The Lone Ranger
Some people (as OSI has shown us) can play sniper as a medium-close range combat class. Some people do perfectly well playing sniper from a distance. And others (unfortunately) are content to take pot shots at other snipers on the blood-stained balconies of 2Fort. The one thing that all of these people have in common though, is a sort of “lone ranger mentality”.
Because of being a long range class, the sniper offers a game experience completely different from the other classes. A sniper holds the very power of life and death in his hands. A skilled sniper knows what to do with this power, and he uses it to the utmost of his abilities. An unskilled sniper (you know who you are, 2Fort leeches) doesn’t yet have the skill to handle this type of responsibility. As such, I figured that I could give a few pointers for those of you who want to improve as snipers.
The Basics
The first and most obvious thing to remember when playing sniper is to keep moving. Standing still is letting someone have a free kill.
Secondly, keep an eye out for enemy sniper dots. Knowing where enemy snipers are will not only enable you to kill them, it will allow you to help keep your teammates alive.
Third, you can crouch, so crouch. Crouching makes you a smaller target, and therefore, harder to hit.
Know Your Weapons
The sniper has 2 weapons. Why 2 you ask? Because the SMG is pretty much useless. The weapons you should rely on are the sniper rifle and the kukri. The kukri’s obvious purpose is to dispose of spies, who can make you job much harder.
The Sniper Rifle
The sniper’s primary weapon. The sniper rifle takes about 4 seconds to charge and a fully charged shot can kill a fully buffed heavy. The sniper rifle is an incredibly powerful weapon, but it is vital to conserve ammo. 25 shots can disappear very quickly. It’s not worth trying to no scope with it because of the (relatively long) load time.
The Kukri
The sniper’s trusty melee weapon. The kukri is extremely effective at dispatching most classes, especially spies. The kukri is much more effective at killing spies than the SMG, because of a higher damage-to-speed ratio.
Moar Tactics
Keep in mind that while it can be tempting to stay back and kill other snipers, you’ll do your team much more good if you move up with them. You can often take the enemy team by surprise if you move up and snipe them from unusual angles. One of the most important thing to remember is to snipe from unexpected areas. People that have been playing for a while usually know where snipers will try to snipe from. It really confuses people if you snipe from out in the open. Snipers need to be willing to go where no one else will in order to get the shot.
Above All Else, Don’t Be A Weighted Companion Sniper.
Please, I’m begging you, help your team.
clubtheseals on August 13th 2008 in how to, sniper, tactics, team fortress 2
Stumble it!
madlep responded on 13 Aug 2008 at 9:18 pm #
I couldn’t resist slipping the Dora pic in before publishing it
n00bie51 responded on 13 Aug 2008 at 10:52 pm #
Isn’t the “lone ranger mentality” the only kind that exists?
Xeno responded on 13 Aug 2008 at 10:54 pm #
The SMG is far from useless, imo. It’s one of the most accurate guns in the game and can dispose of any class pretty easy if they’re on low health. For example, if a scout is running towards you and you only manage a body shot on him, SMGing him is the way to go.
Nice article, though.
The Space Pope! responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 12:26 am #
More than that, The Sniper is a pretty decent class to take out sentries, the main reason is because the engies have a tendency to stand still while upgrading their sentry, this give a bright yellow not moving target for the sniper, hard to miss!
After that, the sentry can ba take out by 2 charged shot with the sniper, and even then, just the fact of taking out the engie is an open door for every member of the team to take out the sentry.
b4dboyz- responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 2:09 am #
The SMG is anything but useless in mid/close range. It’s more powerful than the revolver for the spy, which is known for being a pretty good way to finish off a person. But, if the enemies come up next to me, I’m bringing out the kukri.
GuiltyFish responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 2:13 am #
Weighted Companion Snipers. A brilliant name for them if I do say so myself. Sniping on battlements is by far the most ineffective way of killing snipers, as you often end up the sniped. Why put yourself in danger with these, how you say, pot shots when you can simply waltz down to the sewers and take a shot where they cant even see you, then move on. The basic rule of the sniper is take a shot and MOVE ON rather than sitting up on the battlements jerking it while waiting for the other sniper. You control the battlements, congrats, you are now easy pickings for any half wit spy or demo man who realizes that his pipe bombs can arc onto the battlements, or even cocky demomen (myself included) who get a few giggles off of sticky jumping from your battlement to theirs and beating them with your bottle. Come on people, its called 2fort, not 2battlements.
skyeslipstream responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 5:57 am #
Strange how the Sniper has such a ‘Lone Ranger’ style of play in a game called Team Fortress 2.
Still, he is a support class and support he can. While most people will play the Sniper as someone who just finds anything that isn’t his colour and shoots, you can also get the other Sniper; the better Sniper.
The basic mindset of the Sniper falls into a few easy steps.
The first is to choose a prime target. Ideally, this will be someone who is the most important or otherwise nessecary to the other team – Engineers, Medics and other Snipers are at the top of the priority list.
The second is to find said target. Teammates can really help in this (especially Scouts and Spies who are often observing the enemy) and you can often find them at a predictable spot; Engies behind the sentries, Medics following buddies, so on.
The third is to position yourself. This is a common danger for the Sniper; the clearer the shot, the more exposed he is. The more exposed he is, the more chance he will spotted and he will have to either take his shot in a hurry or retreat and try again somewhere else. An ideal spot is one where you are hidden between two objects yet spaced so you still have a good field of vision.
The fourth is to finally snipe him. Aiming for the head is ideal, though sometimes it’s too difficult to get a precise shot and if you miss, you’ll be compromised. You may need to occasionally aim for the body with a fully charged shot and hope it will get him. However, most of the time, you’ll get the bullet to go clear through the brain in a wonderful bloody pink mist.
The last step is to retreat. This is not always straight away; some enemies may not be aware of your position, allowing for some more quick headshots. However, the other team will soon realise there is a Sniper and take precautions, usually avoiding open spaces or – more commonly – looking for you. At this point, it’s time to go. The official Sniper handbook says to “always have at least two extraction routes”, which is ideal but not mandatory.
As you can see, this is if you take the Sniper seriously. Sure, you can be a Sniper who just waits around and picks off lone Pyros that are stupid enough to head towards on a map like Hydro.
Or you can be an awesome assassin who strikes fear into the enemy team, taking out main targets and securing your team’s victory with a single bullet.
(PS: Yeah, five steps to sniping might be too slow-paced for some, but if you want a fast-paced class, go Scout and get shot in the head by the Sniper who did it right.)
Daniel Araujo responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 11:58 am #
MADLEP PLEASE POST ABOUT THIS BUT GIVE ME CREDIT FOR FINDING OUT!
Valve released the objectives of the achievements. If you right click the achievement image and click copy image location.
For example
CROCK BLOCK
http://steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/images/AchievementIcons/tf_heavy_survive_crocket.png
Survive a crit rocket.
Krazy Ivan
http://steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/images/AchievementIcons/tf_heavy_kill_underwater.png
Kill someone underwater
Vanguard Party
http://steamgames.com/tf2/heavy/images/AchievementIcons/tf_heavy_first_to_cap.png
Be first to cap a point
-Daniel Araujo
Pad See Ew responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 12:48 pm #
Don’t forget – hide your your Sniper dot.
Pinko responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 1:36 pm #
Daniel Araujo (If that is your real name!!!), everyone’s known about that, you’re not the first person. D:
And a fully charged shot can take out a buffed heavy? Maybe in the head, but I thought headshots were instakills?
madlep responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 3:58 pm #
@Daniel Araujo – Just… wow…
Prio responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 4:02 pm #
Headshots are not necessarily instakills unless the rifle is fully-charged; I can confirm that from experience. According to http://tf2wiki.net/wiki/Sniper_Rifle, a headshot with no charging at all does a mere 150 damage, although the article seems rather self-contradictory in some places (typical for wikis).
Bo Steed responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 5:57 pm #
There is one main problem I’ve noticed with Snipers. They seem to be part plant. Once they’ve gotten to a nice Sniper nest, they grow roots. While to a certain degree it’s dangerous for a flimsy Sniper to go off into unfamiliar territory and the sheer area-denial this sets up can be useful in some situations, there are a couple of problems. Everyone on the other team quickly figures out where the “dead zones” are and avoids them, and it really doesn’t take long to figure out where the Sniper is and lob all sorts of death in their direction. And I don’t care how good a shot they are, eventually any Sniper will die if they stand still.
The most deadly Snipers I’ve ever seen were the ones where you just had no idea where they’d be next. Sometimes up on the Sniper’s nest, sometimes down behind a rock, sometimes in a doorway, and sometimes just plain “OMG where’d that come from?!” Snipers that gets a few shots and shift position can really play with a team’s psyche.
Arsenal IV responded on 14 Aug 2008 at 11:59 pm #
awesome post clubtheseals. About the crouching thing. If you crouch, you become wider thus easier to it. I love it when an enemy sniper thinks crouching is going to save him. BOOM Headshot!
Josh60502 responded on 15 Aug 2008 at 3:38 am #
We seem to agree on most points…
http://www.ubercharged.net/2008/02/20/sniper-guide/
But I would say that the SMG is better than you give it credit for. And don’t forget to change the mouse sensitivity so you can line up shots more quickly. Nice pictures, though.
beef42 responded on 21 Aug 2008 at 7:40 am #
Crouching is a bad idea, it makes you slow. You should strafe back and forth while zoomed in. This will throw off poor enemy snipers, but the good ones will headshot you anyway. Still it is better than nothing.
You should spend as little time zoomed in as possible. Being zoomed effectively blinds you to anything but your target, and makes you as fast as a spinning heavy. That’s bad.
Snipe from under the cover of a friendly sentry if possible. The engie’s “SPY!” shouts will warn you, and you won’t be surprised closerange by pyros and soldiers and stuff.
You should not charge shots unless you must. Headshotting a heavy 3 times to get the kill is safer for you than standing zoomed in waiting for the charge, only to see him go for cover.
Don’t creep past corners while zoomed in. An enemy sniper will easily blow your head off.
In sniper duels, whomever misses first loses. Get your opponent to miss a shot by jumping around a lot, then quickly headshot him as he dives for cover.
A way to avoid the nerve-wrecking sniper duels is to flank the enemy sniper. Simply find an angle he isn’t looking at, and comfortably take him down while he is scoped on your teammates.
Enemy snipers are priority nr. 1, as they easily kill you. A dead sniper is a useless sniper. More so they are easy kills with their low hp and tendency to stand still. Kill or be killed.
Second priority is medics for obvious reasons.
Third is whomever seems to be owning on the enemy team. Usually a soldier, demo or heavy.
Change positions often, but if you are in a good spot and have several good shots, you should not waste your opportunity.
An effective tactic against enemy scouts who are close is to noscope them. It deals roughly 50 damage, and is not that difficult if you’re a good shot. Combine with smg. If they try to bat you, use your kukri. It deals much more damage than bat.
Be always aware of eventual enemy spies. Pay attention to your team’s spy reports. Go out of your way to headshot and kukri enemy spies. It will save your life and might make them ragequit.
Anonymous responded on 29 Aug 2008 at 11:54 pm #
SNIPER NO SNIPING
XD
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