Class DescriptionThe sniper is the far range assassin. Similar to how the spy infiltrates the enemy lines and thins out their numbers from behind at close range, the sniper also assassinates his targets from the front at far ranges. This class is completely driven by skill and reflexes, more so than any other class in the game. Its power lies in a player’s ability to aim fast and murder the enemy through pinpoint accuracy. When the sniper uses his scope, he brings up a red lazer sight to aim his sniper rifle with. While looking through the scope, is vision is narrowed, only because if he’s vision wasn’t narrowed, the sniper class would easily be overpowered in the hands of a good player. While the scope is up, your next bullet will slowly charge up to full power. So if you end up waiting with your scope up with no target in sight, by the time an enemy appears, your shot will do bonus damage. That extra bonus damage will sometimes kill the enemy even if it doesn’t end up being a direct headshot. Headshots with the sniper rifle with the scope up are automatically critical hits, so once again, it’s all about accuracy. The sniper is weak in close combat for balance purposes, but he still has the machine pistol and a machete to fend for his life at mid and close range. The Sniper is...
-The best far range damage dealer in the game.
-Able to pick off key targets from very long distances.
-A really skill/reflex dependent class.
-Equipped with an accurate automatic machine pistol and a machete for close combat.
Class Purpose Most professional snipers will tell you that the sole purpose of being a sniper is to be a ranged assassin. This means that your job is not only to kill the enemy with as much accuracy and speed as possible, but to select targets based on priority and kill the most important ones first for the sake of your team’s success. Since the sniper is so skill dependent, I usually tell others that I consider it an advanced class. Just like the other “S classes” (the scout and the spy,) playing well with the sniper class can be rather difficult for new TF2 players, and especially for players that are new to the FPS genre in general. Because of this, there isn’t really that much advice I can give you on how to play the sniper well. It’s all about how well you reflex, aim and shoot. Since the purpose of the sniper is to kill from afar and pick priority targets, I’ll make a list of priority targets based on my own opinions. Other pro snipers will give you different priorities based on their own preferences and experiences, but this is a list I made on my own. Either consider mine my list, consider another’s or make a list of your own! 1. Snipers
2. Medics
3. Engineers
4. Heavies
5. Demomen
6. Soldiers
7. Pyros
8. Scouts
9. Spies I believe that it’s the greatest boon for your team to kill the enemy snipers first. You not only give yourself free reign of the area by killing the one class that will be the biggest threat to you, but you also kill them to allow your team safe passage across a well traveled area or an open field. The reason you try to kill medics next is to prevent the enemies from having a healer by the time they reach your team’s position. Losing a medic right off the bat is a big blow to the enemy team, generally speaking. It’s also very worth it if that medic happens to have an uber that’s ready to use on his teammate that’s attacking your friends on the front line. The reason why you should nail engineers next is because they will either be sitting next to SG’s repairing them, or they will try to move forward to either build something by your teammates or even try set up a hidden teleporter. You try to kill the Heavy next, not only because it will try to mow down your team, but also because he’s an easy target and you’re a natural counter to him as well. Their heads are large and they are also the slowest class in the game, so aim for quick headshots or a charged up one to seal the deal if a medic is on him (see why you should have tried to kill the medic first?) Even though Soldiers make for easy targets, you should kill demomen next, mostly because killing them will make all their stickies disappear, which will help your team push forwards more easily. After demomen comes soldiers, because the only good enemy soldier is a dead soldier, and they have big heads and are also slow targets. Soldiers can also harass you by firing rockets up towards you, forcing you to strafe out of the way for a few seconds. Pyros are fast, but they make easy sniping targets because of their unusual shape. Even if you don’t get a headshot and nick him instead, you can still quickly finish him off with your next shot. They won’t give you much trouble at far range, even if they try to interrupt your aim with their shotgun. Scouts are important targets, but unless he’s coming at you directly and is about to try and kill you and move on, you should kill the above targets first because they will hold your team back considerably. Worrying about the scout last is not because of his fast speed making him difficult to snipe sometimes, but because he won’t be much of a threat on his own versus your defense (that is if you kill all of his buddies first!) Spies are last priority, only because they will usually be cloaked or taking the scenic routes that are usually out of your sight. In fact, the main reason a spy cloaks to move behind your front line in the first place is because of you being in the general area. Snipers will see the spy and pick him off, or even worse, alert their team of his presence. Of course, some rules are meant to be broken. If someone is harassing you or you think one shot is much easier than another, then by all means, make that shot! Offense and Defense Offense-
Snipers can be on offense, but only if they are talented and are able to finch at nearby targets to get accurate shots off as fast as possible. Common sense will tell you that snipers are great for long corridors and wide open areas that are just beyond a choke point. By entering from one end of a tunnel, or by positioning yourself at a choke point, you will be able to pick off targets from afar and begin to thin out the enemy’s numbers, making it that much easier for your team's offensive to make their move during their time of weakness. Also, theoretically speaking, the sniper can technically be the best damage dealer at ALL ranges. If your slowly creeping through an enemy base with your scope up and your shot charged up, and an enemy pops out before you immediately nail him in the face, the battle will be over before it even started, all because of your impressive reflexes. Remember that the sniper rifle is the head honcho of your arsenal, even though the machine pistol has its unique strengths and your machete can do decent damage. Defense-
A sniper feels right at home at a concealed or elevated position from where he can edge towards an open area and pick off incoming targets. The element of surprise usually only helps the sniper for his first shot, only because the enemy team will probably notice you just one shotted their friend in cold blood from your current position. Being in an elevated or hard-to-get-to position allows you some breathing room. Only soldiers, spies, and demomen have easy ways to get up in your face from a good sniping position most of the time, and that’s an advantage worth taking as your own. It’s also worth mentioning that a skilled sniper can make an excellent intelligence defender if the need is great. If an enemy gets the intelligence out in the open, a sniper can get into position and nail whoever moves in to grab it or kill whoever tries to get it further away and out of your grasp. By sniping any enemies scrambling to grab the intelligence, you can buy time for your team to either catch up or respawn and return to its position to reinforce it. Class Weapons
Sniper Rifle-
This weapon defines your class. You can either shoot it without your scope up (and have no target reticule) or use the scope to narrow your vision, zoom in, and activate your lazer sight.
Skilled players have a better idea where the center of their screen is, and I suppose more desperate players will mark the center of their target’s sight on their very own monitor to have an edge in the game. You’ll only need to shoot un-scoped as a last ditch maneuver to either kill or weaken a nearby enemy though, because you can simply whip out your machine pistol or machete and try to kill with an enemy head on with those weapons instead. As for sniping through your scope, you right click to toggle your scope on and off. Once the scope is up, your vision will be narrowed to a smaller circle, all while being zoomed further into the distance. You can also turn on a feature in your options screen to tell the game whether or not you want the scope to come back up after a scoped shot. The longer your scope is up, the more powerful your next shot will be while your rifle charges up to 100%. This rewards patient snipers that are confident their shots will land somewhere on their target. Your lazer sight will also appear to guide your shot when your scope is up. The sight has 100% accuracy and is also visible to the enemy. Most snipers will try to hide their lazer sight on geometry out of the enemy's sight and not against the back walls of where an enemy might approach. If an enemy sees your sight and they know you mean business, they can become either extra cautious or even decide to take an alternate route. While scoping, you can either keep your sight in one spot, waiting for another sniper or enemy to come out very close to it, or you can dart your sight in several directions, quickly whipping it around to increase your perception and awareness of the general area. Most professionals try to keep their scope down as often as possible, only to bring it up for a super fast shot. Keep in mind through, after recent changes made to the game, you cannot bring your scope back up fast by switching your weapons back and forth right after you shoot. The game will prevent you from doing this. Also, you cannot do critical damage via a headshot .25 seconds after you right click to bring your scope up. A general rule of thumb is to keep your sight leveled from the distant ground your enemies will walk on. By doing this, you will get a feel for the enemy’s average height and their heads will be more likely to pass across your lazer sight, allowing for an easier headshot. There’s another scope tactic that can work for beginners, and also works well against scouts or a predictable enemy. When an enemy enters the area and becomes aware of your presence, he will most likely begin to strafe and jump while trying to move forwards. By keeping your sight steady to the left or right of him, you can simply just wait for the enemy to strafe back towards your sight and then click right when he literally walks through your red dot. Now, even though the charge up function is a positive addition, you should know that the best way to play a sniper is to come out in the open, fire a quick scoped shot, and then quickly move back behind your cover. Speed ALWAYS trumps accuracy. Even if you miss big, don’t sweat it. It is crucial that you practice this technique by moving in, finding your target, turning on your scope, taking a shot at him and then moving out as fast as possible. This mostly applies when enemy snipers are around to counter-snipe you, but this sniping style also protects you from anything the rest of the enemy team can throw back at you. Another reason for using this technique is to account for the built-in cooldown the sniper rifle has in between shots. There’s no reason to stand out in the open while you’re in the middle of your cooldown and unable to shoot. By poping in and out and making fast shots, you can take the incoming enemy by surprise as well. When you master this technique that most professionals use, you will be able to hop out fast, land a fast headshot (doing critical damage,) strafe away, and then strafe back out again by the time your rifle is ready to make another shot. Fighting with the sniper’s sniper rifle is VERY similar to using the scout sniper rifle in Counter Strike. You move in for a quick shot, then quickly jump out and away, all ready to do it over and over again. Always remember. Any shot to the enemy’s head with your sniper rifle counts as critical damage, and any shot that kills the enemy by shooting them in the head counts as a headshot and headshots give you two points instead of one. Think of this as an incentive to get those head shots! Machine Pistol-
The machine pistol seems weak to some players, but the fact of the matter is that it’s an automatic weapon with very little recoil. You can go full auto and still have the same accuracy, allowing you to move around evasively while trailing your target with ease. Because of its somewhat fast reload time, and decent clip size, you can unload your machine pistol without worrying about conserving your shots or missing a few rounds for that matter either. Just try not to blow through all of your ammo by going full-auto for a long period of time. Machete-
The machete is a pretty average melee weapon, but as with any melee weapon, it’s worth whipping out for a fast melee attack while jousting an enemy. The machete can be a great way to finish off an enemy after being wounded by an entire machine pistol clip as well. Class Concepts & Tactics
-Pop In and Out, Make Fast Shots and Aim for the Head! (The best method of sniping is to pop out of cover, find your target asap, scope up, aim for his head, fire as quickly as possible and then move back behind cover. Don’t worry about missing. Practice makes perfect. Missing is better than staying out in the open and getting your own head shot off!)
-Priorities Before Points! (The sniper is not just about killing, it’s about killing the important targets before the ones that are less threatening to your team. Try to nail targets of higher priority when possible, but never waste time doing it. Easy shots are still easy shots, and you should always take them. -Know the Best Sniper Spots! (By knowing the map well, you can remember where to move forward to in order to position yourself in a good spot for sniping. -Master Your Machine Pistol and Machete! (The machine pistol does weak damage, but it has amazing accuracy for an automatic weapon, and it has a decent reload time. Strafe while firing and aim directly at the enemy while unloading it. The machete is a pretty average weapon, but it can still do good damage if you swing like you mean it.) VS. Other Classes
VS. Scouts-
The scout is skinny and he is also pretty damn fast. It’s still very possible to shoot these little buggers at far range, but it gets harder as they draw closer and closer. Even at close range, the machine pistol’s accuracy will allow you to still trail them if you're fast enough. The best thing to do is just kill him with one sniper shot before he gets to you though. As mentioned above, one good method of nailing a tricky scout is by keeping your sight in one spot and clicking the moment the scout strafes across it. You shouldn’t obsess over getting a headshot on these guys. Most of the time, getting a solid body shot in will kill him the first time around befause of the charge-up damage. A headshot will seal the deal no matter what though. VS. Soldiers-
Soldiers are easy targets because of their big helmet heads and their slow speed. The only problem you might have with them at far range is when they try to shoot a number of rockets in your direction. Just strafe away when a rocket nears you and stay out of the way for another second or two, because the soldier most likely will shoot more than one rocket your way. VS. Pyro-
Pyro’s aren’t really a big deal to a sniper at far range. Their bodies are fat, so that means you might end up hitting them anyways even if you miss the head shot. If you have to deal with one up close, start backing away while unloading your machine pistol on him. Your machine pistol is your best weapon against the pyro, that is, if you can’t get a good sniper shot off on him. VS. Demoman-
Demomen move slow, and they are really only dangerous to you at mid range where they can shoot some stickies by your feet or even nail you with a direct grenade hit. They are important targets to pick off at far range, because killing them means their stickies will disappear for you and your team. They can also fully charge up their stickies to fire stickies off at you slowly if given the time. 2-3 stickies can mean your death, so either move out of the way or take some time to snipe the stickies away from your person by shooting at them directly. At mid and close range, use all three of your weapons against him when appropriate. VS. Heavy-
The Heavy will mess you up if he’s nearby, but at far ranges, he’s at your mercy. He’s the slowest moving class in the game and his head sticks out like a sore thumb. You can either fire off fast headshots at him till he dies, or headshot him with full charge to GUARANTEE that he dies no matter what! VS. Engineer-
You will rarely fight engineers on their own up close, because you’ll most likely be off sniping and he’ll most likely be sitting next to his SG. Use any three of your weapons against him when appropriate to kill him before he shotguns you down. At far ranges, he might unload his pistol in your direction to mess with your aim some, but he’s not that hard to snipe down on his own. Now, in the rare situation where you’re on offense and you want to destroy an SG, fire by edging around the corner or fire from a spot outside of the SG’s range. 2-3 sniper shots will destroy an SG, but the engineer will be able to repair past your damage as long as he’s next to it. If you have a clear shot at him, end his life with a good headshot, then you’ll be able to destroy the SG with no problem using your sniper rifle. If you don’t have a clear shot, you can at least keep firing at it when a teammate comes along and you can help weaken it while he fires at it as well. A good rocket or two, combined with a strong sniper shot to the SG can bring the SG down with their combined burst damage before the engineer can repair it fast enough. VS. Medic-
Next to snipers, medics are your most important targets. Killing an enemy medic hurts the enemy offensive considerably, especially if he has an uber saved up and ready to use at any moment. The truth of the matter is that the medic can sometimes be hard to snipe down. They are the second fastest class in the game, they aren’t push overs like scouts, and they also have a license to move around in random directions while healing. They always have awkward hit boxes that maneuver themselves around in a weird fashion when strafing. Even though they aren’t the easiest class to snipe down, a confident sniper knows that they should be the ones to die first, or at least to kill them as quickly as possible. If you don’t think you can get a good headshot on them, or you can’t slowly wear them down until they die, you can always just quick headshot their healing targets (or wait a few seconds for a good charged up headshot to a heavy or soldier that’s being healed.) If you can outdamage their healing and end up killing their bodyguards, then more power to you. A medic without his offensive buddies will usually just end up retreating anyways. VS. Other Snipers-
In my opinion, these are your first priority targets. The enemy sniper is essentially your nemesis, and your reflexes and skill will be pitted against his. There’s a number of methods to out snipe the enemy sniper: 1. You can sit in one position with your sight directly next to where the enemy sniper will edge out-wards. The moment he appears in front of your sight, you shoot him. 2. You can also simply edge slowly out-wards and immediately fire at him the moment you see even a slight portion of his body or the edge of his head. It's worth mentioning that aiming to the left or right of a target's head and strafing to the sight to move your dot over his head is another way of sniping with great precision. 3. Another trick you can do is strafe out-wards a short distance, scope fast and try for a fast snipe as soon as possible. 4. You can also move out-wards, immediately crouch while aiming slightly upwards, then fire at him. You can do this in order to try and make him miss his headshot while you end up hitting him instead. 5. Finally, you also have the option of “riverdancing” before or after making your shot, as opposed to jumping back behind cover. By taping your left and right strafe keys really fast with your scope down, you can make yourself look like you’re doing a little jig of a dance during your rifle’s cooldown phase. By doing this, you can really aggravate your opponent’s aim while he tries to aim for your skinny head. After a full second or so of doing your jig, quickly scope up and fire at him! Ultimately, skill and speed divide the good snipers from the bad. There’s no other match-up that can end as fast as a sniper vs. sniper duel, because it can only take one shot from either one of their rifles to end it. Just remember to always pop in and out, unless you try the ducking method or decide to treat your opponent to a “riverdance.” Edit- I had to type "out-wards" because the forum was censoring it for some reason. Im guessing the word "o-u-t-w-a-r" is censored, because it must be some weird website that people like to spam in forums? VS. Spy-
You won’t see spies through your scope very often, but you will sure see them trying to flank with you with a backstab after they sneak up on you. First off, if there’s a spy around and you know it, push your back up against the wall while you snipe in order to make yourself harder to backstab. Second, if you see a spy cloaking out in the open, try to trail him by predicting where he’s moving and try for a blind shot. If your shot has some charge, or if you get a normal sniping crit, you might end up killing him with some luck, or maybe end up shooting him in the head with some more luck. As for fighting them at close range after you’ve been alerted of their presence, it might just end up being a fight to see if his revolver beats out your machine pistol. You can also try to get up in his face with your machete. Just make sure to face him at all times and your machete will overpower his knife. Closing Thoughts
The sniper class is very unique, because it’s damage dealing potential is extremely high, and its only limits are the height of the player’s skill and reflexes. While it’s not necessary to have a sniper in some games, you can change the ebb and flow of the entire round just by having one on your team. Two snipers are a hell of a lot better than one. Having a fellow snipe cover you from one area while you aim at the next is invaluable, and of course, two snipers can pick targets off faster than a single one could. I highly suggest against having more than 2 snipers on the team though, even in high number games. If you end up seeing three on your team, it usually means you are fighting a sniper on the enemy team that is probably kicking your snipers’ asses left and right. Even though I never used it, I’m a little bummed to see that Valve has nerfed the quick weapon switch trick. From what I understand, it gave snipers more of a chance in professional clan matches. Even though I still think pro snipers will make their impact, I can also understand where they are coming from when it comes to dealing with nerfs that hit them where it hurts most. Even though I think snipers are a great class for the most part, I would love to see Valve give the machine pistol the same knockback effect the sniper’s autogun in TFC had. By giving the machine pistol’s rounds a slight knockback effect, I think it could add some more flavor to the class and give them a tad more survivability when fighting their enemy at closer range. Other Thoughts from Other Players-
Rockn-Roll;7152893 Wrote:
Some good info. Perhaps just a short paragraph on aiming technique. I think you both covered this, but I'm not sure it comes through clearly. When you move your mouse or other controller to aim then you are dealing with a device that is calibrated so you can move the entire screen quickly...in fact many controllers have an acceleration factor if you continue to move in one direction. But, with a sniper you are zoomed in and need to have a decelerator...some way for the control to be more precise while zoomed. You can tweak on your controller and use a hot-key to activate more precision when you are zoomed, but Valve provides something built-in to the game. Player movement and most importantly Straffing is more precise...you will move only a short distance with more controller input...this means it takes longer to move anywhere, but for a sniper this is no big deal because you will find a spot that you like and hang out there while zoomed in on the enemy.
So, this means you have more precision in your aiming side-2-side, but it is very important to realize that your up/down aim is still very eratic...if you try to move your mouse or other controller to adjust your aim up or down then your shot will probably not even hit your target because moving it just a little bit will move a lot in the scoped field of view. Thus, all aiming movement should be done by straffing left or right...and wait to fire your weapon until the enemy moves in from the top or bottom of your field of view...moving your aim left or right to where you anticipate they will be at that point. Another thing I might add here is how to check for targets when you are a sniper...without giving away the fact that a sniper is covering an area...and also as a defense against snipers. When you use your taunt you will go into 3rd person...during which you can swivel your view around. 2Fort is a good example with a "blind" in the way of sheet metal covering the left portion of the balcony as well as a wall on the other side. If you position yourself just out of sight then you can press taunt and swivel your view around so you can see around the corner. Great for picking out targets as a sniper and great for checking to see if there's a sniper out in the open scoping your position. It's also great for checking around corners to see if an enemy sentry is covering your position and to see where it is so you can pop out and take it down quicker...knowing what's around the corner is important.
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