Sniper Rifle



Sniper Rifles are accurate, often scoped, heavy weapons with an extreme damage-per-bullet rate balanced by a low fire rate and small magazine. They tend to have high accuracy when sighted, and low accuracy when not sighted. All sniper rifles have boosted critical hit damage, with Repeating Snipers having a +200% boost, and Semi-Automatic Snipers having a +180% boost. Reload speed is not increased with a higher weapon proficiency level.

General Strategy
Sniper rifles are the preeminent weapon of choice for long range precision shooting. With extremely high damage rates, a player can snipe at a group of enemies at a safe distance, methodically picking one enemy off after the other, however due to possible variations in the weapon and its capabilities (most notably accuracy), successfully hitting targets may be difficult to do from a safe distance.

Sniper rifles are very good against most enemies, although a few may present some problems. Skags can be difficult because they are armored and fast enough to avoid shots by sniper rifles, yet a marksman can still score a critical hit on one if the target stops to roar. Any enemies getting into melee range can also be troublesome and are generally eliminated more easily with closer ranged weapons.

When looking for a good long-range sniper rifle, several things should be taken into consideration:
 * Accuracy: A vital attribute for scoring critical hits, accuracy determines the firing cone of a sniper's bullet. High accuracy numbers are valued for their ability to assist with precision targeting. Be aware that the sniper rifle weapon proficiency does not add accuracy. The base accuracy of the weapon is thus very important.
 * Damage: The higher the damage output of a weapon, the faster the health of a target falls.
 * Magazine Size: Sniper rifles generally don't have a high magazine capacity, although this is usually a minor issue if the target can be eliminated quickly. Large magazines are useful in protracted engagements if targets are proving to be difficult to hit or tough enough to withstand multiple hits.
 * Weapon Zoom: Sniper rifles may have low number values for their scope magnification, however their base magnification that the multiplier is applied to is the highest of all of the weapon types. High zoom scopes will reduce any accuracy problems and allow for long distance sniping.

Another important thing to take into account when choosing what sniper rifle is going to serve the best is an invisible quality known as stability. Stability only becomes a factor when sighting a sniper rifle, and it is measured in how fast the weapon stops swaying when first sighted, between shots, and when the user takes damage. Unfortunately, this quality isn't displayed on the item card and must actually be experienced before it is determined, so be careful when purchasing a sniper rifle from a vending machine and be prepared to sell it back. Negative Recoil Reduction values affect stability so avoid them even if the magazine is ample, the accuracy rate is high, and the damage/elemental ability is superior.

Elemental sniper rifles can add a mixed bag of tricks to a sniper's arsenal, however the different classes and different styles of play have a significant impact on optimal choices. The Trespass skill in particular gives a Hunter a strong reason to avoid elemental damage altogether seeing as the elemental damage will have to deplete the shield, whereas a regular bullet will apply all of its damage to the target without the shield's impediment. As a general rule of thumb, if you want to hit targets at great range, preferably killing them outright, then be looking for Accuracy (at least 98%), high damage, and a good level of zoom. Semiautomatic models tend to be a poor choice due to their lower accuracy and slightly lower critical hit bonus.
 * Corrosive sniper rifles make a passable weapon, with the downside that many targets would otherwise die to a single well-placed head shot, rendering the sustained corrosive damage effect somewhat pointless. This type of weapon does become useful against high numbers of Crimson Lance in open areas however. They are also effective against Turrets.
 * Explosive sniper rifles are very effective all-round weapons. The visual blast effect is far less obtrusive than the other elemental damage forms, allowing for easier targeting, and the immediate blast works well in conjunction with the one-shot philosophy of sniping.
 * Incendiary sniper rifles do extremely high damage to non-shielded targets with the drawback that the fire effect can obscure critical hit locations, making precision targeting difficult. Powerful incendiary sniper rifles can be very effective for a Siren thanks to the her skills and Class Mods, even for non-critical body shots.
 * Shock is helpful to whittle down enemy shields at long ranges, however in the hands of a Hunter, the Trespass skill decisively trumps a Shock sniper rifle's advantages, leaving Shock as a poor damage choice for this class.

If, on the other hand, you want to use a rifle at shorter ranges, where the targets might hit you back, then all three of the aforementioned stats become a lot less important. Even the most inaccurate rifle will be fine at standard firefight ranges. At these ranges, the damage stat is outweighed by rate of fire, and the magazine capacity/reload speed suddenly matter. Stability is critical at shorter ranges, and lower zoom is desirable. For this type of combat, semiautomatic models are far more viable due to high rate of fire. An S&S model with their 9-round magazines can be useful.

Class Info

 * Mordecai, being the sniper specialist has an entire branch of his skill tree devoted to the effective use of sniper rifles; increasing accuracy and stability, damage, reload speed, magazine size, and critical strike damage. Hunters also have a Class Mod specifically for the use of sniper rifles that provide beneficial bonuses to critical strike damage, stability and accuracy, damage, and even sniper ammo regeneration.
 * Roland is the general gun specialist, and as such can make almost as much use of sniper rifles as Mordecai; with skills and class mods that can increase damage, magazine size, rate of fire and recoil reduction.
 * Brick, despite being a close-combat specialist is also the explosives expert, so put a Maliwan 'Erupting' sniper rifle in his enormous hands and watch the chunks fly. The Berserker has skills and class mods that increase explosion damage, explosion chance, and area-of-blast damage. Additionally, there are skills and class mods that can increase general stats like damage, reload speed and recoil reduction, and magazine size.
 * Lilith, with her affinity for all weapons elemental can make great use out of Maliwan snipers. In addition to the general boosts to critical strike damage, accuracy and damage, rate of fire, and bullet velocity the Siren can also increase elemental effect chance, and elemental effect damage. The Specter MOD from the third DLC further improves Lilith's Sniper Rifle use by increasing critical damage and accuracy, and can give ammo regeneration.

Repeating and Semi-Automatic

 * Sniper - Balanced
 * Thunder - Extra damage, slightly higher recoil

Repeating

 * Gamble - Less accuracy, +250% Critical Hit Damage.
 * Hawkeye - Higher accuracy and increased zoom.
 * Whitting's Elephant Gun "Why don't you go shoot yourself an elephant?" - Unique weapon quest reward for Big Game Hunter.
 * Kyros' Power "Good Touch" - Unique weapon drop from Kyros in DLC3. Heals you when you deal damage to an enemy.

Legendary: Pearlescent:
 * Atlas Cyclops "I have you in my eye, sir." - Extreme zoom around 5.2x and double bullet velocity
 * Vladof Surkov "For the Motherland." - Increased reload speed & Rate of Fire.
 * Maliwan Volcano "Pele demands a sacrifice!" - 100% chance to ignite enemy. Chance to cause an explosion
 * Jakobs Skullmasher "Makes their brain hurt" - Reduced Damage & accuracy, but fires 6 projectiles.
 * Jakobs Bessie "That's my girl..." - +500% Critical Hit Damage, 2.8x Weapon Zoom, 100% accuracy when zoomed

Semi-Automatic

 * Wrath - Boosts damage and elemental tech level, can extremely rarely spawn as non-elemental.
 * Lance - Increased accuracy & recoil reduction.
 * Nailer "Thwack!" - Unique weapon quest reward from House Hunting.
 * Reaver's Edge "The cutting edge" - Unique weapon that drops when you kill Reaver.
 * Rider "Careful... you might put someone's eye out." - Unique weapon found in the Hidden basement in New Haven.

Legendary:
 * S&S Orion "A hunter lives among the stars..." - Misses ricochet and split in three, sometimes four.
 * Dahl Penetrator "Sniper killer, qu'est que c'est?" - Fully Automatic.
 * Torgue Cobra "I LIKE IT!" - 100% Chance of explosion, splash damage.
 * Hyperion Invader "BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM" - 5 round burst when zoomed in.

Trivia

 * The ammo pickups for sniper rifles bear a strong resemblance to the stripper clip type of magazine commonly used with old bolt-action and some semi-auto rifles such as the Mosin Nagant, Lee Enfield smle, and M1 Garand rifles. Though none of the sniper rifles in the game load this way, stripper clips can be used to load ammunition into magazines and speedloaders quickly.