Sniper (EU2012)

Sniper

The Sniper's main role is to inflict massive long range damage on enemy targets from a position of safety. They are good at inflicting critical hits, and can augment the chances further with their special Headshot ability. Special training can allow the sniper to provide long range cover fire, disarm enemies or reconnaissance.

The Sniper relies heavily on mobility, favourable terrain and the cooperation of squad mates to locate their marks. The Sniper is otherwise a poor close range combatant.

• The Sniper's primary weapon is the Sniper Rifle. This weapon offers high damage and a +20 Critical Chance to any shot, with the critical hit chance increasing on each tech upgrade, from Laser Sniper Rifle to Plasma Sniper Rifle.
• Sniper Rifles are also the only starting weapon that can fire at hostiles outside the units' view, using the Squad Sight Sniper ability.
• Snipers Rifles can only be fired or used for Overwatch with a full 2 actions or not at all. The Snap Shot ability eliminates this requirement and allows the Sniper to Move and Fire. However, this ability inflicts an accuracy penalty that affects all Sniper Rifle attacks.
• Sniper Rifles suffer an aim penalty when targeting enemies in close quarters, requiring a switch to the pistol. Of all the classes, the Sniper relies on the Pistol the most.
• Snipers may be trained to use their Pistols for greater damage (+2 points) with the Gunslinger ability, and can augment it further with higher tech pistols and the relevant Foundry upgrades.
• The Battle Scanner can reveal groups of enemies without activating them, and can also be thrown through UFO doors.

Rank	Ability
Squaddie	Headshot Fire a shot with +30% critical chance and extra damage on critical hits based on the tech level of the sniper rifle. 2 turn cooldown.
Corporal	Snap Shot Removes the sniper rifle's restriction on firing and Overwatch after moving. Any shots taken suffer a -20 Aim penalty.	Squad Sight Allows firing at targets in any ally's sight radius.
Sergeant	Gunslinger Confers 2 bonus damage with pistols.	Damn Good Ground +10 Aim and +10 Defense against enemies at lower elevation in addition to the usual elevation bonuses.
Lieutenant	Disabling Shot Allows the Sniper to fire a shot that causes the target's main weapon to malfunction. The target may use Reload to fix the weapon. The shot cannot inflict a critical hit. 2 turn cooldown. -10 Aim penalty	Battle Scanner Scanning device, when thrown creates a new source of vision for 2 turns. Can only be used 2 times per battle.
Captain	Executioner +10% Aim against targets with less than 50% Health.	Opportunist Eliminates the Aim penalty on reaction shots, and allows reaction shots to cause critical hits.
Major	Low Profile Makes partial cover count as full.
Colonel	In The Zone Killing a flanked or uncovered target with the sniper rifle does not cost an action.	Double Tap Allows both actions to be used for Standard Shot, Headshot, or Disable Shot, provided no moves were made. 1 turn cooldown.

Additional Notes

• The most important decision for a sniper is whether they are Squad Sight or Snap Shot. A Snap Shot sniper is more mobile (which is probably a role better suited to another class) , while a Squad Sight sniper will stay back and deliver long-range fire.
• The sniper then has the choice of taking Gunslinger or Damn Good Ground to either combat their weakness in close combat or capitalize on their strength. Mind that Gunslinger is quite redundant if a Sniper possesses Snap Shot already.
• If equipped with the Battle Scanner Snipers may also scout for hostiles without the need to send (and risk) a squad member.
  • Battle Scanners do not trigger alien "duck for cover" actions.
• Snipers can also train on their unique Disabling Shot perk, allowing them to temporarily disable an alien's weapon. This is useful for captures, or to shut down Cyberdiscs or Sectopods that you won't be able to kill this turn. Disabling Shot is also very useful to prevent mind controlled squad members from firing at your soldiers.
• Rank promotions will give Snipers the biggest increase in Aim when compared to the other classes (+40 points total). Their drawback is that upon reaching Colonel rank a Sniper will also receive less 1 Health Point than any of the other classes (+3 total) but the same Will (+14 total).
• Equipping the Sniper with armor that has a grappling hook is particularly helpful to establish a safe shooting position with wide field coverage and to use the Squad Sight and Damn Good Ground perks.
  • Archangel armor will also allow this. The sniper will benefit from Damn Good Ground while hovering.

Tactical Advice

The Sniper works exactly as you would expect: long range, high damage, low mobility engagement. Depending on the level and your position, a Sniper will either be an unstoppable murder engine snuffing out at least one enemy every round, or he'll spend most of the time running around useless trying to get a line of sight. Building a sniper revolves around managing their killing power while stationary versus their complete lack of it while on the move. Despite this, there are a number of no-brainer choices in their ability tree, greatly limiting the viable customization.

Abilities

Corporal

Snap Shot vs. Squadsight

This is the biggest trap choice in the game. Take Squadsight in all circumstances.

Squadsight is the ability that allows your Sniper to actually snipe. In short, a soldier's ability to target enemies relies on the range of his weapon (100 for sniper rifles), having line of sight to the target, and being within vision range of the target (27). Squadsight removes the last requirement, allowing the rest of your squad to spot for your sniper as he relaxes three-quarters of the level away. Squadsight allows you to make use of high ground more effectively (further amplifying your killing power), cover your squad as they advance, and actually hit anything, ever.

Snap Shot, in theory, is designed to help the Sniper contribute on maps in which obtaining line of sight is difficult. However, the accuracy penalty drops the Sniper's Aim from the best in the game to noticeably worse than both Assaults and Supports. Furthermore, sniper rifles suffer from an additional Aim penalty in close quarters. The result is that you need to position specifically for a mid-range engagement -- imposing its own positional inflexibility -- and forcing you to augment the Sniper's defense accordingly. And even in those ideal circumstances, the Aim penalty means that this is still strictly worse than an Assault with an assault rifle. There are other abilities in the Sniper tree to help him breach with the team. If that's a concern, consider them.

Sergeant

Gunslinger vs. Damn Good Ground

This is a question of minimizing weakness or maximizing strength. Damn Good Ground is generally better, but Gunslinger merits consideration.

Damn Good Ground rewards you for parking on high ground and blasting away, which is what you want to be doing anyway. This helps the Sniper as your go-to for getting rid of a high priority target, and partially makes up for the fact that you are generally shooting into cover. You should be shooting from high ground more often than you shoot your pistol, and Damn Good Ground accentuates that.

Gunslinger is the ability you want if you need a Sniper that can scoot and shoot. You won't be a force to be reckoned with in close range, but you'll contribute.

Lieutenant

Disabling Shot vs. Battle Scanner

Two moderately helpful utility options make this something of a tossup. Go nuts.

Disabling Shot is a nice option for when blowing a hole out the back of a target's head isn't an option. Be aware that is generally only the case when your weaponry isn't up to the task of the foes you're facing, you're attempting to capture an alien, or one of your units has been mind controlled. There is a small Aim penalty(-10) attached to this, and the attack does reduced damage; make sure you don't accidentally kill the target.

Battle Scanner is the best scouting tool in the game this side of Ghost Armor. Scanning does not trigger enemies to take cover, so you can use this to get the jump on a pack of aliens with a sniper round or rocket to the back of the head. Its limited range means that the Sniper will not be in range to use it on open maps where he's miles away from his team, but it can be very useful in close quarters, especially with melee enemies afoot. Battle Scanners can be thrown through alien doors, making them handy in UFOs.

Captain

Executioner vs. Opportunist

Opportunist is generally the stronger pick here.

Executioner is nice when a wounded enemy absolutely needs to die, but two things hold it back. First, the bonus itself is fairly minor on a class that already has great Aim. Second, snipers are generally able to kill targets in one shot (or Headshot), which will keep the trigger condition from being relevant much of the time. Still, the RNG is fickle enough that this is not a wasted skill. Pushing you up to 100% to hit against a major enemy is never a bad thing.

Opportunist improves your ability to cover the rest of the squad during Overwatch, helping mostly when aliens decide to patrol into your team blindly. With the range on Sniper Rifles, this ends up being a nice bit of coverage. Enemies triggering Overwatch are frequently in the open, partially reducing the need for this, but it's still an improved chance to save you time during your actual turn, which ultimately earns it the nod.

Colonel

In the Zone vs. Double Tap

Both of these skills offer a lot of killing power, but Double Tap is more consistent.

In The Zone offers unmatched offensive potential when you can set up the right conditions. Squadsight snipers will never flank an enemy, so you'll need exposed targets. Aliens that can't take cover - Chryssalids, Zombies, Drones, Cyberdisks, Muton Berserkers, Sectopods, and Ethereals -- and flying units (treated as exposed for the purposes of In The Zone) will be your primary targets. In the event that you kill an exposed alien with an overwatch shot, you'll get another non-move action next turn. Finally, you can blow covers with rockets or grenades when the firepower is desperately needed. Note: In The Zone can be triggered with a pistol due to a bug, but only once per turn.

Double Tap is both powerful and broadly applicable. For comparison, this is Rapid Fire (Assault) without an aim penalty, and the ability to re-target. You will never ever regret having it. If you took Snap Shot, keep in mind that second shot suffers -20 aim penalty (due to a bug) and you can't Double Tap after moving.

Equipment

Weapon: You can technically get by for a little while without upgrading your sniper rifles thanks to their good damage, high crit rate, and Headshot. However, a Sniper that can't kill his targets in a single shot is not a very good asset to the squad, so you will want to keep up with tech here. Snipers also benefit from pistols much more than other classes, give them your best for those turns that they can't sit still.

Armor: The best defense is a good offense. The second best defense is being too damn far away. Snipers have both of these, so you generally don't need to prioritize armor. Skeleton armor will help get you to a good position, and the defense bonus stacks nicely with Low Profile. Archangel is your go-to for the end game.

Item: Get a S.C.O.P.E. and call it a day. Note: Scope bonus and Improved scope bonus don't stack with pistol upgrade I/II, so don't bother with them.