How to be a good sniper

[NapalmFlame]

Ok, some of these posts are pretty wrong, I'll make a quick version without inaccurate and useless junk and explain how it should be done. (And oh, by the way, from someone that uses every weapon, rifle still trumps all else by miles.)

1. Learn to shoot on the move- a rifleman that can headshot on the move is far more useful than a guy that sits in one spot and does very little. A rifleman that only holds a front is less useful than one that absolutely demolishes one, blows right over it and grabs the intel to boot. Cover is also overrated if you can completely take control of the fight on the move and deliver headshots to them regardless of where they are before they can even aim at you.

2. Maintain awareness at all times and watch your flanks. If you play like a boss, blow over every obstacle and leave your usually less than competent allies in the dust there won't be anyone to back you up. Awareness and reactions are your two greatest carries after solid aim.

3. Avoid low ground chokepoints where possible, especially intel pits and valleys. At the same time, avoid the highest terrain around. Those are the two main places anyone will be looking to dome you.

4. Try not to hit the space bar key. Your accuracy goes down the pan ridiculously fast if you jump. Only time jumping in combat is advisable is if you're skilled enough to look down the sights, jump above lower ground cover and dome a guy at the peak of your jump. I wouldn't advise it for the average player though, as its fairly tough to pull off for more skilled players, and has an unsurprisingly high failure rate.

5. Get used to hip fire killing. Its a lot faster at close to mid range to flick and dome someone than it is to deliberately aim down the sights to land a shot. Just don't do this over long range or everyone would laugh as you miss horribly and get domed from draw distance.

6. Just like aiming down sights, crouching increases your accuracy. For more reliable long range killing, sights and crouching usually results in a perfect shot.

7. People's weapons poke out when they're close behind cover. Almost any camper will be sitting as close to the block as he can get and his weapon will show right through like a beacon that says 'Please ram your spade deeper in me!' You can either shoot the guy's blocks out and dome him, flank him from the side, or if you're really feeling like a mean one, run up to the block and spade him through it.

8. Learning spawn timers is useful, and spawnkilling is a shameless tactic to bring victory. If you're dashing to the intel and a guy spawns in front of you, if he reacts fast enough you're toast. So don't try to be the 'honorable' man, just kill him. Or rather, wait until the next wave spawns, kill the lot and then carry on running.

9. Camping isn't dishonorable, its a tactic. Get used to it and utilise it. If you're quick enough to drop an enemy who is carrying the intel, you'll have a bit of time to set up a little staging point where you can trash anyone that comes into view. Just don't sit in the same spot time and time again or you'll be found almost immediately.

10. Grenades are a very valuable tool, especially to psyche players out. Spamming 3 nades in one place isn't always the best way to do things. If someone's behind cover, as a rifleman, your breaking capabilities aren't particularly potent, so grenades compensate significantly for this. Pop a grenade in and immediately charge right after the explosion, they'll usually be too busy worrying about not getting killed to react to a bullet to the face. The same applies to guys throwing nades at you. Retreating from a nade is a great way to get a bullet in the back, you have a much better chance of surviving if you run past the nade and go all-in.

11. Use your brain. If you can't hit someone's head behind cover but can see their feet, take the shots and whittle their hp down, if not kill them outright. If you think something's a bad idea, it probably is and you shouldn't do it. Remember, there is no 'sniper' in this game, just a rifleman and a multitude of ways to play him. Just learn to click heads and do so reliably in any situation, regardless of playstyle, preference or tactic, and shooting to the top of any server's scoreboard while 100 kills behind the leader shouldn't be a problem. Practice and speed is also key- the faster you can find an enemy, aim and shoot, the greater your chance of survival, so keep at it.

Most of the stuff here is fairly logical and usually obvious stuff, but I guess it just needs to be said among the midst of misinformation.

[Varun]

+1

Although it kind of seemed like you contradicted yourself with 1 and 2.

[NapalmFlame]

+1

Although it kind of seemed like you contradicted yourself with 1 and 2.

Not quite sure how, but I also forgot another thing which kinda doesn't warrant its own section but ties in closest with section 1-

strafe dodging and unpredictable movement patterns are a great way to get yourself out of a tight situation and can even throw off players with incredible aim.

[DemonFoxClaw]

Build a little post, sit in there for maybe about 10 minutes, Then find a new spot, Repeat.

[ChaosTLW]

Both crouching and aiming down sights won't make your accuracy higher, but they will make the recoil smaller.

[DemonFoxClaw]

Both crouching and aiming down sights won't make your accuracy higher, but they will make the recoil smaller.

It's true but, IT still helps a lot whenever your a good distance aways

[ThisFrickinSite]

always shoot imediatly after shooting tword your enemy as bullet spread only allows you to hit your target about 45% of the time.

[MrMeow]

Take an SMGer with you, Snipers work in pairs and you can't watch your own back while sniping.

[robotnik185]

Take an SMGer with you, Snipers work in pairs and you can't watch your own back while sniping.

What about those lonewolves?

[MrMeow]

Take an SMGer with you, Snipers work in pairs and you can't watch your own back while sniping.

What about those lonewolves?

Sometimes it's better to lonewolf if there is no chance of being snuck up on and you are aware of your surroundings (Not being sighted in all the time. ) But Snipers are more effective with a Spotter. ( The SMGer. )

[razourik]

I stopped reading as soon as I saw "Doesn't spawn camp". Spawn camping, no matter how "UNFAIR" it is, is an excellent idea and usually thats the only way that the intel is captured in servers where the respawn time is as low as 10 seconds or so.

If you're going to tell us that we shouldn't do something that gives us a heavy advantage, just because its "disgraceful", then you shouldn't be a sniper. Sniping is unfair because you instakill (usually) people who don't get to see you at all. (At least if you're a good sniper)

In fact, if you're really so against this sort of thing, why are you using a gun? Why aren't you fighting with a sword? Crossbows were very unfair and bows were as well. Why don't you fight like a man and run into battle with a spade?

[xEric]

Don't spawn camp? So if a person spawns If front of you while your getting the intel what are you going to do?

[Varun]

Take an SMGer with you, Snipers work in pairs and you can't watch your own back while sniping.

What about those lonewolves?

Sometimes it's better to lonewolf if there is no chance of being snuck up on and you are aware of your surroundings (Not being sighted in all the time. ) But Snipers are more effective with a Spotter. ( The SMGer. )

Unfortunately, if you don't have Mumble or some other such thing, it is quite easy for your partner to screw you up. I always work alone, and I'm smart enough to watch my back as much as I can. Its always my partner that gives me away.

[zephir]

my tips & tricks:

1, get behind the enemy, then shoot them down. shoot from where they least expect. but you can't miss, since the rounds have tracers it wouldn't take a genius to discover that you hoot people from behind their spawn.

2, shoot from edge of fog if you can. this makes it hard for anyone that's not using a rifle to shoot back.
you can go a little beyond the fog if you turn up monitor contrast alot and shoot at shadows of the enemy (or use ASUS Splendid "scenery" mode + tilt monitor up) however some people may accuse you of aimbotting since you're killing beyond the range they can see you.

3, practice shooting alot. whether that's time spent in AoS or in another game, like Postal 2. until you can shoot 5 targets in a row, less than 1 second apart. if you practiced enough, even when ambushed at close range you'll probably survive. however it looks alot like an aimbot. apparently no one's serious enough about winning that they actually practice this.

4, use as much cover as possible. you can stack blocks so that you only have a very narrow slit to shoot from. its hard to get counter sniped if you miss or draw the attention of other enemy. however it only works when shooting diagonally.

5, shoot n scoot. never make more than 3 kills from the same position. don't use the same position twice (unless you find the other team appears to be pretty stupid)

6, don't spawn kill, but there's nothing wrong shooting people as they leave spawn. let them spawn and get their bearings, then shoot them.

7, learn to shoot on the move. this is when you get jumped by a a guy with a shotgun or smg. move around alot and with some skill, they'll miss but you won't. (this works vise-versa if you use shotgun or smg)

[Varun]

3, practice shooting alot. whether that's time spent in AoS or in another game, like Postal 2. until you can shoot 5 targets in a row, less than 1 second apart. if you practiced enough, even when ambushed at close range you'll probably survive. however it looks alot like an aimbot. apparently no one's serious enough about winning that they actually practice this.


6, don't spawn kill, but there's nothing wrong shooting people as they leave spawn. let them spawn and get their bearings, then shoot them.

@3 - I do this, even though I don't practice much. Many others can do it too.

@6 - There isn't really anything wrong with spawncamping. If you went behind your enemy, you would be sniped from behind by newly spawned players. Better to be right behind your enemies. People get pissed when they get camped, but if they can't take out a single camper, then they have a slight problem.