Need some assistance with playing a sniper

[Fadmotherbucker]

I'm leveling a sniper pretty much to get the buff on my other toons. I feel as if I'm not really playing one correctly and have some questions.

 

First off, is engineering decent for leveling? I took it for the AOE but I gotta say I'm not very impressed. Would I be better off going with Marksman?

 

Second, kind of confused on the stat priority. I've been going for cunning+crit, however reading some places I shouldn't be going for crit at all. What's the deal?

 

Lastly, I'm not sure if I'm doing very well maximizing my DPS for single mobs. Of course I'll use suppressive fire and grenade as much as I can on groups of enemies, but how should I be attacking single enemies to maximize dps? Seems after a snipe or ambush just wasting as much energy as I can on overload and then normal rifle shot would do the most damage, but I'm probably wrong.

 

Thanks.

[Frsot]

i just recently lvld up my sniper(currently at lvl 53) and i am very found of Marksman for both pve and pvp. and marksman is also the perfect tree to be specced in if you are looking to take down single enemies, one at a time. cunning is your main stat ofc, as for crit id say is good to have a decent ammount of,but not overstacking it, power, surge accuracy should not be forgotten. but then again im not an excellent player on my sniper ill admit, so hopefully some other more experienced player of the class will give some thoughts and pointers.

[MrGoldsilver]

All depends on your playing style I guess... MM is a turret mode, no moving single target burst, engineering is mainly aoe, and lethality is DOTs, and hybrid is DOTs and single target. I myself play engineering mostly, pvp and pve, and I love it. I've tried MM for a while, but I haven't played enough to give good advise. Lethality is the only spec that you really need to watch your energy, though in hybrid (eng/leth) you sometimes have to watch out.

[Nempo]

I PvP as a MM sniper, I move a little and occasionally just stand up and recover in place to reget my shielding and free snipe shot.

 

Pve sniper will be faster than engineering. snipe can kill trash in a single hit, silvers are typically 3-4 shots and golds are only 7. I don't even use a tank...I use vector when I push my missions the moment I get him as dual dps...we just trash everything.

 

PvP...you pick a target and lock on, only swapping to save a turret/bomb. MM is the best anti-stealth/healer there is. sit at a turret and let your see invis stacks get to 30. As for healers...lock on like a dog with a bone and they go down hard as MM.

[chuixupu]

I really like Eng for leveling. It has some really good lower level talents and lot of aoe at higher levels. It's difficult to use in end game operations and keep up with the other specs, though.

 

I wouldn't worry about min/maxing your stats until you're higher level.

 

Snipe and Ambush is definitely more damage and more energy efficient than using overload shot, unless you've got the calculated pursuit buff from talents.

Edited September 7, 2013 by chuixupu

[Marcell]

Marksman is where I had my sniper before I left for my hiatus courtesy of the military. Is that still pretty top of the DPS charts for pve? Marksman sniper. I was mainly in 69/72's when I left. Gotta see how much more I have to get to stay top of the charts:eek: Edited September 13, 2013 by Marcell

[chuixupu]

Marksman is where I had my sniper before I left for my hiatus courtesy of the military. Is that still pretty top of the DPS charts for pve? Marksman sniper. I was mainly in 69/72's when I left. Gotta see how much more I have to get to stay top of the charts:eek:

 

All specs are good, but MM is definitely one of the top dps.

[Hyfy]

All specs are good, but MM is definitely one of the top dps.

 

 

For single target yes. As others have said Engineering is the big AoE spec, and IIRC Eng. comes out being nearly the same when you figure it out across all your targets.