Draco's Sniper Tips

Draco · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 10:10 pm Post subject: Draco's Sniper Tips

(Before you ask, I got bored and had a bit of free time)

The TF2 Sniper is a strange class. Anyone can easily pick it and start getting kills, in the words of Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw: "The Sniper is for people who like point-and-click adventure games..." That statement summarizes how easy it is to start off as a Sniper, all you're doing is pointing and clicking at people from a distance, but that won't get you far in TF2. While the Sniper is definitely a light class specializing in long range it can also be a formidable class at any range, regardless of health, in the right hands.

The topics:
1) Settings
2) Primary Weapons
3) Secondary Weapons
4) Melee Weapons
5) General play strategy
i) Targets
ii) Tactics
6) Draco’s Sniper Etiquette

1) Settings
With the Sniper, accuracy is a requirement. I personally play with a sensitivity of 0.4, however you may want to choose something else. Criteria to follow when changing your sensitivity: Can you quickly do a 180˚ turn if an enemy is behind you and can you quickly AND accurately line up shots? For me I found that given the space that I have I can do a turn in one movement as well as line up shots quickly and effectively with the sensitivity that was stated. Keep in mind, you can find binds that will alter your sensitivity when you zoom in and out of your scope.
Something you want to focus on with the Sniper to give yourself an edge is your FPS. Try and keep at least 60FPS when in the middle of a battlezone otherwise you will find your shots missing or everything will become choppy while you’re trying to get that medic with an ubercharge. This is more for people playing seriously instead of goofing off.

2) Primary Weapons
The sniper has a variety of primary weapons on hand, each weapon gives you a specific edge at the cost of something that makes life easier and you can use the advantage in hundreds of situations. Here are the pros and cons of every primary:

Stock Sniper: The stock sniper is your basic jack-of-all-trades rifle. It never leaves you helpless but the trade-off is that it isn’t as strong in some areas when compared with other weapons.

Sydney Sleeper: This is one weapon that I have a personal grudge against, but for the sake of a guide I’ll give my opinions of it as an unbiased sniper. The Sydney Sleeper is fine if you’re a horrible sniper and can only hit the big targets. In a one-on-one fight don’t expect to win many fights, especially against other snipers as they’ll have the advantage over you. The on-hit Jarate is going to get you a lot of assists but try to avoid using this weapon due to the lack of headshots. This rifle is by far the weakest and while jarate helps your teammates kill people, you could easily kill the person attacking them with one shot with any other rifle.
Bazaar Bargain: The Bazaar Bargain is a much more advanced weapon. If you’re a good sniper and can consistently get headshots then it’s recommended that you use this. While the charge is initially slower, a good sniper can get past the slow charge rate and get up to 4 headshots easily under 30 seconds (assuming there are targets nearby). The trade-off is the rifle isn’t good for mid-range fighting as aiming tends to become trickier in this range and any misses or bodyshots are going to cost you in the long run. If you’re going long-range though you can become a force to be reckoned with as by the time you reach 7 and the charge rate stops speeding up, you can 1-hit overhealed heavies in under a second.

Machina: The Machina is a handy weapon for more conservative snipers. The penetration shots can take care of multiple high priority targets at once or just deal a lot of damage to the other team. The tracer effect can give away your position easily but if the other team already knows where you are then it’s not much of a trade-off. Due to the inability to no-scope, you’re a very weak opponent in close-up fights. It’s suggested you stick to mid or long-range attacks unless you’re good at quick-scoping and keep in mind that sneak attacks will only damn you.

Huntsman was skipped because that’s just in a different group all together.

3) Secondary Weapons
The sniper is very versatile when it comes to secondary weapons. You can be supportive with Jarate, deal damage with the SMG or keep yourself longer with the Razorback and Darwin’s Danger Shield. These weapons depend more on what type of player you are-and how much the other team hates you.

SMG: This weapon works best for defending yourself in close-combat. The weapon has a spread on it so you don’t have to worry about being 100% accurate with your shots and the larger clip in comparison with a rifle helps you deal more damage. This is highly recommended for those of you who are poor with no-scoping and quick-scoping.

Jarate: This weapon has three distinct uses: You can help your team take out large crowds by having them do mini-crits which deal 35% more damage, you can put out teammates who are on fire and you can easily track spies. This is really useful for those of you who are more supportive players and it’s recommended that you use this when sticking with a group as they can compensate for the lack of your SMG, rest of the time it may serve to be a hindrance as you have no form of ranged attacks other than your rifle.

Razorback: Most people see this as a selfish weapon- and it is most of the time- but it can actually be an asset to your team as well. A sniper with a razorback at the back of a group can be a serious pain in the ass for spies trying to get chainstabs as it forces them to go in front of you, making it easier to detect them. You can also keep spies occupied as the time it takes to have a shoot out with a sniper can buy enough time for the spy-checking pyro to walk by and notice you, as well as giving you the chance to fight back. This weapon is highly recommended for those of you who are either good or who wear unusual hats as you become magnets for the spies and it is suggested that you be able to no-scope or quick-scope as you will not have a secondary form of fire.

Darwin’s Danger Shield: This is mainly for keeping you alive longer in fights. Other than that, it serves no real purpose. The +25HP is pretty much useless when compared with the other secondary weapons.

4) Melee Weapons
The melee weapons for the Sniper are a lot like the primary weapons in that what it really comes down to is your preference of play. The knives we have are:

Kukri: This is the nice evenly balanced weapon, it’s pretty average and is always a safe option.

Tribalman’s Shiv: This weapon is fairly weak by itself but when you throw in the bleed damage it does more than the kukri. This weapon is recommended if you can spot finer details as the bleed effect can work well for tracking down deadringer spies and can act in place of Jarate, freeing you up to use something else as your secondary.

Bushwacka: This weapon is pretty much a downgrade for the kukri unless you have jarate equipped. This allows for less flexibility but can make you a force to be reckoned with. The only down side is you go from easy to a corpse on a silver plate for pyros with the increased flame damage. This weapon is recommended for those who use Jarate all the time as you can dose yourself if you get set on fire and you can deal crits in place of mini-crits. Since you already have the Jarate, you had might as well make the most of it.

Shahanshah: This is basically a last resort weapon. The idea behind it is that a cornered animal is much fiercer than a regular one, so you’re going to be forced to be almost dead in order to make the most of it. It’s not the best when compared with other melee weapons.

5) General Play Strategy
i) Targets
As a Sniper you have the ability to take out one player with a single shot easily. If you’re great at aiming you can kill someone in an instant but because of the high accuracy you have to choose your targets carefully. Here is the priority list in order of highest to lowest:
Snipers – A good sniper can only be taken out by a Spy or another Sniper, thus you should take them out first.
Medic – If you take out the backbone of the team, they’re screwed.
Engineers – If you take out the guy keeping the sentries alive, they’re going to go down shortly after.
Heavies, Demomen and Soldiers – These are major damage dealers and should be dealt with to help increase the time between respawns for your team.
Pyros and Scouts – These guys can be a nuisance in the wrong hands and a small army in the right ones. As far as classes go they’re pretty low.
Spies – Chances are you can’t see a spy as he’s moving so unless you know you can kill them don’t bother.
Keep in mind the individual players as well, if you can identify someone who has a tendency to butcher your team then you may want to kill them first.

ii) Tactics
Long-Range: Hang back in a comfortable place with plenty of cover from all sides and make sure you can cover your team or key locations. Nothing can help a push more than a Sniper who is systematically removing players from your teams sight. Make sure you have ammo and health nearby as you’re likely going to be setting up for the long-haul. Try and be constantly scoped but inbetween pauses you should do a 360 check otherwise a Spy might sneak up on you.

Mid-Range: This is where the real challenge begins, you’re far enough from the battlefield that you can comfortably track targets but you’re close enough that you take damage every now and then or get spotted. It is suggested to remain with your team at this range and to run between cover so that it’s harder to get the jump on you. 360 checks are required unless you know someone can stop an enemy from killing you (e.g. if a sentry is beside you). It is suggested you develop some aiming skills before going at this range as well as quick-scoping as this is where you get a balance between the two.

Close-Range: A Sniper is doomed here unless they can quick-scope. You’re right in the fight, the slightest shift of your mouse will throw your aim off and cause you to miss so you’d better have a low sensitivity. It is recommended to avoid these situations, regardless of how good you are as you’re most likely going to receive some damage.

General rules:
- Try to stay scoped in when you can, full charge is better than no charge. At the same time, don’t stay scoped in too long as you become a sitting duck, so unscope and do a 360 check every now and then.

-Your ears are your greatest defence. It’s easy to predict where a Spy is based on the decloak sound and in the quieter places you can predict someone’s movements based solely on the sound of their footsteps (I shit you not when I say this).

-While being able to lead a shot isn’t always necessary it is a valuable skill to have as it will let you get that one person who’s annoying to track. If they keep dodging then you should start leading.

-Avoid staying in the same spot - unless it’s to be expected (such as an attack/defend map and you’re trying to protect the last point). Due to the Sniper’s ability to kill from a distance you can make for great ambushes that will eliminate high priority targets as well as cause temporary chaos among a group. Nothing startles a group more than when their Medic drops dead and you can’t see the killer.

-Don’t rely on your team. If you begin to lean on your teammates too heavily then you start becoming sloppy in terms of self-defence which will leave you open frequently. Watch out for everyone on your team but especially yourself.

-COMMUNICATE! You can see behind your teammates and in front of them. You are the guy giving them covering fire and who can tell them when someone is about to jump them. Tip them off to these facts! You can screw over a spy easily if the moment you see him sneaking up get a back stab you tell your team to turn around and make him into swiss cheese.

-If you find yourself in need of a quick get away from demoman or a soldier, keep in mind that you can rocket jump away from them. If you can time it so you jump and crouch as they shoot at you it will end with you being propelled far enough to quick-scope them easily (at the cost of some health of course).

6) Sniper Etiquette

We may be killers but we do have standards! Some rules for being a gentlemen while being a killer:
-Try and aim for the head. Bodyshots are more out of necessity for the guaranteed kills (e.g. you’re trying to kill an uber-ready Medic but he’s moving too much so you don’t want to risk a botched headshot).

-Don’t be a wimp about fighting! If you take a bit of damage in a Sniper duel, you should not run back to your resupply. Not only does that leave your team open for the other Sniper to go crazy but it’s also you being worried about being killed. News flash for you: A headshot one hits you so it doesn’t matter if you have less than full health.

-Don’t abuse glitches. If a Sniper is beating you, don’t start abusing tricks to kill him as that just proves he’s better than you to the point that you can’t beat him in a fair fight. Use other tactics such as ambushes!

-Don’t be a smug dick. You may have dominated that Sniper who was raping your team, but that might not mean you’re better than him and can gloat. It just means you didn’t fight him in a direct 1 on 1. Follow this rule more for your sake than his as you’ll most likely end up having him gunning for you the rest of the match if you gloat about a lucky domination.

I may add more at a later date but until then thanks for reading and happy hunting!

Disclaimer: This will not make you good, these are merely the tools to help you and show you where you may want to improve.

Eugene · Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2011 11:04 pm Post subject: Re: Draco's Sniper Tips

Draco wrote:

-Don’t rely on your team. If you begin to lean on your teammates too heavily then you start becoming sloppy in terms of self-defence which will leave you open frequently. Watch out for everyone on your team but especially yourself.

I agree with this if we are taking about pubs, but in general if playing with fellow CTs, I say do the opposite. As a medic I have to rely on my team to protect me, and you guys have never failed me when I needed someone to peel a threat off me or simply lead me to health and such. Anyway, I am under the opinion that you should trust your team to get threats off you or atleast warn you. While they won't do the job for you, they will greatly help. Pubs on the hand can all go burn in a pit of hellfire.

Pharaoh Man · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:49 am Post subject:

Your rocket jumping tip with enemy projectiles is a good general tip, and useful for any class. I found this out by playing medic. If you're being chased by a soldier, you can crouch-jump on a rocket and fly right toward a health pack, or even just far away from the soldier.

Nice guide though. I wish I was patient/steady-handed enough to use the rifle.

Maybe I'll write a huntsman guide for completion's sake, since it's basically another class.

atatme · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:42 am Post subject:

Archer class is archer! Do it pharoh

Draco · Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 3:28 pm Post subject:

Pharaoh Man wrote:

Your rocket jumping tip with enemy projectiles is a good general tip, and useful for any class. I found this out by playing medic. If you're being chased by a soldier, you can crouch-jump on a rocket and fly right toward a health pack, or even just far away from the soldier.

Nice guide though. I wish I was patient/steady-handed enough to use the rifle.

Maybe I'll write a huntsman guide for completion's sake, since it's basically another class.

Yeah the Huntsman requires a different mindset from the Rifles. Also you can compensate for not having a steady hand by using a lower sensitivity.