A snipers guide anyone?

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

I know we have some good snipers around here. I was reading the old one written and while it has some good points, things have changed quite a bit with weapon loadouts and whatnot, that I wondered if there might be some people who wouldn't mind helping me get better at a class I like, but suck at. I did get my first double shot snipe on double cross the other night!

[Plinko]

I actually wrote and deleted a 5,000 word sniper guide that was specific to Warpath. I might try it again while I'm unable to play TF2 the next few weeks, but since I only snipe on TV8 it would be of limited value for playing other maps.

[OmgOhnoes]

I'm not an expert sniper and usually only play it on a few maps (although i've been trying to expand that).

My understanding is the sniper shot is immune to lag (on your end at least, they might not like you for it), ie if the crosshairs and rifle fire over the head of someone regardless of your ping it should hit them in the head. In practice i'm not sure that's the case.

Ultimately it comes down to practice and getting use to your mouse sensitivity/speed vs the movement and speed of your opposition. Try and pick areas where they are coming towards you more than side to side.

I have a lot of hours on sniper overall, most of them on 2Fort (A sniper's dream) where i got most of my achievements but i'm still not that great compared to lots of the players on here.

Double Cross is a good map to learn on. Either in the window or opposite the spawn door by the health shack. Both are good areas you should hopefully not get harassed much in. If you get jumpers then you just have to deal with it and hope team mates help keep the battlements clear.

For the record, i play with the basic sniper rifle. I like the machina but not a fan of the trail. Sidney Sleeper is good if you want to play a more supporting roll. Giving mini crits on that heavy far away where your team is pushing really helps.

Also, taunting El Hefe is a requirement any time you kill him. Particularly with body-shots; it doesn't matter if you die to someone else while taunting. The Ville stats system actually gives you a "Taunting El Hefe" point.. or it's on the "to do" list, one of those.

[Parade Kid]

Class kill prioritization, spy awareness, and a cool head in chaotic battles are among many things that you can practice to get better. I find that playing on larger (12v12+) servers can be more challenging (than say 6v6 or 9v9) in the sense that there is much more going on and you'll have, generally, more opponents to fire at.

[Cpt._Keyes]

A Keye to sniping: Put dots on heads, shoot, team color doesn't matter


Guide complete!

[Fano]

A couple of tips off the top of my head:

• Don't camp, move around and shoot from different areas, it'll be harder for opposing snipers to see you if you pop out from a different hole every time you peek
• Aim before you scope, put your crosshair around the general vicinity of your target's head before you right click to zoom in, this will make it easier to make the small adjustment needed to hit the head quickly.
• Priorities targets can vary but generally it's: Sniper -> Medic -> Heavy/Soldier/Demo -> Everything else.
• Loadout stuff:
  • Most efficient loadout is Stock + Jarate/SMG + bushwacka, I'm sure people will disagree with this as they always do
  • Razorback can be acceptable if spies are an issue (and if you aren't just sitting back behind everyone where they can just 2-shot you with the revolver), but you'll miss out on the utility given by jarate or the awesome damage of the underrated SMG (it does more damage and is more reliable than scout/engineer pistols even!).
  • The darwin shield is pretty useless as the extra health doesn't really do anything for you.
  • Bazaar bargain is objectively worse but not so much that you'll be at a disadvantage for using it so it's basically preference there.
  • Sydney sleeper will let you annoy the crap out of other snipers and not much else, it has some utility but lacking headshots means you can't 1-hit anything with more health than a medic, and nobody if they have overheal.
  • Machina is trash because you give away your position every time you shoot and you can't no-scope with it. Pierce shots are cool but if you waiting for a full charge before every shot you aren't going to be very useful.
  • Melee choices are largely irrelevant unless you're carrying jarate in which case you'll always want the bushwacka for that cool combo on spies and such, if you don't carry jarate then I usually just go with stock since it doesn't have the extra fire vulnerability (even though it's not very noticeable), I almost never pull out melee as sniper though.
  • Cozy Camper seems to be pretty useless since it makes you stand quite literally still while you scope...haven't had much of a change to play with it though.
  • If you use the huntsman I will hate you forever...that's more of a personal opinion though

[One_Medic_Army]

Huntsman snipers are as different from normal snipers as demoknights are from sticky demos.
Take the analogy as you will, but they're still fun to derp with in pubs.

I find that changing your patterns can be a big help, even changing your hat can throw off enemy snipers, to say nothing of actually changing your loadout.

[The Spanish Inquisition]

1. We don't need another sniper
2. If you must, shoot other snipers first.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

1. We don't need another sniper
2. If you must, shoot other snipers first.

See, and here I was expecting you to say "Can we get some counter sniping?"

I promise to only play medic when I'm on your team Spanish.

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

A couple of tips off the top of my head:

• Don't camp, move around and shoot from different areas, it'll be harder for opposing snipers to see you if you pop out from a different hole every time you peek
• Aim before you scope, put your crosshair around the general vicinity of your target's head before you right click to zoom in, this will make it easier to make the small adjustment needed to hit the head quickly.
• Priorities targets can vary but generally it's: Sniper -> Medic -> Heavy/Soldier/Demo -> Everything else.
• Loadout stuff:
  • Most efficient loadout is Stock + Jarate/SMG + bushwacka, I'm sure people will disagree with this as they always do
  • Razorback can be acceptable if spies are an issue (and if you aren't just sitting back behind everyone where they can just 2-shot you with the revolver), but you'll miss out on the utility given by jarate or the awesome damage of the underrated SMG (it does more damage and is more reliable than scout/engineer pistols even!).
  • The darwin shield is pretty useless as the extra health doesn't really do anything for you.
  • Bazaar bargain is objectively worse but not so much that you'll be at a disadvantage for using it so it's basically preference there.
  • Sydney sleeper will let you annoy the crap out of other snipers and not much else, it has some utility but lacking headshots means you can't 1-hit anything with more health than a medic, and nobody if they have overheal.
  • Machina is trash because you give away your position every time you shoot and you can't no-scope with it. Pierce shots are cool but if you waiting for a full charge before every shot you aren't going to be very useful.
  • Melee choices are largely irrelevant unless you're carrying jarate in which case you'll always want the bushwacka for that cool combo on spies and such, if you don't carry jarate then I usually just go with stock since it doesn't have the extra fire vulnerability (even though it's not very noticeable), I almost never pull out melee as sniper though.
  • Cozy Camper seems to be pretty useless since it makes you stand quite literally still while you scope...haven't had much of a change to play with it though.
  • If you use the huntsman I will hate you forever...that's more of a personal opinion though

My big question is the fully scoped shot. I don't like the machina for the reason you mention, its bad enough that I give away my position to the person I killed, but now everyone on the map who is paying attention knows where the sniper is. However, I body shot way, way more than I get a clean head shot. Doesn't that make the machina more effective for me? I was going stock most of the time for the lack of a tracer, but felt like I wasn't doing enough damage.

If you go with the smg, do I really need to worry about no scoped shots? I like the jarate, but it seemed that if I used the machina I almost had to have the smg for up close fighting.

I know in your other big guide you talked about aiming settings. Any tips for sniper aiming improvement/settings? As Spanish pointed out, I'm really no help to my team as a sniper if I can't hit the other team's sniper (at least I think that was what he said)

[Parade Kid]

If you're training for headshots, use the bazaar bargain. I use the machina when I'm in a medic + hw heavy fight. I'll use the huntsman if I feel like roaming; and/or there are many spies harassing me; there are tight spaces or small combat areas It might benefit you to wear the razorback until you get comfortable with moving around and flushing out spies (when that happens, switch to jarate). When you're sniping, confidence is everything. Don't be afraid to give away your position, you want your opponents to be fearful of the area you're covering...

[DDYzErO]

If you're training for headshots, use the bazaar bargain. I use the machina when I'm in a medic + hw heavy fight. I'll use the huntsman if I feel like roaming; and/or there are many spies harassing me; there are tight spaces or small combat areas It might benefit you to wear the razorback until you get comfortable with moving around and flushing out spies (when that happens, switch to jarate). When you're sniping, confidence is everything. Don't be afraid to give away your position, you want your opponents to be fearful of the area you're covering...

I agree with Parade on this. Also alot of people who say are spamming keep doing the same pattern over and over, recognize it and you can have your sniper dot waiting for them.

[Larry]

***PRO TIPS INCOMING***
1. Stand in a corner.
2. Scope in.
3. Fully charge your gun/bow.
4. Bodyshot (Headshots are only useful for showing off)
5. Taunt
6. ??????
7. Top Score

[Fano]

A couple of tips off the top of my head:

• Don't camp, move around and shoot from different areas, it'll be harder for opposing snipers to see you if you pop out from a different hole every time you peek
• Aim before you scope, put your crosshair around the general vicinity of your target's head before you right click to zoom in, this will make it easier to make the small adjustment needed to hit the head quickly.
• Priorities targets can vary but generally it's: Sniper -> Medic -> Heavy/Soldier/Demo -> Everything else.
• Loadout stuff:
  • Most efficient loadout is Stock + Jarate/SMG + bushwacka, I'm sure people will disagree with this as they always do
  • Razorback can be acceptable if spies are an issue (and if you aren't just sitting back behind everyone where they can just 2-shot you with the revolver), but you'll miss out on the utility given by jarate or the awesome damage of the underrated SMG (it does more damage and is more reliable than scout/engineer pistols even!).
  • The darwin shield is pretty useless as the extra health doesn't really do anything for you.
  • Bazaar bargain is objectively worse but not so much that you'll be at a disadvantage for using it so it's basically preference there.
  • Sydney sleeper will let you annoy the crap out of other snipers and not much else, it has some utility but lacking headshots means you can't 1-hit anything with more health than a medic, and nobody if they have overheal.
  • Machina is trash because you give away your position every time you shoot and you can't no-scope with it. Pierce shots are cool but if you waiting for a full charge before every shot you aren't going to be very useful.
  • Melee choices are largely irrelevant unless you're carrying jarate in which case you'll always want the bushwacka for that cool combo on spies and such, if you don't carry jarate then I usually just go with stock since it doesn't have the extra fire vulnerability (even though it's not very noticeable), I almost never pull out melee as sniper though.
  • Cozy Camper seems to be pretty useless since it makes you stand quite literally still while you scope...haven't had much of a change to play with it though.
  • If you use the huntsman I will hate you forever...that's more of a personal opinion though

My big question is the fully scoped shot. I don't like the machina for the reason you mention, its bad enough that I give away my position to the person I killed, but now everyone on the map who is paying attention knows where the sniper is. However, I body shot way, way more than I get a clean head shot. Doesn't that make the machina more effective for me? I was going stock most of the time for the lack of a tracer, but felt like I wasn't doing enough damage.

If you go with the smg, do I really need to worry about no scoped shots? I like the jarate, but it seemed that if I used the machina I almost had to have the smg for up close fighting.

I know in your other big guide you talked about aiming settings. Any tips for sniper aiming improvement/settings? As Spanish pointed out, I'm really no help to my team as a sniper if I can't hit the other team's sniper (at least I think that was what he said)

You should really only be going for a fully charged shot to get rid of a fully healed heavy, otherwise you should be taking as many shots as possible, whether or not you hit the head is a matter of practice, but just putting damage out there is the most important thing.

The machina's extra damage only kicks in when you're fully charged, but a fully charged headshot already does enough damage to 1-hit a heavy, the extra damage on a bodyshot is going to be mostly negligible, the pierceshot is a neat thing but the downsides aren't worth it.

Combining the smg with noscopes is a great way to get rid of light classes, shoot your smg first and when you run out of ammo switch back to the rifle and try a noscope, it's faster than reloading and does a burst of 50 damage, which may be enough to net you the kill.

As far as aiming settings go you can mess with zoom_sensitivity_ratio, but it's mostly a matter of practice.

[Parade Kid]

Also, and very importantly, you'll need to find a comfortable mouse sensitivity. Just keep tweaking it as you snipe to find your comfort zone.