2008)

hot shot lasguns are the same thing as hellguns, just a different name game mechanic wise.

actual physical terms.

a hot shot is maybe a 50cal

and a bolter shoots a coke can mini missile. (if not larger)


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## GabrialSagan (Sep 20, 2009)

Fallen said:


> hot shot lasguns are the same thing as hellguns, just a different name game mechanic wise.
> 
> actual physical terms.
> 
> ...


Where are you getting this 50cal figure from? Lexicanum states that hotshots are better at piercing armor than bolters.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Yeh Hot Shots are AP3 but at S3 and only 18" range the Bolter is going to be a better weapon in the long run.

Bolters are 0.75 so quite a bit smaller than a coke can. I don't think Lasers have a calibre, given that they don't actually "shoot" anything other than a beam of light.


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## Haskanael (Jul 5, 2011)

yeah S3 AP3 and that range they aren't that great BUT.

I found out that if you deep strike twenty of them right behind some space marines holding an objective in a ruin they can be awesome


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## Old Man78 (Nov 3, 2011)

on the table, you are better off with bolt guns lets face it, but in the "REALITY" of the 40k universe the las gun with its mass supply easy to use and readily available ammo would probably serve you better.

The bolt gun is essentially a shock and awe weapon for shock troops like the spacemarines and they need fluff wise to be seen completely removed from from regular human troops hence the special weapons and armour.


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## Sethis (Jun 4, 2009)

GabrialSagan said:


> Is there an actual difference between hotshot lasguns vs hellguns?
> 
> How do advanced laser weapons stack up to bolters on the battlefield?


Are you talking fluff or game-wise?

Fluffwise, Boltguns are more destructive than any kind of lasgun, hands down. They blow a hole in you the size of a football or larger. They can pierce through multiple ranks of lightly armoured infantry before detonating, and sometimes people nearby are felled just from the shrapnel/bone shards of a direct hit on their comrade.

Fluffwise, Hotshot Lasguns are used by snipers - they have a specially strengthened barrel, telescopic sight, and each power pack only contains enough energy for one shot. Hellguns are Lasguns that run off a backpack power plant, and are more powerful than a Lasgun, but less powerful than a Hotshot, but make up for it by having the same rate of fire as a normal Lasgun. Some authors may have got them confused, hence some people use the term interchangably.

Gamewise, a bolter is a better gun than any kind of Lasgun, mainly because of the points premium you pay for Stormtroopers with Hellguns. Lasguns en-masse can be dangerous, but their bark is worse than their bite, and a marine with a bolter can face off to three guardsmen 24" away in the open and come out on top almost every time.


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## Haskanael (Jul 5, 2011)

Sethis said:


> Are you talking fluff or game-wise?
> 
> Fluffwise, Boltguns are more destructive than any kind of lasgun, hands down. They blow a hole in you the size of a football or larger. They can pierce through multiple ranks of lightly armoured infantry before detonating, and sometimes people nearby are felled just from the shrapnel/bone shards of a direct hit on their comrade.
> 
> ...


Hot-shots are NOT used by snipers but by stormtroopers they are the same as Hellguns, besides the fact that Hellguns are a Cadian variant of the Hot-shot used by Kasrkins wich are practicly the Cadian variant of stormtroopers. 

Standard sniper equipment however is the Longlas.

(see the links in the text for more info)


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## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

The Hotshot is different to the Hellgun

A hellgun is effectively an improved lasgun, with higher strength, but poor armour penetration, designed to kill lightly armoured human and xenos. The Hotshot lasgun is more similar to an overcharged lasgun, with larger power packs designed to penetrate power armour 

Both fluff and rule wise these are different


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## Haskanael (Jul 5, 2011)

Barnster said:


> The Hotshot is different to the Hellgun
> 
> A hellgun is effectively an improved lasgun, with higher strength, but poor armour penetration, designed to kill lightly armoured human and xenos. The Hotshot lasgun is more similar to an overcharged lasgun, with larger power packs designed to penetrate power armour
> 
> Both fluff and rule wise these are different


actualy the AP is much the same as that of a hotshot lasgun. I admit It isn't completely the same but that mostly comes down on looks and inner workings.
the effect of both is a high AP lasgun for use by the Imperial guard elite.


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## kavyanshrike (Sep 10, 2011)

Haskanael said:


> Hot-shots are NOT used by snipers but by stormtroopers they are the same as Hellguns, besides the fact that Hellguns are a Cadian variant of the Hot-shot used by Kasrkins wich are practicly the Cadian variant of stormtroopers.


in a lot of the tanith fluff then they are used by the snipers as hot-shot is only an ammunition so they use long-las and hotshot


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

Kayvanshrike beat me to the punch: there are two hotshots. One is a special ammo cell that snipers can use to burn theough shielding an tough targets. The other weapon that replaced the Stormtrooper hellgun in the last Guard Codex (I assume because other codexes and sources referenced hellgun as having their inferior statline, so GW invented a new weapon to fill the role they wanted filled). 

There appears to be no reason to believe hellguns will return in a meaningful fashion; they're much like autoguns in how often they're used in 40k, these days. (Let's ignore chaos cultists, shall we?) I would welcome "hellgun" creeping back in to supplant/become synonymous with "hot-shot lasgun," as the former sounds more 40k, less Top Gun, than the latter—but I have personally seen little evidence of this happening.


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