Sniper and pvp good pvpers only

[Ancient_karp]

I play a 50 sniper (marks spec) with a nearly full set of champion gear. The class seems both versatile and well balanced, but you'll never put out the dps of a scoundrel or well-played operative. I enjoy the play style of my sniper, but you do need to have a good understanding of your abilities to maximize potential.

[DarthGrimmlokk]

I can solo an elite and a strong without a companion at my level with all my CDs up, and end up the fight with 50%+ HP without using a pot.

 

2 Elites are doable with companion without much problem - she may die at a point, but you will always finish the fight and then just ress her back.

 

 

I have a 25 sniper and I'm gonna call BS on that! I don't claim to be the best sniper in the world, but I'm far from a baddie and I just don't see you killing an equal level strong + elite at the same time with no companion and no pot and ending with 50% health. No need to justify because I won't believe anything you "say". The only way I'd believe it is to see it with my own eyes.

[Mythicrose]

I have a 25 sniper and I'm gonna call BS on that! I don't claim to be the best sniper in the world, but I'm far from a baddie and I just don't see you killing an equal level strong + elite at the same time with no companion and no pot and ending with 50% health. No need to justify because I won't believe anything you "say". The only way I'd believe it is to see it with my own eyes.

 

At level 25, that's probably true depending on the strong and elite makeup. Open up on the strong with an ambush+probe, instant snipe (if talented). Flashbang the Elite. If the two are close enough, both will be stunned. Finish off the strong with another ambush/snipe while the Elite is still blinded. Run in to the Elite (if it is ranged) so you can debilitate as needed. Keep ballistic dampeners up if talented.

[Bonesmello]

Portable Cover IS instant. I'm going to go one step further than the previous poster who said don't let the animation fool you. DON'T LET THE BUGGY UI FOOL YOU. Seriously, if you hit cover then immediately hit Snipe, your UI will bug out, and it looks like it failed or you won't see a cast bar at all, but 1.5 seconds later, a Snipe WILL go off. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think I've been able to charge up part of a Snipe while in the middle of rolling to natural cover as well.

[TugGray]

I have a 25 sniper and I'm gonna call BS on that! I don't claim to be the best sniper in the world, but I'm far from a baddie and I just don't see you killing an equal level strong + elite at the same time with no companion and no pot and ending with 50% health. No need to justify because I won't believe anything you "say". The only way I'd believe it is to see it with my own eyes.

 

Against same level it might be possible to pull down 25* mobs a single one yes, but 2 is a farcry from the truth.

 

Even if you have optimal skill & gear you'll still be torn a new one by 2 eliets of your own level.

against lower lv gold stars it might be easy to do.

 

some mobs are harder then others based on class tbh.

[ihateyouall]

My Sniper rules. Always #1 or #2 in damage dealt and usually only have 1-2 deaths per warzone

[Jpixie]

Portable Cover IS instant. I'm going to go one step further than the previous poster who said don't let the animation fool you. DON'T LET THE BUGGY UI FOOL YOU. Seriously, if you hit cover then immediately hit Snipe, your UI will bug out, and it looks like it failed or you won't see a cast bar at all, but 1.5 seconds later, a Snipe WILL go off. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think I've been able to charge up part of a Snipe while in the middle of rolling to natural cover as well.

Actually, I quite often use f (re-bound from shift+f) and my hotkey for snipe more or less right after eachother, which results in overload going off, as it is tied to the same key as snipe on the 'non-cover' bar. However, I think the 'keyboard lag' is affecting more than just snipers, we just notice it more often, as our main damage output, and knockback(s), are tied to a single action (cover).

 

This issue is however non-existant in PvE for me, where cover (after patch) haven't given me to many problems. I have no problem being mobile in PvE as a Marksman - and often reset cover during longer fights, but as state above, such actions often have an unintended result in the Warzones, due to the delay.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Jpixie

[nToxiK]

1. Stop using natural cover until they fix it. Just use portable cover and place it strategically so you still get natural cover benefits. I stopped using natural cover on Hutta and, save for the random checkup to see if it works again, I haven't used Natural cover since. If you place your portable cover in the place where there is natural cover (like behind some sandbags) I think you also gain full cover benefits.

 

2. Stop using the spellbook abilities to take cover. Instead use the keybinds you can set up in your options.

The former have a 3 second delay, the latter is totally instant.

 

What does natural cover give you that portable cover does not?

 

Edit: Nevermind, natural cover gives you the ability to negate all damage when crouching and not using an ability.

Edited January 5, 2012 by nToxiK

[Kiphere]

You're a sniper... play like one.

 

As a sniper you gotta find your spot, you gotta move until you're in an optimal position to lay some fire. then you gotta STOP moving for a few, bust your caps and then guess what... freakin move again. A sniper doesn't sit still. After you drop your bomb you un-*** the AO or you're gonna end up taken out. This is no different than being an actual sniper

 

Aside from cover bugs which are well known and documented at this point the vast majority of complaints from snipers almost always tend to be people who are playing the class wrong. Yes, wrong. I'm sorry if that offends you but you can't shove a round peg in a square hole. if you really want in that square hole reroll the square peg. You have to play a sniper the way it wants to be played, depending on spec that will change a little. I'm engineering and I throw a lot of probes, spread my damage around a lot and play harasser until I catch some one low at which point I just blow em up for the kill. Explosion probe talented + interrogation probe talented + dart will do some serious damage all on it's own. People say spreading dots around the BZ is just padding numbers but I beg to differ. I throw my dots around on people actively engaged with another player and my dot makes the difference for my teammate. I'll spread my probes around then pick half or lowe health targets and pop em until my energy gets low, then I hop up and run and gun a little while energy comes back or just hit another part of the field and while in transition I get my energy back.

 

Cover needs to be taken and left frequently, I use Green guy cover ONLY to roll out. You're lookin to run from some one, spin, target some one else and roll to cover. gives you an auto gap. I expect them to take gumby cover out of the game shortly to be totally honest. It's broken for what it's itnended for and broken in that you can use it to 'jump' a pretty good distance to get away sometimes. They'll jsut remove it and add the full cover benefit to our mobile cover mechanic hopefully.

 

As far as how a sniper "is" quality wise... it's not ez mode. You're not gonna just hit 3 buttons and face roll people in a BZ. You've gotta play right, react appropriately, move when you need to and sit still when you need to. You have to learn all of those things to play it well, some classes can just mash a few set buttons over and over and do 'ok' a sniper is either gonna get their faces smashed in or rock the BZ, there is no real middle ground for us.

[Anelyn]

I play a 50 sniper (marks spec) with a nearly full set of champion gear. The class seems both versatile and well balanced, but you'll never put out the dps of a scoundrel or well-played operative. I enjoy the play style of my sniper, but you do need to have a good understanding of your abilities to maximize potential.

 

Am not sure how this works out. Ranged classes have more freedom in dps than a melee class. We don't have as many CD governed abilities as Operative to deal dmg. I played an operative too, and while the dmg of backstab and lacerate is neat, neither can be spammed, they are more squishy than a sniper (defense CDs and dmg mitigation), are melee - easy to be switch on and trained, crap mobility.

 

If you base this on the pug vs pug with level's 10 WZs, where nobody has any clue what to do pretty much and peeps just tab target and stick to that target till they die or kill it ignoring everything else, then yes an Op can do very well.

 

But I seriously doubt an Operative can bring more to a premade than a sniper. They are easy to CC / snare / root / knocback, which cuts off all their dmg, interrupt, stun etc.

 

About their burst compared to ours... again not sure is that huge difference. A probe set off with an ambush + followthrough is a lot of pain. And all the dmg is delivered in a global.

 

Also we have way better CC to help with objectives. Aoe knocback with 5s root? All melee are on standby. Flashbang, stun, and knockback from ambush >10m + leg shot.

 

Not to say the grass is much greener on our side, but I doubt the Op / Scoundrels are so much ahead of Sniper / GS.

[Anelyn]

I have a 25 sniper and I'm gonna call BS on that! I don't claim to be the best sniper in the world, but I'm far from a baddie and I just don't see you killing an equal level strong + elite at the same time with no companion and no pot and ending with 50% health. No need to justify because I won't believe anything you "say". The only way I'd believe it is to see it with my own eyes.

 

Or just re-analyze your tool set, environment, type of enemies (range / melee / using aoes or single target abilities), pick right companion, learn to split aggro, use CC / interrupts, debuff armor before burst, manage energy.

 

Not to brag or anything, but since I got Dr. Lokin on Taris, and geared him with couple oranges, I took on 2 elites and 2 silvers with him on healing mode (robots, used slice droid on 1 elite, instant nuke 1 silver, diversion on elite, nuke 2nd silver, flashbang elite to regen energy, armor debuff, nuke with re-entering cover for additional dmg reduction). I could have not do this with kal or Vector, even with the dmg reduction the elites knock you out of cover, and hit for 1k+ when you are not under balistic dampner effect.

 

Melee mobs giving you a hard time? Go near a terrain elevation, all mobs have a strict pathing which you can abuse when knocking em off (that and most mobs take fall dmg, the trick is to know when to push them for 1 shot kill, so they don't run back allerting other mobs).

 

Keep your companion gears at least equal to their level - both mods and quality, don't use green stuff and expect to solo heroic 2's.

 

You have way more defensive tools and control of battlefield as a sniper than any other class.

 

My opener vs an elite / champ boss: shatter shot while droping in cover, followed by flashbang. Explo probe - energy regens. Ambush into snipe (instant from rolling in cover), followed by followthrough, re-enter cover, diversion (+leg shot if is melee), then series of shots to proc fast ambush, snipe + followthrough and go from there with interrupts, stun if it gets in melee followed by either ambush knockback into legshot, or pulse knocback.

 

If you wonder why I use flashbang so early: to set up my opener burst, on debuffed armor, without having to worry about getting CC-ed, knocked out of cover, or losing all charges of dampners during the setup, so I can safely channel SoS afterwards then re-enter cover for new charges of ballistic dampners. I am very carefull with my defenses, I don't wait to bet at 50% or less hp to use them, I use them early on in a rotation to mitigate as much dmg as possible while I work his hp out, and to get them back up again for the final when I will need them again (at leas when used kal and she died on tough fights, having your CDs up again at end when boss is at 25% hp and you may get stuned / knocked out of cover and can't trinket - life / death difference).

[Berlexis]

Sniper is def a great class as many have said here. It is not a class that everyone will enjoy because you have to know how to play the sniper. Anything you need to do has to be done in Cover which forces you to position your self properly. The roll-over cover is so damn bugged it's not even on my bars to use. I only use crouch for now. Some of the skills do not happen sometimes after seeing the load bar being 100%. When you get into cover to get insta snipe; most of the time that doesn't get triggered. I've tested this many times but i still have the talent points in it and hoping for a fix.

 

But yah, as someone said earlier, the class is bugged and needs some work. The class was not so bugged in BETA when i played it. I am not sure why it is so bugged after release.

[CasualEvil]

If you are a sniper, and you are Marks spec.; you're doing it wrong.

 

Engineering Spec is for PvP and it makes us scary fierce.

[Tytra]

Sorry but that is not accurate.

 

You are squishy if you don't use cover smart, always re-entering cover every 6s to renew ballistic dampers buff, not use your defensive CDs, LoS, interrupt casts, pushback / kite melee etc.

 

Yes it does more dmg than any other class, operative is governed by CDs and positionals to deal good dmg, they have spike dmg, but is limited, they can't sustain it, and take considerably more dmg. Sins - which my main is, have good dmg with some spikes, but range is a problem you can't always stay on a target, easily getting trained being a melee class etc.

 

Ability activation is never a problem for me, I mainly use portable cover to deal dmg, and natural cover to make for quick position change due to imba roll movement.

 

Think of it that way: all time you have the ballistic dampers up, you take 30% less dmg from all type of attacks. You have 3 stacks, they proc every 1.5s, which you can renew every 6s by re-entering cover. Add your other defensive CDs on top of that, and you are quite a hard target to take down for any class, or even 2 peeps teaming up on you.

 

Also you are only class that has a huge protection vs stealth openers when in cover due to same effect, you take 30% less dmg from their bursty opener.

 

You are only class that can't be interrupted when in cover and no pushback on abilities. You can also become immune to any CC effects with entrench.

 

Diversion is a great ability. It cannot be removed except for sins (not sure if ops have a similar skill to remove all negative effects and render them immune for 3s), which greatly affects someone chance to land any CC / dmg on you.

 

Is really a great class with a big role on battlefield, takes a lot to learn to play your cards right, assess the situation and need to use key skills.

 

Sin and Operative are more linear, you are forced to use stuff in order to stay mobile and on your target, anything coming between you and that - random CC or knockback, and you're at disadvantage. Yes vanish is neat, but plenty of aoe effects and dots to negate it.

 

Am really happy with my sniper both in WZ and pve content, loads of stuff to do, at first I was worried about their proficiency without a 1 min CC for pve, but is really not needed, most fights vs difficult stuff I barely take dmg due to keeping my charges up of ballistic dampers and interrupts / roots etc.

 

If you just drop in cover and try to roll peeps, you will play only at 50% of your efficiency. In coming weeks I might fraps some WZs with my buddies to give you a feeling of a team sniper game play with skype com as well.

 

Agree with the above poster. I came from a 50 shadow to agent and currently at lvl 15 doing around 250+ damage with over 40+ kills a match. Even my surviability is better on a sniper then the shadow. Prob that I noticed is when people play sniper then kinda do it a bit overboard. I dont know how many times on my shadow I just see them hiding in cover. I have alot of success running and gunning and using snipe/ambush only when the time permits. On my shadow if I see a sniper behind cover they are usually the first ones I go for. Why? Because they think is okay to sit there when your beating on them and try to cast snipe. What they should be doing is getting the hell out of there, using running and gunning tactics, with leg shots, stuns, etc. Overally, if your having problems with snipers, try to become more mobile.

Just my 2 cents

[Tytra]

If you are a sniper, and you are Marks spec.; you're doing it wrong.

 

Engineering Spec is for PvP and it makes us scary fierce.

 

100% agree with this also. To many mark snipers to begin with and imo one of the worst to use in pvp. As I stated, people that know how to play wont let you sit there and shot at them. You ll know when you start to get good at sniping when you can kill melee classes at melee range. Have a good idea of what skills to use at what times and work on the mobility shooting

[Narfwak]

Playing with a tank and getting their guard is quite fun. There's nothing quite like dropping entrench, ballistic shield and an orbital strike on top of yourself and watching the entire enemy team AoE itself to death thinking they can kill you through the stupidly good mitigation guard and PvP taunts provide.

[DarthKreid]

1. Stop using natural cover until they fix it. Just use portable cover and place it strategically so you still get natural cover benefits. I stopped using natural cover on Hutta and, save for the random checkup to see if it works again, I haven't used Natural cover since. If you place your portable cover in the place where there is natural cover (like behind some sandbags) I think you also gain full cover benefits.

 

2. Stop using the spellbook abilities to take cover. Instead use the keybinds you can set up in your options.

The former have a 3 second delay, the latter is totally instant.

 

Exactly, I always hit F to use cover, though recently esp in Huttball I will accidentally jump to a cover on a lower level than what I'm at, so I set my F keybinded to Cover In Place.

 

I'm currently speced engineering, and I am really loving it, and though I havent gotten plasma probe yet, im level 32, I can't wait. I already wreck most everybody that isn't a tank spec in a few rounds and I have zero energy problems, heck, I had this level 38 operative troll me in a huttball for a few matches, and 2 out of 3 times as long as I had decent health when he engaged me I would win.

 

While i never knew about natural cover giving extra benefits (though it does make perfect sense *slaps myself*) the artificial cover is still damn good. You gotta trust it. The trick is to keep spamming your basic rifile shot if they try to round circles around you do aligned yourself for the next attack. Of course even as an engineer build I'm still very mobile, I spam explosive grenade every other GCD

[Anelyn]

Sniper is a very fluid and busy class. You don't just sit in a place wondering why you die coz you never move.

 

You need to move in pvp. You only need 3-6s in cover to deal a large amount of dmg, then move again.

[ArdorsHempen]

my original post was all based on the multiple sniper bugs in game, had nothing to do as much with the class. I obviously picked sniper for a reason over any other class, but its extremely buggy for me almost to the point of unplayable. Yes i did uninstall the beta cleanly and reinstall the new one and have even done repairs. My sniper is bugged more than anything in beta, so it makes it almost unplayable and figured everyone was having these issues.

 

With that said, i am ALWAYS top 1 or 2 since rank 11 and now i'm 45. ALWAYS 1 or 2 in Damage and kills and killing blows, etc...............it all comes down to the player in the end.

 

just wanted to cosign on the issues you mentioned. I have a 17 operative, and I've had all the same things happen. I rebinded cover and it still takes 3 seconds for it to activate. it isn't you, it's the game..

[pjskull]

There are many bugs, yes... The UI and cover bugs are irritating. One that I have not seen mentioned is how the "Snipe" sound effect can diappear on you, further diminishing your situational awareness.

 

But I am killing it in PVP at Lvl 37... I am always in the top 1-2 in Damage and usually at the top of the kill list. (Thank you, Takedown)

 

I use natural cover as an escape, not as my opener. I try to *stay with or behind my team*. Alone, and facing 2+ I am toast.

 

I am finding my Sniper very viable in PVP and I am not 50 or geared out in the 40+ gear yet either...

Edited January 6, 2012 by pjskull

[Ebiso]

Cover animation is what screws us up the most, you can't do ANYTHING while those little things pop up and the cover shield finishes.

 

Seems to take about 1 second, but when you going in and out of cover every 6 seconds this becomes annoying as ****. I need to be able to drop cover and instantly snipe someone, not sit around looking dumb while my animation decides to finish.