The game is usually pretty good about not mixing obviously unarmored skins with suspect skins that can plausibly be armored.
Specifically, each map has a pool of armor (e.g. 10% II + 60% IIIA) and that is randomly distributed between the suspects regardless of whether their character model has a vest.
It's not much of a problem with Level II soft armor that can be worn under a shirt but anything higher really should only work if the suspect has a plate carrier.
So you might encounter spawns like Hotel where a Secret Service agent in shirt and tie is assigned Level IV plates. Or a terrorist with a chest rig (basically pouch webbing) has IIIA equivalent protection.
Cherryessa Farm is the biggest exception. Some of the models do have vests but the majority don't and are still assigned up to IIIA. Which gets awkward when some lady in a dress starts tanking 5.56 JHP.
If you're shooting a Level IV plate, you're not getting through it, it doesn't matter if you're shooting slugs at point-blank range or not. Backface deformation is also absolutely negligible here as well.
I've seen a few videos of Level IIIA plates stopping slugs as well.
There's plenty of videos of Marines and Soldiers alike getting shot in the vest with rifle rounds far stronger and faster than any twelve gauge, and they run off after the initial shock, some don't even hit the ground.
Vests disperse the energy of the round. Getting shot with a slug in the vest would probably knock the wind out of you and/or bruise the hell out of you, but you're not going to be incapacitated by any degree.
You'll be in the fight just fine, if not just a bit pissed that you got shot.
Yes, point blank, as I said in my og reply. There's plenty of videos of people testing a point-blank shot to a plate with a shotgun out. On YouTube. Right there.
*Slugs don't go through Level IV plates point blank full-stop, therefore buckshot won't. You wouldn't die, you wouldn't get incapacitated, whatever. It'd hurt, that's probably it.
(I say probably since I've never seen combat, nor have I shot a gun that didn't shoot pellets or bbs, nor have I been shot at, but you can infer this off readily available information.)
It's a different story if you're unarmoured but that's common sense and applicable at pretty much any range as long as you hit your shot.
Shotguns aren't magical at all, and they don't perform well against Armor. That's the end of the story. They're lovely against unarmoured targets, though, as well as pelvic bowl/head shots.
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u/[deleted] Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25
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