The Sniper's Handbook

[TimeLord]

EDIT:
Edited a comma in so I no longer say how bad I am at shooting myself with a sniper rifle.

Hehehe

There should be a suicide button in CoD games in situations where you know you are going to die but don't want to give the other team a kill!

I am so making a thread about that!

OT: I hate sniping. Giving and receiving. Only cowards stand in a hidden spot at the back of the map.

Which is why I take unnatural pleasure in finding a snipers unguarded back to attach my knife to!

 

[Spikkle]

Play TF2, no one will rag on you for being a sniper, and the skills are transferable.

In which case just stand at the top of 2Fort for 3 hours and pick off enemy snipers and the occasional heavy who's stupid enough to exit via the battlements. Doing absolutely nothing whatsoever to help your team capture the intel.

Fun times!

Indeed!

*Headshot*

OT: All TF2 joking aside, my advice would be not to develop tunnel vision. Relocate after each kill. Stay mobile, always check your surroundings. A wall would be fantastic as you don't have to worry about your back but don't go to "sniper spots". The popular sniper perches are generally periodically flushed out by people like me with shotguns.

High ground, stealth and mobility are the things I try to achieve when I'm sniping.

I'm not that great but I'm decent at it. I still prefer to be more directly involved with the team though >_>

It's also sometimes more effective to enter the fray along with the rest of your team-mates (particularly, in TF2, if you're using the Huntsman). Simply hang at the back of the group, and take the occasional potshot at the oncoming mass of roiling body parts that is bearing down on your team. More alert & mobile allies should be able to give you fair warning if someone tries to flank you or deal with them outright.

If you see another sniper hove into view, do yourself a favour and try not to start a sniper-war with him, it'll shift your focus away from where the potential for rapid kills is (and it won't do the team any favours either). Step back out of sight but within range of the drones who you were trying to headshot before, since if the enemy sniper has any sense he'll be behind his group too.

Lastly, as Red points out, exploring the map and finding some eclectic and unusual spots to snipe from is always good. Choose positions that are rarely visited yet have a fairly good view of the battlefield, and then start to think about how you'll get from there to your next hideout. Get a couple of kills, then move before your targets come back for revenge. This is especially important in TF2 since your opponent gets a snapshot of where you are after you kill them.

Finally, if all else fails, use piss. OK, maybe that part's not so transferrable.

 

[Lord Honk]

Sniping does not equal camping. If you put up your tent in the same place every match, you'll be a sitting duck for everyone who knows you're there (usually the people you already shot). If you can manage to get from one good spot to another safely and be wary of enemy snipers who want the same as you (i.e. kill from long-range, out of a covert position), then you should be golden good luck and have fun

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

It's also sometimes more effective to enter the fray along with the rest of your team-mates (particularly, in TF2, if you're using the Huntsman). Simply hang at the back of the group, and take the occasional potshot at the oncoming mass of roiling body parts that is bearing down on your team. More alert & mobile allies should be able to give you fair warning if someone tries to flank you or deal with them outright.

If you see another sniper hove into view, do yourself a favour and try not to start a sniper-war with him, it'll shift your focus away from where the potential for rapid kills is (and it won't do the team any favours either). Step back out of sight but within range of the drones who you were trying to headshot before, since if the enemy sniper has any sense he'll be behind his group too.

Lastly, as Red points out, exploring the map and finding some eclectic and unusual spots to snipe from is always good. Choose positions that are rarely visited yet have a fairly good view of the battlefield, and then start to think about how you'll get from there to your next hideout. Get a couple of kills, then move before your targets come back for revenge. This is especially important in TF2 since your opponent gets a snapshot of where you are after you kill them.

Finally, if all else fails, use piss. OK, maybe that part's not so transferrable.

Perhaps. Call me a self centred prick for staying behind the crowd and going for stragglers on my own. I like the adventure of seeing how long I can survive on my own. If it is a goal oriented game (CTD, territory, etc.) I put away the rifle and pick up my SMG/shotgun. I typically play sniper in team combat scenarios if I'm feeling adventurous. While your strategy does benefit the team a lot more than mine, my problem has always been that if I'm that close to the front lines I might as well be a Heavy (or the hypothetical FPS's equivalent). I'm not a great close support sniper.

And if only the piss was transferable...

 

[PrimoThePro]

In Black Ops, get claymore, be prepared to use it. Find a decent, not perfect hiding spot that offers just a little bit of cover, but a lot of room to shoot people. Follow them with your scope, you can get ahead of them if they are running by like half an inch, bang, dead. After shooting from your limited cover spot, pickup your claymore and move to a new spot that has the same characteristics. You get 3 shots, if you kill your guy or not, you have to move after 3. I suggest getting Decoy, and throwing it somewhere nearby, or in front of you. Not too close, just to draw people over. Prone is not your friend unless you are in a high vantage point. If you know the guy is running toward you, body shots are fine too.

 

[hawkeye52]

Play TF2, no one will rag on you for being a sniper, and the skills are transferable.

In which case just stand at the top of 2Fort for 3 hours and pick off enemy snipers and the occasional heavy who's stupid enough to exit via the battlements. Doing absolutely nothing whatsoever to help your team capture the intel.

Fun times!

or dont play 2fort and play a decent map like a pl map where snipers are actually useful. badwater being a prime example

 

[TheVampireCabbit]

Heres your guide to sniping in Black Ops, or indeed any COD game.

Turn off the xbox.
Go to the store.
Buy Battlefield Bad Company 2
Go home and play that as a sniper.

Honestly, the maps in COD are far too confined and small for a sniper to play in well. I myself found it much easier to use an ACOG scope with all my rifles, there was never any need to zoom and it sped up my reaction time. unfortunatly, i wasnt a sniper. i was a rifleman.

Battlefield is better in multiplayer than Black Ops for one tiny reason. it has lovely beautifully large maps. If i could ever find a way to blend BBC2 and Black ops i would be the happiest snipeer in the world, because then i could have the customization options of BO with the setting, destructible scenery and maps of Battlefield.

 

[The Arbiter of Cool]

Equip a pistol in your secondary weapon slot but do not put a silencer on it. Once you find your sniping postion go out into the nearset open area, switch to your secondary and start firing. Once they see the red dot on their mini map, trust me, they will come. Move back into your sniping position and wait.

Set up a claymore to cover your back. Kill no more than two people and then move (unless your playing hardcore mode with no killcam). Get greedy - get dead. Do not camp in one sniping position or you deserve the grenade to the face or the knife in the back that you're going to get.

 

[ssgt splatter]

Don't snipe. Sniping is much harder in Black Ops than in MW2. I just use the M14 as my sniper.

 

[Spikkle]

If i could ever find a way to blend BBC2 and Black ops i would be the happiest snipeer in the world

As a Brit I find this highly amusing. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/]

Pot-shots at Anne Robinson, anyone?

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Play TF2, no one will rag on you for being a sniper, and the skills are transferable.

In which case just stand at the top of 2Fort for 3 hours and pick off enemy snipers and the occasional heavy who's stupid enough to exit via the battlements. Doing absolutely nothing whatsoever to help your team capture the intel.

Fun times!

...The what? What 2Fort are you playing? 2Fort is just endless deathmatch

 

[willard3]

I agree that sniping in Black Ops is extremely hard in the smaller maps, because you don't scope as fast and automatic weapons just win at close to medium ranges.

It works a lot better in the objective maps like Array, where there are many large areas you can cover.

Also keep in mind that the "snipers" you see running around and killing you may just be people using the Ghost perk (it gives your character a ghillie suit even without a sniper rifle).

 

[Wintermoot]

check if there are any other snipers in your team, it could else end in a sniper war (just a bunch of guys sniping eachother)

 

[Hman121]

I don't snipe, but I do camp, so all I reccomend is:
-Claymores are your friends
-The perk that nulls Nova Gas is muy bueno
-Don't taunt them, this makes them team up on you
-Stay out of sight and somewhere very tall
-Have fun and crack jokes to keep people laughing and get them distracted for easy kills

dunno if it helps, just putting in my two cents.

 

[Communist partisan]

Alright so with black ops out I decided to try out some sniping after seeing some very skilled marksmen blow my brains out. I heard that they nerfed quick scoping so I didnt think I'd be the fifth team sniper unlike mw2 where there always seemed to be two or three. But it turns out I have no
Idea how. So I thought I'd ask the snipers of the escapist to help me compile a guide of hints and tips anyone has.

Go!

Allways have tactics for every stage (that works) and try to be one step ahead of your emenies.

don't play sniper on small stages, it's annoying and ofen hard if you're not a QS.

Keep yourself close cover and hidden as much as you can.

Never do sudden movments than you know emeies are close... or even better, don't move at all if it's nessesary.

keep your distance whith the "active" zones on a stage stand in the background instead supporting your team.

Also, pick your shots, don't fire your ammo on targets you have a really small chanse to hit.

And most important of all avoid open areas and rarley use well-known sniper locations beacose peapole nearly allways have a eye on those.

Keep your clip fully loaded at all times.

Never relax.... yust don't fucking do it.

And never rush out like a idiot.... you'll get shot.

Allways pick a safe place to "hunt" from making less kills instead of a unsafe place risking your life.

Use silencer if possible making other enemies unaware of you pressance.

Keep to the outskirts of a stage never in the center, than moving use routes a lot of peapole don't use.

Most of this I've learned by myself and from my father that know this kind of shit.

So it exist you will surive a lot easier if you follow all my hints but I warn you, It takes time to do something and don't loose your passiont making you screw up...

I don't have the will to tell you the rest of my golden rules for sniping it would take time but these I named should keep you alive.





Good hunting, comrade.

 

[TwitchierGuitar]

In my opinion, get atleast wo friends on. Once you have two friends, have one plant a motion-sensor near you, have the other plant a claymore in one part of you crow's nest, and you plant another one. Oh, and as another pointer, get the PSG-1. It's a very useful semi-auto...