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Why did games-workshop change the weapons of stormtroopers from hellguns to hotshot lasguns?
And which one is best?

They're the same, one is just another name for the other. At least that's what I recall from the Codices.

As far as the "why" is concerned, I presume this is to eradicate any chance of players confusing them with other "hell-x" weapons in the Imperial arsenal, and to make it obvious that it's an overpowered las rifle.
Just like all those fancy Marine weapons now have "Blood", "Wolf" or whatever as a prefix.

Maybe they didn't feel that "Hell" was an apropriate prefix for an imperial weapon.

Well, there's still the Hellcannon - a flame-based tank armament. Hence my theory that they thought players could mix it up.

An overly cautious move, to be sure, but ... *shrugs* see Marine weapon prefixes.

Lynata wrote:They're the same, one is just another name for the other. At least that's what I recall from the Codices.

As far as the "why" is concerned, I presume this is to eradicate any chance of players confusing them with other "hell-x" weapons in the Imperial arsenal, and to make it obvious that it's an overpowered las rifle.
Just like all those fancy Marine weapons now have "Blood", "Wolf" or whatever as a prefix.

But at lexicanum they clearly state that the hellgun was replaced by the more modern hotshot-lasgun. Than it can't be the same, can it? http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Hellgun#.TwNvAtRvsS4

"The hot-shot lasgun uses a more powerful, external energy cell. This allows the hellgun to project a much more powerful, and more penetrating shot."
- 5E IG Codex

Now, this could just as well be a simply typo, or rather a case of copypasting the previous hellgun description and forgetting to replace every instance of "hellgun" with "hot-shot lasgun". But then again, I've never seen anything to the contrary.

Lexicanum is unfortunately a rather unreliable source, trying to treat all sources of fluff equally as if there would be consistency where it was never meant to exist, leading to personal interpretations on how things should fit to each other and how conflicts can be resolved. It is, however, a nice place to start looking for sources on a subject.

In this case, the source of the "replaced with the newer hot-shot lasgun" is mentioned to be the page 46 of the 5E Codex. However, the only mentioning of this weapon is what I quoted above, making what it says in the article personal interpretation on how to deal with this change.

You'd still be free to adopt it, of course.

Lynata wrote:They're the same, one is just another name for the other. At least that's what I recall from the Codices.

As far as the "why" is concerned, I presume this is to eradicate any chance of players confusing them with other "hell-x" weapons in the Imperial arsenal, and to make it obvious that it's an overpowered las rifle.
Just like all those fancy Marine weapons now have "Blood", "Wolf" or whatever as a prefix.

They're actually not.

"Hotshot" is a term used to refer to an overcharged Lasgun power pack, which at one point was the thing that Stormtroopers used.
Hellguns are a different breed of weapon, consisting of a heavy backpack supporting a generator and cooling/power regulation components.

For some ridiculous reason, Robin Cruddace brought back the references to "Hotshot Lasguns". You can actually spot where Hellguns were just cut out and replaced with Hotshot Lasguns in the IG Codex on page 46 of the IG Codex under the "Hotshot Lasgun" entry.

Why it was done, bringing back that silly idea of a "Hotshot Lasgun" despite years of "Hotshot" referring to the overcharged Lasgun power pack I will never understand.

Hmmh, I took the chargepack-part as a retcon having occurred between 2nd and 3rd edition. Storm Troopers always had backpacks, anyways.

Ah well - as I said, interpretations.

[edit] Actually, after having taken a look through the Necromunda book which still features hotshot chargepacks, I'd have to agree with you. It's two distinct weapon systems. In this case, however, I would still believe that Storm Troopers were only ever armed with one and any sort of change never occurred. The Regiment has quite simply "always" been equipped with whatever weapon the most current Codex would describe. 40k is a very static setting.

Kanluwen wrote:

Lynata wrote:They're the same, one is just another name for the other. At least that's what I recall from the Codices.

As far as the "why" is concerned, I presume this is to eradicate any chance of players confusing them with other "hell-x" weapons in the Imperial arsenal, and to make it obvious that it's an overpowered las rifle.
Just like all those fancy Marine weapons now have "Blood", "Wolf" or whatever as a prefix.

They're actually not.

"Hotshot" is a term used to refer to an overcharged Lasgun power pack, which at one point was the thing that Stormtroopers used.
Hellguns are a different breed of weapon, consisting of a heavy backpack supporting a generator and cooling/power regulation components.

For some ridiculous reason, Robin Cruddace brought back the references to "Hotshot Lasguns". You can actually spot where Hellguns were just cut out and replaced with Hotshot Lasguns in the IG Codex on page 46 of the IG Codex under the "Hotshot Lasgun" entry.

Why it was done, bringing back that silly idea of a "Hotshot Lasgun" despite years of "Hotshot" referring to the overcharged Lasgun power pack I will never understand.

Agreed in rogue trader the RPG its a bit different the Hellgun has a powerpack on your back and a cord which connects to it having really good armor pen, But about the damage of the Las gun with an extra umph problem was it was hard to reload in combat. The Hot shot cartridge refers to an overcharge pack which can get it similar to a plasma gun in damage but not much in the way of pene... which defys fluff. Ive always thought they were the same too but having heard this it makes a little less sense lol.

Kan, I think you've discussed this very topic with me before, but I can't say with 100% though if it was you or not.

Anyways, aren't hot shot lasguns what they use for sniping?

I came to a realization some time ago as to why the name change was made (as I recall it actually made snese why they would do so) but I cannot for the life of me now recall why they did it... I think it was to free the name up for something else, but I don't remember what...

Necroshea wrote:Anyways, aren't hot shot lasguns what they use for sniping?

That weapon is called "long-las".

They have been mentioned to use overcharged (hot-shot?) chargepacks, too, though.

Hellguns are wielded by Cadian Kasrkins while HotShot Lasguns are wielded by ordinary Stormtroopers. Right?

Hot shots are an overcharged single shot power cell that is generally issued to snipers. At least according to guants ghosts and i think ffg.

No idea why they switched to from hellguns, which could punch through flak armor, to hot shot, which could punch through power armor. I think some one had a wild guess that the IoM is phasing out lasguns to be replaced by hellguns. And that hot shots were replacing hellguns for storm troopers

Lynata wrote:

Necroshea wrote:Anyways, aren't hot shot lasguns what they use for sniping?

That weapon is called "long-las".

They have been mentioned to use overcharged (hot-shot?) chargepacks, too, though.

A long las would just be a lasgun with 30" range.
It'd make sense to distribute your most powerful guns to your snipers first. Doesn't mean they're dedicated sniper rifles.

Joey wrote:

Lynata wrote:

Necroshea wrote:Anyways, aren't hot shot lasguns what they use for sniping?

That weapon is called "long-las".

They have been mentioned to use overcharged (hot-shot?) chargepacks, too, though.

A long las would just be a lasgun with 30" range.
It'd make sense to distribute your most powerful guns to your snipers first. Doesn't mean they're dedicated sniper rifles.

Er no.
A "Long Las" is actually a separate thing entirely. They are not normal lasguns with extended range. They are crafted specifically for the role they are given, and have exchangeable reinforced barrels to handle the Hot-Shot powerpacks.

Meanwhile hellguns are not merely lasguns which have a hotshot laspack on them. They're specially built for their role, and in fact they're built to be hooked up to a power pack backpack.

They're different weapons, but GW chose to change the standard armament of Stormtroopers because they wanted them used for a different role. You couldn't have Hellgun's changing their rules overnight to something different as they're still used by other armies (Witch Hunters and at the time Daemon Hunters) and would cause a rules conflict. =P

That's the most ridiculous statement anyone has ever made. Stormtroopers still have the exact same role as they did when they had Hellguns. They still have the exact same armament and options as they did when they had Hellguns.

The only thing that changed is that copy-pasting goon Cruddace copy/pasted in a reference to an "old school" piece. The idea that it was changed because "they're still used by other armies" is silly, as it would have simply been FAQ'd like the Dark Angels and Black Templars were to reflect the current C: Space Marines armory versus their published armory.

Hellguns have a longer range and less Ap than Hot-shot lasguns. The later are marine killers whilst Hellguns pretty much serve as beefed up lasguns. Meh, don't get worked up about a silly discussion. =P

And "Hot-shot lasguns" haven't existed since 2nd edition.

The Hellgun entry is exactly what was used for the "Hot-shot Lasgun" entry. Cruddace and whoever was working up the entry just did a replace on Hellgun.

Hellguns having crummy stats is what made Stormtroopers basically useless in the previous Codex. Hellguns are in the fluff capable of killing Marines in Power Armor.

Hotshot Lasguns are an abomination and should be ignored.

Kanluwen wrote:

Lynata wrote:They're the same, one is just another name for the other. At least that's what I recall from the Codices.

As far as the "why" is concerned, I presume this is to eradicate any chance of players confusing them with other "hell-x" weapons in the Imperial arsenal, and to make it obvious that it's an overpowered las rifle.
Just like all those fancy Marine weapons now have "Blood", "Wolf" or whatever as a prefix.

They're actually not.

"Hotshot" is a term used to refer to an overcharged Lasgun power pack, which at one point was the thing that Stormtroopers used.
Hellguns are a different breed of weapon, consisting of a heavy backpack supporting a generator and cooling/power regulation components.

For some ridiculous reason, Robin Cruddace brought back the references to "Hotshot Lasguns". You can actually spot where Hellguns were just cut out and replaced with Hotshot Lasguns in the IG Codex on page 46 of the IG Codex under the "Hotshot Lasgun" entry.

Why it was done, bringing back that silly idea of a "Hotshot Lasgun" despite years of "Hotshot" referring to the overcharged Lasgun power pack I will never understand.

from what i understand it is a case of the belgium FN and the SLR. same gun different name, maybye a small change like the mp5B and mp5K

It's not. At all.

Hotshot Lasguns are not the same as Hellguns. To say that they are is like saying a rotary grenade launcher used to fire tear gas is the same as a Javelin anti-tank launcher.

Kanluwen wrote:And "Hot-shot lasguns" haven't existed since 2nd edition.

The Hellgun entry is exactly what was used for the "Hot-shot Lasgun" entry. Cruddace and whoever was working up the entry just did a replace on Hellgun.

Hellguns having crummy stats is what made Stormtroopers basically useless in the previous Codex. Hellguns are in the fluff capable of killing Marines in Power Armor.

Hotshot Lasguns are an abomination and should be ignored.

But how can you ignore them, they're the current weapon of the stormtroopers

40k lore is subjective to your interpretation. It's pretty loose and you can take/pick what you want from it, frankly. Some things are 'hard-coded' into it, such as Astartes all being male, bolt rounds being self-proppelled ammunition and the Imperial Guard being awesome*, but otherwise it's how you interpret it, especially when the background is ambiguous. So it's down to you whether you prefer 'hot-shot' lasgun or hellgun.

Personally I prefer hellgun as I find 'hot-shot lasgun' a clumsy and poorer way of naming the weapon.

*...in my mind!

jelisi wrote:
But how can you ignore them, they're the current weapon of the stormtroopers

Not in my Codex!

I whited out "Hot-shot Lasgun" and wrote "Hellgun". The entry has Hellgun at the end of it anyways, so I'm just correcting a mistake.

In 2nd ed they were "hotshot lasguns".
In 3rd ed they became "hellguns"
In 5th they went back to "hot shot lasguns".

In 6th, they will become las-pizzacutters.
Perfect for cutting through the SM cheese.

I'm not seeing a problem apart from GW writers not being aware of preceeding fluff. Given that the writers tend to change from edition to edition, this is not actually a revelation.

Going by this, they have been "hotshot" lasguns in more editions than they were "hellguns" for.
I can't see them changing it back (which just means they may well just do it to screw with people - as they have done before also).

The problem is the name is stupid, and so is Robin Cruddace and the rest of the design team for thinking it's a good idea.

The rest of the GW writers(Black Library and Forge World, even the video game licensees) have retained "Hellguns" as it sounds less like a Nerf toy.

chromedog wrote:In 6th, they will become las-pizzacutters.
Perfect for cutting through the SM cheese.

An internets for you, sir.

I kinda feel tempted to ignore this update as well, though I am usually very adamant about sticking to the studio material ... damn you GW, stop trolling me with your inconsistencies!
Here's hoping they go back to hellguns in 6th, though I don't think I will hold my breath. The change does fit to their newest policy of dumbing down the weapon names to "avoid confusion amongst younger gamers".

Except it really doesn't. For Space Wolves, we'd already had a ton of "Wolf" or "Frost" items. For Blood Angels they went overboard sure, but for Grey Knights we'd again already had a ton of "Nemesis" items.

I've got no clue how in the hell one would confuse the Hellhound's main armament with a "Hellgun".