In need of sniper strategy

So, after playing the Support for 90 levels, i started playing the Assassin for the last few weeks. After the update i started playing Sniper, i have played about 15 matches with him now, so if i still make blatant mistakes, be gentle with me.

I am doing ok, but could definitely use some improvement.

Endorsements
I am currently using the same endorsements i use for my Assassin and Support:

Gold: Armor
Silver: Rate of Fire
Bronze: Skills

Upgrades
I want to get to Passive 3 a.s.a.p., but Grapple 2 is too yummy to pass up on, so i take Passive 2 and Grapple 2 from the start and then save money for Passive 3. After that i take Trap 2 and Flak 2.
I am not really sure if i want more upgrades than this. Grapple 3 seems like overkill, Trap 3 and Flak 3 could be nice, not sure if it's worth the $.

Tactics
Steel Peel
I usually start out by staying in my base at a position where i can see both both lanes. I always have something to shoot, whether bots, pros or turrets.
I get in trouble when an assassin sneaks into my base, since they can come from any direction. Also if an opposing pro gets on top of the walkway above our base he can take me out (but usually i can manage to get to safety). Snipers are another threat as i am quite open, but i try not to stand still (often).
If the team manages to push into their base, i move myself to the walkway above their base, placing ice traps in the places where the jumppads take you (both the one from their base as the one from right below).

Grenade III
My favorite map so far. I don't have a fixed spot here. I try to keep up with my bots, if they go further so do i, up until the last bridge, In the meantime i also keep an eye on the opposite side. If i get to that last bridge i try to trap both the jumppad there and get on top to harass the base.

Ammo Mule
I mainly stay on one of the two bridge on my own side and trap both sides. If we push far enough i will move to one of their bridges.

LazeRazor
If i go up the right jumppad i can see both lanes (one coming towards me and one through the middle bridge). If my team is pushing hard enough i try to get to the far right on their side and trap that jumppad, i have gotten a lot of kills there from people keep going up there to get me and me headshotting them. I keep a trap behind me for the players that try to get behind me.

I need tips on what to do with juice, if the moneyball is down i juice and snipe the ball, but if the shields are up, i usually just wait until i am in trouble to take out a pro or two. It seems i cant take down as many turrets while juiced as i want to.

Any advice is welcome.

You're endorsements are exactly the same as what I main, so maybe I can help you out.

As far as upgrades go, I tend to resist the urge to go straight for Passive 3 first thing. My first upgrades right out of the gate are always Trap 2 and Grapple 2, simply because these are two extremely useful skills that are nearly useless before being upgraded. Hitting these two right away allows you to utilize a greater part of the sniper's potential early game. It's a tossup as to what to upgrade next. If I'm pushing hard and already within range of their turrets, then it's Flak 2, if not then Passive 2, although fairly often I find that I have the $300 for both before I even think about upgrading either. I typically get all of my skills at level 2 before going for passive 3. This definitely isn't the best strategy for high K/D ratio, but I believe that upgrading evenly gives you the best setup for pushing lanes, and since the sniper can earn money very quickly it's still pretty early on that I'm getting the passive 3. As for Flak 3, it's absolutely worth it and should be the next skill to max out. Traps and grapple should be the very last to upgrade, and really only if you're successfully pushing the enemy into their own base and going for a quick win.

Speaking of flak 3, it has to be one of the most versatile weapons in the game. It decimates turrets, which is my preferred use of it, but it is also fantastic at killing pros. Someone in the red turning around and fleeing? A flak 3 will almost certainly finish them off. Although, I have to say that the most satisfying use of it is to hit a pro that is sitting in a corner. If you can block off his only exit then he just has to sit there and helplessly watch his health drain to nothing, or try and run through the middle of the flak to get out of it's range (unlikely).

As for map specific tactics, my main suggestions would be to mix up your positions and not necessarily favor the high ground. With the exception of LaseRazor, ground level is by far the better offensive position as it provides a much better line of sight allowing you to take advantage of that bullet penetration. The downside is that you can't rely on your traps for defense quite as much and you'll have to keep an eye on the ejectors as you'll be standing right on top of them. Don't get caught up in your scope and fail to notice what's going on around you, because it's easy for someone to get to an ejector or ambush you from the higher ground if you're not paying attention.

Finally, I typically favor whatever side has the least number of my own teammates on it. The biggest advantage of the sniper, I believe, is that you can engage enemies at long and short range simultaneously and by occupying multiple enemies you free up your team members to hit the base. Don't take this to mean to ignore the money ball, though, since the sniper does the most damage to it and can hit it from quite a distance away.

Whats happening Michiel? You should have just asked the other day when we were having all those issues trying to get the party in the same game. Any way here goes:

Endorsements
Endorsements are looking good. The only thing I would change is swapping out Skill Recharge for Clip Size. It really helps when trying to take out a firebase that a support is healing as well as when you are using the SMG (especially whilst Juiced). I would also recommend setting up another class specifically for Steel Peel that switches around Armor and Rate of Fire. It would go RoF, Armor, Clip Size. I find Armor in the gold position helps out more on arenas where you are more likely to encounter pros in mid-short range like LazeRazor and Grenade III, while RoF works better in more Sniper friendly arenas like Steel Peel and, depending on the skill level of opposition, Ammo Mule.

Skills
Skill upgrades are always personal preference. I'm not the best Sniper ever, but I do tend to do well. I always start off with Passive 2 and Ice Trap 2. As soon as I have the coin, I get Grapple 2. Then I save up for Passive 3. After Passive 3, I upgrade to Flak 2. After that my upgrade path is situational. If we're pushing their base hard I go with Flak 3 to help take down turrets and push Pros from positions. If we're stalemated I go with Trap 3 for maximum annoyance factor. Your mileage may vary though.

Tactics

Steel Peel
I usually camp in the base until I have enough for Grapple 2, Then I make my way around the arena causing as much annoyance as I can. I like to make my way over the circular area that leads to the opposing teams back door walkway. Once there I set a few Ice Traps on either side and peer through an opening between the catwalk and the circular arena. It's not very wide, but you can shoot right into the enemy base with minimum exposure. It's great to take out turrets and especially to shoot the ball when it's down. This is awesome when you finally have Passive 3. When juiced, raid the enemy bases and kill pros with your SMG. Don't waste Juice on turrets.

Grenade III
Can't add anything other than try to control one side of the circle. Throw some Ice Traps on the landing spot for jump pads for some easy head shots.

Ammo Mule
Again, you got it. If the ball goes down you should head to little bit of cover on their side of the map to snipe the ball from relative safety. Set up Ice Traps at the entrances for protection.

LazeRazor
I like to use the tunnel on the left side of your base to setup Ice Traps at the front of the tunnel and just behind yourself. Snipe bots and any Pros in your field of vision. Either earn enough for Passive 3 or Juice. Once Juiced or Equipped with Passive 3 and Grapple 2 try to make your way over to their base on either side. Set up Ice Traps to protect a perimeter and then harass the heck out of the enemy base by sniping turrets/bot/pros. Don't forget how handy your Flak is for Turrets. You should be able to take down their defenses pretty quickly.

Juice
Again, this comes down to how the game is going. If the other team is really good, you might be better served holding on to your Juice until you need it to save your behind. If you think you're evenly matched or you have an advantage, use it to go pro hunting with your SMG. Of course if the ball is down, head on over and Juice that sucker with your Rifle.

Let me know if I can offer any other help.

Cheers!

I love that spot on LazeRazor, but watch out for some pros who walk on the wall next to the bridge to get you off there. I always put a trap at the jump pad, at the bridge, and at L3 at the opposing jump pad, or a place where I stand (for rushers). For Ammo Mule, there's a nice place on the right bridge that can BARELY see their spawn entrance, so when they walk by, you can pop 'em. On Steel Peel, I normally just trap the side path, where I stand, and sometimes at the entrance (left) and shoot bots all game with most players frolicking with the bots until they die. I rarely snipe on G3, I don't like it.

I had no idea when the patch was coming, and when it did come, i realised i needed to play a new class and picked Sniper. Wasn't really planning on it or anything.

Thanks for the help, i am not sure if i am able to put the extra tips to the test until this weekend.

Wow, with all the open spaces i figured this was sniper heaven.

I have to say that I probably rack up the most kills on GIII. Ice Trapping the spot where Pros land from the middle platform jump pad and the jump pad spots they land on closest to their base net many, many, many head shots.

It's better with other snipers, but I'm far less accurate, I rarely play sniper on that map.I see most snipers stand in the middle bridge and shoot people from across the pond.

I used to run Silver RoF but after switching it to gold, no amount of armor increase can change how I feel about more of my rifle bullets rocketing down the lanes.

These days, I run:

Gold - Rate of Fire
Silver - Armor
Bronze - Skill Recharge

The only other setup I can recommend is the switching of Skill Recharge with Clip Size, because more Rifle bullets per clip is a better use of endorsement than most others that the Sniper has access to, and the SMG chews through its clip with Gold RoF in a big way. I used to use this setup:

Gold - Speed
Silver - Rate of Fire
Bronze - Skill Recharge

and enjoyed it for the ability to play griefpixie, but given the Sniper's low health and relative inability to last in close quarters without armor, I can no longer support the use of any Sniper setup that doesn't have AT LEAST a silver armor endorsement, and the other non-bronze slot should rightfully be rate of fire. Once you've seen the damage caused by a high rate of fire from a Sniper rifle, it's hard to go back. Bronze is up to you, but not all bronze endorsements are created equal.

When I start, I immediately upgrade Passive so I can pierce, using my own bots as cover, and also upgrade traps, because level 1 traps = ShaveIce turret = useless. If I see they're running Assassins and Assaults, I'll upgrade Grapple to level 2 ASAP for close-range threat. Otherwise, go straight for Passive 3 for AoE explosion (which builds juice like nothing else can) and then upgrade Flak to level 2 if the enemy team is keeping on top of turrets and has Supports holing up in the base overhealing everything with a lifebar. Spend the rest of the money on the Annihilator, Ejectors, and juice.

On LazeRazor, I'll take either the ground tunnel on the right side with a Support player or take the top level on the other side with multiple people. Most mediocre Snipers will just sit on their end and snipe down the lanes. That further limits what already limited options the Sniper has on that map, given the crazy amount of cover provided in the level. The bottom tunnel can be protected on both sides with a hacked firebase and a dedicated Support camper, leaving you free to trap both ends and enjoy the use of your makeshift base as you destroy turrets, pros dumb enough to run into your rigged tunnel, and juice in the base in the interim.

On Steel Peel, you can camp all day on your side of the base and shoot down lanes (this is the method of choice for weaker Sniper players), but you'll get more money if you get out front with a Support and hold the window overlooking the enemy base, and keep two traps out: one where their base's jump pad launches to, and one trap thrown high which will land in their base on the right side of the top platform next to the jump pad. The latter alone will net you an extra ten kills per match on that arena. Be sure to watch the sides for people that slip through your team's front-line defense, as a Gunner with full spin can jump up on either side and have you dead before you have a chance to run away.

On AmmoMule, toss traps on the front exit of their spawn platform right in front of the center room, and have a trap on the level ground at their entrance to the center room. If they want to enter the center room, they'll have to take the sides and risk ejection. Hopefully, you have a Support player or two who will place firebases against the far end walls of the center room to kill anyone who comes in and be indestructible to all but Snipers on the ends of the bridge and pros who come into the room from your end. Your traps are meant to protect the Supports and their firebases, and will probably get them more kills than you. As for you, try to hold the roof of the center room if at all possible. The high ground is great for chasing away lane-pushers, and you can snipe at enemy bots as they leave the bot spawn. From here, you can flak pros who try to get on the bridges and eject bots or suppress lanes. Know when to run, though, given the Sniper's poor health. If anything enters the center room, you should rethrow your traps and toss a flak down there to deny them access. A well-placed firebase should handle the rest.

Grenade III is not my favorite map, though it is the one that I get my Uber Streaks on, strangely enough. A good strategy is to (t)roll with a Support player and take the top on either side, but camp the bridge closest to their base so that you can shoot at turrets or people sitting in their base. You want to force Support players to sit behind the glass overhealing while you build juice on anything that comes your way (regenerating health on RockIt turrets is a great way to build juice. Once you have enough money for Passive 3, BUY IT ASAP because the rather linear nature of this map means that with few avenues for traveling, any pro nearby bots or turrets will earn a free death at your hands. Keep traps where the inside landing pad closest to their base launches to and another trap where the center pad launches to the top level. Those locations are where people are likely to try to approach you from. The other jump pads can be watched by the rest of your team as you fire into their base. When you have juice, use it and SMG rush into the base to kill the turtling Support/s (watch out for Gunner slam and Tank charge) and hope that your team can drop the RockIts before the Supports respawn. Flak will help greatly in this regard.

everyone has there own way to play sniper. most of these seem to be very defensive ways of playing.
i run gold-RoF
silver-crit shot
bronze-armor/clip size
reason being iv always run it and if it aint brok dont fix it. mainly ill always upgrade passive and traps. the traps are not for camping out IMO they are for protecting your turrets or you team mates. luckily i usually play with a support so i throw my trap around there fire base it helps out your intitial push greatly. after evry kill you should be taunting unless of course theres more tragets. next depending on how your team is set up you will spen the next few mins shooting bots or killing pros. hopefully geting money and juice to upgrade your grapple then your passive three. then whatever else you feel like doing. flak 3 is great for destroying turrets and just chuking into a spawn and watching the mayhem.

my play style is normally agressive i like to get right up in the thick of it and usually sninpe pros out of there spawn and the bots allowing my team to move up.

lazer razor. immediatley take the left jump pade and head for the middle tossing a ice trap at the near side of the left bridge and snipeing any one who is around commuincat postitions. once im sure my support is set up down low ill throw him an ice trap and proced to the right and glass wall by there base. you can throw and ice trap right by the jump pab landing so anyone who comes up gets stuck. alos if your playing by your self then you prbly wanna throw one behind you. with the large glass wall you have cover and can run back and forth sniping bots pros trurets hiting the annihalator whatevere. onuce you get proficent at the sweep sniping and quickscopeing youll be pulling off head shots on gunners and tanks as the leave the spwan.

the other maps are vaguely simmilair push up with your sniper and the bridges of grenade and ammo mule utalizing the traps as a way to help out others not yourself. also if someone chases you throw an ice trap out in front of you theyll usually run into it. this is the way i play it is no means the best also dependent on how well you can bunny hop and shot like a mad man. i also ffel this brings out the best sniper in you as your always forced to be shoting moveing and just doing ridicules things to stay alive because your so close to there spawn. sorry if things are misspeled out of place but for some reasone the box keeps moveing up and i cant see what im writing. hoep u find twhat works for you

juice is helpfull for rushing but dont rely on it. save it for when you have some bots up with you and make a good spawn push that way the ball will go down and you can either melt it or draw the game out.


edit go with Rof Armour and clip size. crit dosnt seem to do anything anymore

Well, I only play with tha sniper and here's my endorsements:

Gold: Rate of Fire
Silver: Clip Size
Bronze: Skills Recovery

Rate of Fire is great so you can get off shots faster for those annoying Assault and Assassin classes. But it really shows potential when you're juiced and takin out the money ball. I've takin out the moneyball single handed with this set up. Clip Size helps because it cuts down on reloading a lil bit, and it can get aggravatin' when u have more than one ememy in your cross hairs! And it works well for the SMG as well. And Skill recovery, because I use those lovely ice traps to prevent ppl from gettin too close and while there caught toss a flak or do what I do and HEADSHOT DEY @ZZ!

^ This. I used to run with Silver skill and bronze clip, but man, sliver clip size is just worth the extra 1 second recharge on skills. This build is good for counter sniping which seems to be a fad these days. I'm bad at counter sniping and often think it's a waste of time if neither of you kill each other in 5 seconds. It tends to be be who can get 'sploded first which using will aid snipers with armor since they can survive passive 3 rounds. W/o grapple 2/3, you won't last against a single explosive round, which sucks huge. Gold armor let's snipers take I think 2-3 non-head shots depending on if grapple was upgraded.

The issue with this build is survivability up close. Clip size is really you're only bet. RoF + clip size on smg is mad fun and reams gunners and pretty much anything u can run away from. But this build is made for high dmg in a short time. It will kill bots and turrets the reliably fastest, thus making it easier to get money faster, albeit not too much faster.

Gold: Rate of Fire
Silver: Armor
Bronze: Accuracy

Question to you and my other fellow Snipers. Why the accuracy? Purely for the SMG?

Also, I see some people using crits. Is it really worth an endorsement slot? The way I understand it, the endorsement only affects 5% of shots or some small percentage like that. Shouldn't we be aiming for the head anyway?

The accuracy endorsement, if you're an SMG-focused Sniper, is a good swap for Rate of Fire. Even without an accuracy endorsement, though, the SMG is still a potent weapon if you use it in the correct situations, so for me, accuracy would be sort of a crutch in that regard. As for crit shot, I don't see the benefits of having that in an endorsement slot. Given that about 80% of my non-SMG juiced kills are headshots (and I suspect it's the same for most other Sniper players), I can't abide the use of an endorsement slot on crit shot when there are much better options to choose from. It's a nice little bonus effect, but it won't affect the way you play the game or anything.

Accuracy might actually deserve a second look at now, with the increased hit detection, but pre-patch I would have never have recommended it, simply because it wasn't effective enough to warrant using up an endorsement that only helps the SMG.

As for crits, if I understand how they work, and I like to think I do, then it's a ridiculous endorsement for the sniper. It will add a bit of a boost to the SMG, but nothing like RoF, accuracy, or clip size does, and does very little for the sniper rifle.

That's pretty much what I though. I don't think I would ever rock Accuracy or Crits. The accuracy with the SMG is intriguing, but I think I'd rather have a few extra rounds in the clip, especially whilst juiced.

I don't know if I'd even give give accuracy the time of day post-patch, given that if the hit detection has improved, that's like saying that everyone's natural accuracy has improved, making an accuracy endorsement even more unnecessary. SMG should be even more powerful (and I've noticed that this is most definitely the case) with better hit detection, though I still notice that I can't score headshots on assassins who are standing still. It's like their heads don't exist.

Why accuracy three?

It makes the SMG accurate enough to whip out when people get too close. It needs accuracy to be a viable side arm. Without this, you don't have any close range options. A pop shot sniper hit to the chest followed by an SMG is the only way I kill good Assault that rush me.

Also, when you have Juice, you will notice how important Bronze Accuracy is.

Think about this, too. Bronze accuracy will allow you to actually put up a fight close range without sacrificing Silver Armor and Gold Rof. What do the other perks do?

Four extra bullets? Nice, but not THAT big of a difference.

Criticals? Useless. Nuff said.

Ability Recharge? Nice, but not necessary.

Nothing else has saved my *** against the one thing that Snipers are defenseless against: Good Assaults, more than Bronze Accuracy.

ALSO, save your Juice and learn the BEST spots to shoot the moneyball from. On three out of the four maps, you can shoot the moneyball from halfway across the map. One Juice will take it down to 25 percent. That's you're bread and butter. You are the win when the ball goes down. I can't tell you how many times I've ended the match being the only one shooting at the ball and their were at least two other snipers on my team. No one kills moneyballs better than sniper.

VALK3N

I'll make a class and try the bronze accuracy to see if it helps. I like the extended clip because it also helps the rifle as well as the SMG, where as accuracy only benefits the SMG. To be honest, I haven't had any problems with accuracy on the SMG in close range, which is really the only range you should be using it for. I have a feeling the extra four rounds will kill quicker than a smaller spread, but I'm willing to put the lab coat on and test it out. Ya know, for science.

Akracy helps on the rifle to. its in one of my setups. usually run it when i get the old sticky scope