This guide will discuss the various aspects of the Sniper class and its uses and strategies. The guide will be discussing weapons, overall settings, some loadouts, matchups, hitboxes, different types of sniping and some tips and tricks.
This guide is intended for snipers of all skill levels from beginner to above-average level.
This is a re-upload of my former guide with a lot more information on Sniper.
Enjoy.
Quick-Scoping - Scope in and quickly headshot a target, dealing 150 dmg.
No-Scope - Fire from the hip, dealing 50 dmg.
Bodyshooting - Scope in (no-scopes count as well) and fire at a target's body.
Map Awareness - Knowing the basic map layout.
Gamesense - A mix of map awareness, other class mechanics and knowing what your target is capable of doing and which routes he might take while doing it.
Second-scoping - Waiting for the Enemy Sniper to scope in and then scope in right after and kill him while he's standing somewhat still.
Mouse Sensitivity
This might be, in my opinion, the most important setting for Sniper (and any other class, to be honest). Changing it often won't help you at all, and it might even hinder you when you're practicing. You should pick a sensitivity that suits your gameplay and the way you aim (wrist/arm); I personally play at 1.5 in-game sensitivity w/ 800 DPI as I aim mostly, if not all the time, with my wrist.
Mouse Acceleration (in-game)
Disable it. Getting the raw input (m_rawinput 1) from your mouse without any smoothing done by the game is crucial.
Viewmodels
I, personally, have them transparent and in minmode (tf_use_min_viewmodels 1) so I don't have 35% of my screen hidden by a Sniper Rifle but it's all preference.
Field of View (fov_desired 75-90)
90 FoV. The more of your screen you can see, the better it is.
Crosshair & HUD
Again, it's all preference, but I personally use a modded crosshair (while scoped-in) and the in-game crosshair while running around. As for the HUD, try to keep your screen as uncluttered as possible for optimal sniping.
These boxes move with you and your model but sometimes, with varying pings, they may behave differently. They may lag behind you or just be weird in general, especially in high latency environments. As a Sniper, you should always be going for the head hitbox.
The Spy, when disguised, maintains the hitbox scheme of the Spy and not the class he's disguised as.
There are two main styles of sniping: twitching/flicking and tracking and while both have their benefits, you should try to practice to achieve a perfect blend of both.
Twitch/Flick
Twitching/flicking is when you aren't necessarily aiming at your opponent but instead drag your mouse (flicking) and shoot when your crosshair hovers your opponent's head. Works well against opponents with predictable jumping or moving patterns such as cunt Scouts.
Tracking
Basically, before you even scope-in, you follow your opponent's head with your crosshair before quick-scoping them. Works well vs Rocket Jumping Soldiers/Demos or Second-Scoping Snipers among other hard to hit while moving targets.
Recommended Weapons
Stock/AWPer Hand
All around good Sniper Rifle.
Machina/Shooting star
Arguably the best Sniper Rifle due to the increased damage and the penetrating shots whilst fully charged.
Bazaar Bargain
Better than Stock if you can get 3 headshots quickly as it'll decrease the charge time of the scope.
Hitman's Heatmaker
Fourth place Sniper Rifle, it'll still deal 150 damage on a HS but the -20% damage on body shot really hinders the weapon.
Sydney Sleeper
Pretty good supportive weapon with the Jarate Splash on HS/Fully-charged Shot.
Recommended Secondaries
Cozy Camper
The HP regen will you save your life more than once.
SMG
Pretty good if you don't want to rely on Backpacks.
Jarate/Self-Aware Beauty Mask
For a more supportive role (or a combo with the Bushwacka).
Recommended Melees
Stock/Frying Pan/Conscientious Objector/Freedom Staff/etc..
It's stock.
Bushwacka
If you're playing with Jarate.
Not Recommended Weapons
Classic
???
Not Recommended Secondaries
Cleaner's Carbine
The negatives outweigh the positives.
Razorback
Very situational and not very effective.
Darwin's Danger Shield
Please, don't.
Not Recommended Melees
Shahanshah
If you have less than 50% max HP, you're already dead.
Tribalman's Shiv
Very situational vs CnD Spies and even then, the lack of damage hinders the weapon to the point of not being useable.
Stock Sniper/Bazaar Bargain/Machina/Hitman's Heatmaker - Cozy Camper/Razorback - Stock Melee/Any Other Melee
All-around good loadout for Snipers
+ Instakill most classes with a quick headshot.
+ Survivability with the Cozy Camper (with the Razorback to an extent).
- Not much of a Support because of a lack of a Secondary.
Sydney Sleeper - Jarate - Bushwacka
Support Sniper.
+ Free mini-crits for your team.
+ Free mini-crits (crits with the Bushwacka) for you.
- Can't headshot.
- No Survivability.
Stock Sniper/Any Other Sniper - Darwin's Danger Shield - Stock Melee/Any Other Melee
God, no.
Feel free to mix and match the loadouts to your preference.
Support Sniper.
+ Free mini-crits for your team.
+ Free mini-crits (crits with the Bushwacka) for you.
- Can't headshot.
- No Survivability.
Stock Sniper/Any Other Sniper - Darwin's Danger Shield - Stock Melee/Any Other Melee
God, no.
Feel free to mix and match the loadouts to your preference.
I'll list the matchups in a kill priority order.
1. Enemy Snipers
1. Assume that if you miss your shot you will be killed. This is because at higher level sniping,
scoping for more than a second will get you killed.
2. Suddenly crouching also helps and makes you a trickier target against Snipers that keep their sights at head level.
3. Know when to quit. If the Sniper is clearly better than you, you're not doing much for your team spending 90% of your time staring at a respawn screen.
2. Enemy Medics
1. Try not to let the Medic see you. Medics have a tendency to jump around when they see a Sniper and it'll only make it harder for you to hit a headshot/bodyshot.
2. If a Medic has an ubercharge ready and has not seen you, take the time to make sure you kill him in one shot, be it a bodyshot or a headshot. If he is overhealed and survives, he may deploy his charge and you will lose your chance.
3. If you see a Medic, chances are many enemies in the vicinity are overhealed. Revise your strategy and charge your shots more.
3. Enemy Heavies
1. Headshots, headshots, headshots. With 300-450 health, there is no alternative.
2. A Heavy without a Medic will often run away after being headshotted once. Charge your rifle meter before shooting at an Heavy who is alone or be ready to headshot him twice quickly.
3. You can easily kill ubered Heavies right after their uber runs out, as you have plenty of time to aim and they will most likely be gunning to the end, the adrenaline keeping him from noticing tinier targets.
4. Enemy Demomen
1. You can pick off a Demoman's stickies easily. Remember that you are part of a team: do this whenever you are not busy, even if the stickies are not a threat to you.
2. Watch out for sticky-jumping Demomen.
3. A distant Demoman will try to bombard your position with his pipe bombs. Remember that as they land, they roll backwards- in this case you can easily evade damage by moving forward and/or to the side (as to dodge the incoming fire).
5. Enemy Soldiers
1. Watch out for raining Soldiers.
2. Like with Scouts, keep your distance and try to predict where their rockets will land as to avoid any splash damage.
3. Buff Banner and Kritzkrieg Soldiers become medium-high level targets. Try to kill them before the Medic giving them Kritz to help your team.
6. Enemy Engineers
1. A fully charged shot will destroy level 1 buildings.
2. Keep away from sentries. Don't forget you only have 125 health (150 with DD, but don't use that).
3. If an engineer is behind a sentry, see if his foot is sticking out for a chance at a fully charged bodyshot.
7. Enemy Scouts
1. A Scout is not impossible to hit. Try to predict where the Scout will move and aim for the head. If the scout is jumping, follow his trajectory.
2. Try to keep your distance from the Scout. You won't win in close quarters vs most classes, one of them being the Scout.
3. The Scout is fast, so charged bodyshots or quick headshots may not always land. No-scoping will do the job if the Scout gets too close to you.
8. Enemy Spies
1. The Razorback does not make you Spy-proof. Three revolver shots or two ambassador shots from close range will kill you.
2. Turn up your volume, turn down voice chat, and turn off any music you have playing. If you want an effective fighting chance against Spies, keep your ears alert for the decloaking sound and/or footsteps.
3. Spies with the Dead Ringer do not fall with a single headshot but their HP will be minimal. You can, usually, hit them with a quick no-scope after they decloak for the kill.
9. Enemy Pyros
1. If you are using the rifle, fire is your worst enemy. You will not be able to aim (although you CAN get headshots while on fire) and your already small amount of health will just get smaller.
2. It's not hard to dodge flares, but you should find a balance between dodging them and trying to kill the Pyro as they will probably be slowly decreasing the gap as they fire flares.
3. If a Pyro is getting too close, try to land a quick headshot and then just no-scope bodyshot them for a quick kill.
I figured I'd upload the custom mods I use on a daily basis because I don't really see why not.
Some (read: most) of these mods do not work on sv_pure 1 (VALVe) servers so I'd advise you to, if you plan on playing Casual/Matchmaking, to temporarily move the custom mods to a different folder as to not cause any crashes or unintended effects on your gameplay.
What the folder contains:
- autoexec.cfg
Graphics settings to keep your game as stable as possible.
Good connection settings.
Good sound quality settings.
Null-cancelling movement script.
Crouch-Jump script.
- budhud
Good HUD, I suppose.
- clovervidia's captions
Captions in-game actions such as when an enemy/teammember takes damage, if a Medic has full uber and/or activates it, etc.
- less distracting explosions
Makes explosions less, uhh, distracting.
- Sniper First Person Animation Overhaul
Changes the animation of every weapon that the Sniper uses.
- surfaceproperties.vpk
Metal sounding footsteps.
Download
1. Always, and I do mean always, keep your crosshair at head level.
2. Always try to fight on an even ground.
3. Hide your laser dot when you're holding an angle (by pointing it at the wall right next to where the enemy will come out from)
4. Don't hardscope a lot, you'll be an easy target.
5. Second-scoping is okay. Just don't tunnel on someone, waiting for them to scope for over a minute.
6. Change your position constantly. Staying in the same spot after killing someone twice is never a good idea.
7. When facing Heavies or Snipers getting healed, charge your shot behind a wall and then quickly peek and flick to their head.
8. Map awareness is key. Listen for footsteps, death sounds, Spies uncloaking, etc..
9. Gamesense. Please, you can have the best aim in the world, but if you don't have any gamesense, you'll fail.
10. Don't get mad if you die. It'll happen.
Practice.
Bodyshooting is okay.
Try to take notes of your mistakes and flaws and try to practice and correct them.
Ignore people who try to get a reaction out of you in-game.
Know your class and what you're capable of.
Practice.
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