How is Sniper in PVP?

[Z-ToXiN]

Im looking to make a new char for PVP and Im considering making a Sniper. Thing is, I know very little about how the class actually works and plays. I encounter so few of them in WZs that I really dont know much about their abilities and stuff. Could there be an important reason I dont see very many of them in WZs (though the relative rarity is part of what intrigues me about the class)?

 

Ive played as an Assassin and Vanguard tank, so I havent done a pure DPS role yet for PVP, so I know that will be a big change for me, also with playing a pure ranged class.

 

So care to fill me in how Sniper plays and works in PVP? How fun is it to play and how useful is it in WZs?

Edited May 28, 2012 by Z-ToXiN

[NoTomorrow]

Im looking to make a new char for PVP and Im considering making a Sniper. Thing is, I know very little about how the class actually works and plays. I encounter so few of them in WZs that I really dont know much about their abilities and stuff. Could there be an important reason I dont see very many of them in WZs (though the relative rarity is part of what intrigues me about the class)?

 

Ive played as an Assassin and Vanguard tank, so I havent done a pure DPS role yet for PVP, so I know that will be a big change for me, also with playing a pure ranged class.

 

So care to fill me in how Sniper plays and works in PVP? How fun is it to play and how useful is it in WZs?

 

Powerful ranged dps class against which nobody would like to dps race. Its more of an area denial class. Everything that will stay in your line of sight for too long will be obliterated. Its a support class that is best at helping its team mates win their duels.

 

Every dps tree is powerful and has its uses with MM only being the most frustrating one to use in pvp. I am not saying its impossible, but you will the other two way more fun at ruining others day

[Katrasle]

Its a support class that is best at helping its team mates win their duels.

 

I like this description

[ImmortalAlien]

Depends. As the above poster said, MM is excellent in support. Team up with someone as a MM and your foes will die.

 

Engineering Snipers will literally lock out Voidstar and Civil War cap points so long as they stay in range and are kept alive. They're also death to teams that group up and can bottleneck the enemy.

 

Lethality Snipers are excellent tank killers.

[Z-ToXiN]

So it sounds like Snipers have lots of uses aside form just ranged damage output.

 

The other thing Im wondering about is survivability. I dont encounter many Snipers/Smuggler mirrors but I remember just rolling right through them a few times when I focused on killing them.

[Celacia]

So it sounds like Snipers have lots of uses aside form just ranged damage output.

 

The other thing Im wondering about is survivability. I dont encounter many Snipers/Smuggler mirrors but I remember just rolling right through them a few times when I focused on killing them.

We can be a little fragile, yes. Part of the trick is to not let people get focused on killing you.

[bsbrad]

Playing as a sniper is fun, we have insane single dmg output in MM and generally have to stay behind the frontline as we are squishy (a glass cannon).

 

Generally, we have to use our CC abilities and leg Shot to keep the melee mobs from getting to us as most good PVPers go after us as either 1st priority or after the healer because if you leave a sniper alone the amount of dmg they can do even at low levels is insane.

 

The main class you have to be wary of is Tank assassins as they will stealth behind you and you will hope that your CCs are available to keep them at distance.

 

It is correct that our best position is as a support class to help speed up the kills of 1 on 1 duels for our teammates and you should always cycle through your targets to see who is the best to kill.

 

Unfortunately, like most classes there are good snipers and bad snipers and a good sniper can literally hold a position against multiple opponents until re-inforcements come, this is very useful in most WZs, Leg shot, Flash grenade, Cover Pulse are your friends, learn to use them, they have got me out of many a battle where I should have lost.

 

Remember to enjoy yourself if MM is not your forte then re-spec to Lethality or Engineering, they all have different aspects to their play.

[NoTomorrow]

Sniper depending on build is not squishy at all, this build can make him an immovable object, he can hold a point by himself for quite some time: http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#400rzMZrI0rRRborsZh.1

 

Basically:

1. Taking cover makes him: a heavy armor class with 6% damage reduction + the 24% from main armor = 30% (what heavy armor, non tanks have)

2. Entrench, makes sniper immune to CC for 20 seconds

3. Ballistic shield -> another 20% damage reduction

4. Ballistic dampeners -> 3 attacks are mitigated for another 30%

5. Cover itself grants 20% miss change to ranged attacks

6. Orbital strikes can deal 4000 elemental crit damage per tick with a power relic. 4 ticks total.

7. Plasma probe another elemental aoe. Can either defend a point from capping or help sniper deal with melee.

 

Everytime i come on a point that we need to defend, i turn the sides in our favor with this combo. even if enemy outnumbers us by 1-2 players.

[AlphaWolf]

Are snipers good in PvP? Well, mine is only 21 (lethality spec) and I've come close to 300k damage and over 50 kills in one WZ . I'm regularly over 200k damage and usually in the top two or three for medals. This is the first class I've considered levelling purely through PvP and class missions. It's that much fun. Even if I have people chasing me I can still do some pretty vicious damage while kiting, and if I get left alone in cover it's even better. Even in melee I'm not completely helpless unless I get focus fired.

[swifferdude]

we are duh baws. we kick butt. all specs are totatlly awesome, and we are one of the classes where thare are actually some legit hybrid specs tht really work.

[Mirdthestrill]

If no one focuses you, or they only temporarily do and forget about you for the rest of the match, you can be the scourge of the other team's existence and they won't be able to figure out why you're winning so fast every single time. If they're focusing you consistently every time you spawn, you won't be able to do much for your team.

[Groncho]

If no one focuses you, or they only temporarily do and forget about you for the rest of the match, you can be the scourge of the other team's existence and they won't be able to figure out why you're winning so fast every single time. If they're focusing you consistently every time you spawn, you won't be able to do much for your team.

 

this

i really need to change the name and looks of mai sniper

[BlazingShadow]

lethality is beast at PVP. MM is okay, but lethality just trashes a target once he's set up.

[Celacia]

If no one focuses you, or they only temporarily do and forget about you for the rest of the match, you can be the scourge of the other team's existence and they won't be able to figure out why you're winning so fast every single time. If they're focusing you consistently every time you spawn, you won't be able to do much for your team.

Well, once they are on to you, you can be an excellent distraction because you are so tempting a kill that they get focused on you to the exclusion of paying attention to the rest of your team. I kind of love that.

[Katrasle]

lethality is beast at PVP. MM is okay, but lethality just trashes a target once he's set up.

 

I would disagree with your second point. MM snipers are nightmares in PvP because of the burst capability. It is very easy to sneak in a little bit of damage on a healer (just a little so he isn't threatened), explosive probe, then an ambush / followthrough. It is very simple to get a 10k burst on someone in less than 5 seconds with little to no prep time.

[Z-ToXiN]

Well, Ive heard mixed things about Snipers. Heard they're very fun to play as while leveling, but also that they are gear dependent and very painful when starting out in 50's PVP. The other thing is Im not sure if a pure DPS class would suit me - I like carrying the ball in Huttball for example. But it seems Snipers do have their uses... The otehr concern is indeed survivability, Ive gone up against some more gunslingers and generally have found them quite easy to kill. Also seeing lots more Snipers lately.

 

Well, I might as well give it a try and start one on Monday. Any good Sniper guides out there? Build suggestions for levelling?

[ImmortalAlien]

Well, Ive heard mixed things about Snipers. Heard they're very fun to play as while leveling, but also that they are gear dependent and very painful when starting out in 50's PVP. The other thing is Im not sure if a pure DPS class would suit me - I like carrying the ball in Huttball for example. But it seems Snipers do have their uses... The otehr concern is indeed survivability, Ive gone up against some more gunslingers and generally have found them quite easy to kill. Also seeing lots more Snipers lately.

 

Well, I might as well give it a try and start one on Monday. Any good Sniper guides out there? Build suggestions for levelling?

 

If you want to carry the ball, you're better off using a class that can tank (and thus usually has mobility and defensive abilities). The following are excellent ball carriers:

Juggernaut

Assassin

Powertech

Marauder

 

All for different reasons, but ultimately better than the rest.

 

That said, if you find survivability to be an issue, here's a couple things:

• Against another ranged class, the Sniper should stay in cover. They get 25% Defense chance against ranged attacks.
  
• Against a melee class, the Sniper should use CC's and knockbacks to increase distance. Use Leg Shot to root the enemy, then go for huge burst.
  
• The Engineering tree will boost the survivability of a Sniper to insane levels (Sniper damage reduction similar to heavy armor DPS classes, Shield Probe absorbs more, 6% self heals, possibly more Endurance, etc.)
  
• In the end, though, Snipers have relatively low survivability against other classes and work best by not being attacked, and then killing anyone that does attack them as fast as possible. They do have defensive cooldowns, though, and plenty of CC to escape fights.
  

 

For build suggestions in PVP, here's three:

31/7/3 - Marksmanship PVP build

7/31/3 - Engineering PVP build

5/5/31 - Lethality PVP build

 

Each can be shuffled around via experimentation.

[Skynch]

I just started with MM and I find it great to play PVP you can tuck yourself in a corner and take over a whole avenue of approach. I find it easier to just pop and run saving my stuns for when they start paying attention to me. Wound them and slow them down so someone else can see an easy finish. I dont see the point of wasting my spec trying to be something I am not so I don't throw anything in defense. Just run if it gets hairy and find another spot to hide.

[Z-ToXiN]

So Ive looked over the talent trees. Engineering looks the most interesting to me, seems like a lot of AOE with the probes and some boosts to survivability. Marksmanship appears to be a single target damage tree based on using Series of Shots, Snipe, Ambush, and Followthrough. Seem like drastically different playstyles looking at the talents. Edited June 4, 2012 by Z-ToXiN

[MasterFeign]

The funny thing is, playing an MMS sniper, it was fun levelling and such, and when I did hit 50 (and use recruit gear) I still wasn't half bad. Compared to with my BH powertech hybrid I'm much more survivable, which is also kind of weird, but hey it works.

[Z-ToXiN]

The funny thing is, playing an MMS sniper, it was fun levelling and such, and when I did hit 50 (and use recruit gear) I still wasn't half bad. Compared to with my BH powertech hybrid I'm much more survivable, which is also kind of weird, but hey it works.

 

Thats very interesting - more survivability than a PT? The other class Im considering is PT if I don't end up going Sniper. Ideally Id like to do both classes, just gotta pick which one first.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Z-ToXiN

[Bbizzle]

Sniper has far more survivability than vanguard and powertech in DPS specs.

 

MM is very gear dependant, I plan on playing that once I have war hero. But for now Im playing A hybrid spec and enjoying myself immensely.

 

http://s18.postimage.org/pz98jeill/Screenshot_2012_06_06_00_26_28_566354.jpg

 

One of my games from this week. Currently in battlemaster gear with only the WH weapon.

[Mancer]

Sniper has far more survivability than vanguard and powertech in DPS specs.

 

MM is very gear dependant, I plan on playing that once I have war hero. But for now Im playing A hybrid spec and enjoying myself immensely.

 

http://s18.postimage.org/pz98jeill/Screenshot_2012_06_06_00_26_28_566354.jpg

 

One of my games from this week. Currently in battlemaster gear with only the WH weapon.

 

Hey nice game, can you link your build? I have an up and coming Sniper and am looking for ideas.

[Bbizzle]

Hey nice game, can you link your build? I have an up and coming Sniper and am looking for ideas.

 

Here's my build. http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/imperial_agent/sniper/#::efe4fe2fe3f3e2f28e2f2efe2fe4f

 

This build is actually getting buffed in 1.3 also, not that it needs it.

[Mancer]

Here's my build. http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/imperial_agent/sniper/#::efe4fe2fe3f3e2f28e2f2efe2fe4f

 

This build is actually getting buffed in 1.3 also, not that it needs it.

 

Very nice, thank you!