Sniper (Long War)

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Sniper

Long War Sniper is akin to the vanilla Sniper. With Squad Sight as your first ability, the Sniper is able to inflict long range damage on enemy targets from a position of safety. Squad Sight no longer functions with Overwatch.

Primary Weapon: Sniper Rifles, Marksman Rifles, Assault Rifles

Secondary Weapon: Pistols, Machine Pistols

Class-Limited items: None

Abilities

Rank	Ability
Specialist	Squadsight Allows firing at targets in any ally's sight radius within weapon range, but critical chance suffers a -20% penalty. Extended range weapons (MEC primary weapons, Marksman and Strike Rifles, and LMGs) gain roughly five extra tiles range. Sniper rifles have infinite range. Overwatch fire does not extend to squadsight ranges, except with Marksman's and Strike Rifles.
	No other bonuses.
Lance Corporal	Low Profile Makes partial cover grant the defense bonus of full cover.	Gunslinger Confers +1 damage with sidearms and negates the long-range accuracy penalty when shooting beyond 14 meters.	Lone Wolf +10 Aim and Critical Chance if not within 7 tiles of an allied unit.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Corporal	Disabling Shot Allows sniper rifles to fire a shot that causes the target's main weapon to malfunction. The target may use Reload to fix the weapon. 2 turn cooldown. Cannot cause critical hits.	Precision Shot With sniper/long rifles, fire a shot that ignores squadsight critical penalties, has an additional +30% critical chance, and provides extra damage on critical hits based on the soldier's weapon tech level (+2 for ballistic/laser/gauss, +3 for pulse, +4 for plasma). With marksman's and strike rifles, allows an unlimited range shot with no other bonuses. 2 turn cooldown.	Snapshot For snipers, removes the sniper rifle's restriction on firing and Overwatch after taking a costly action. Any shots taken after using any costly action suffer a -10 Aim penalty. For rocketeers, reduces the aim and range penalty for launching a rocket after taking a costly action to 25% (from 50%).
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Sergeant	Executioner Confers +10 aim and +10 critical chance against targets at or below 50% health.	Aggression Confers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (max +30%). Aliens visible via squadsight are not counted for bonus.	Damn Good Ground Confers +10 Aim and +10 Defense against enemies at lower elevation, in addition to the usual elevation bonuses.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Tech Sergeant	Tactical Sense Confers +5 Defense per enemy in sight (max +20).	Ranger Confers +1 damage with primary weapons, rocket launchers, MEC secondary weapons and sidearms. Negates the long-range accuracy penalty with sidearms when shooting beyond 14 meters.	Sharpshooter +10 critical chance in all situations, +10 Aim against enemies in full cover.
	No other bonuses	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Gunnery Sergeant	Lock N' Load Primary weapons receive one additional shot or burst before a reload is required, and you may reload your primary weapon as the first action of your turn without ending the turn.	Bring 'Em On Confers 1-4 bonus damage during critical hits (which is then multiplied by 50% due to the critical hit). The damage is higher when more enemies are in view (including squad sight vision). This results in +1.5 dmg for 1-2 enemies, +3 dmg for 3-4 enemies, +4.5 dmg for 5-6 enemies, +6 dmg for 7 or more enemies.	Vital Point Targeting Confers 2 bonus damage with primary guns, and +1 damage with sidearms, against humans and alien targets whose species have been autopsied.
	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.	No other bonuses.
Master Sergeant	In the Zone Killing a flanked or uncovered target does not cost an action. Confers a -1 base damage and -10% critical hit chance penalty for each successive In The Zone kill.	Mayhem Confers +2 damage for suppression, SAWs, LMGs, explosive grenades, proximity mines and rocket launchers. Confers +4 damage for sniper and long rifles, marksman's, strike and reflex rifles using Standard Shot or Precision Shot.	Double Tap Allows a second action restricted to Standard Shot, Precision Shot, or Disabling Shot as long as the first action was a Standard Shot, Precision Shot, Disabling Shot, or Flush provided no costly actions were taken. 1 turn cooldown. (Note: Double Tap is cancelled in the following cases: (1) the first shot results in a kill, and no more enemies are visible to the unit, or (2) for gunners only, the first shot depletes the ammo.)
	No other bonuses.	Provides +3 Aim, +3 Will.	No other bonuses.

Stat Progression

Rank	/level	total	/level	total	/level*	total*
Specialist	0	0	5	5	5(6)	5(-6)
Lance Corporal	0	0	5	10	5 (6)	10(-12)
Corporal	1	1	5	15	3(4)	13(-16)
Sergeant	0	1	5	20	3(4)	16(-20)
Tech Sergeant	0	1	4	24	2(3)	18(-23)
Gunnery Sergeant	0	1	4	28	2(3)	20(-25)
Master Sergeant	1	2	4	32	2(3)	22(-28)

• Note that even without Hidden Potential switched on there is a Random (1) Will per level. This is properly shown in brackets. Psionic soldiers receive additional random will as well.

Tactical Advice

Long War Snipers are quite similar to vanilla squadsight snipers, but there are a few differences. Squadsight no longer works on overwatch, and snipers no longer have access to the Opportunist perk, making them considerably less good defensively - you'll find snipers can't demolish enemy packs on sight before they can even take cover like they can in vanilla. Squadsight is gained immediately and unconditionally, so there are no more "snap shot" skirmishing snipers (that role goes to the Scout). With In The Zone and Double Tap still available, snipers are still some of your highest damage soldiers. Watch your ammo consumption with Double Tap and ITZ; high cap mags are a good item for them.

Snipers can use sniper rifles, which act like vanilla sniper rifles, and only allow firing if the user hasn't moved unless they are Snap Shot trained, but they can also use Marksman Rifles, which are shorter range sniper rifles that can be fired after moving. Snipers can use assault rifles as well, but this isn't particularly useful in practice, since the Infantry class generally performs better with assault rifles. As in vanilla, Snipers gain the most aim per rank, ending with 7 more aim than any other class at Master Sergeant.

The three main 'trick' shots, Precision Shot (aka: Headshot), Disabling Shot, and Snapshot are now all on the same tier of Corporal, and thus, mutually exclusive. Thus, you may find yourself desiring more snipers than other classes in your campaign, to have a number of each to go out on missions. And, if you use multiple snipers in a squad, consider if to have them be the same kind, or mix n' match. For example, Disablers help out greatly for doing alien captures, Precision Shooters are for bringing down heavy alien units, and Snapshot Snipers could be played like Scouts (with more accurate/potent shots, can hit from full Squadsight range, but less defensive abilities). You may want to customize their names to easily distinguish between them in the Barracks and squad deployment screens (for example: #eadshot, Dis@bling, and $napshot, and putting #, @, or $ at the start of their first name).

Also, note that despite having five tiers of weapons, Mayhem still only grants +1/+2 damage, with Beam laser and Gauss granting +1 damaged, while pulse and plasma grant +2

Role: Long Range Sentry

The sniper in this role relies on In The Zone to keep enemies at an optimal engagement distance. It will utilize offensive upgrades combined with defensive upgrades to act as a high-powered turret with the ability to clear the map when used correctly. The sniper in those role also utilizes SnapShot providing additional utility and versatility. A sniper using this build has power potential proportional increases with tech level. Certain techs like flying armour will significantly buff its combat ability.

Sample Sniper

Low Profile -> SnapShot -> Damn Good Ground/Executioner -> Ranger -> Lock N' Load -> In The Zone.

Note: Lock N' Load cannot be used after moving. Lock N' Load can be used to continue an ITZ chain after the original magazine is emptied. When using ITZ, use explosives to remove the cover of aliens. Use ITZ to clean up the exposed aliens. Flying targets also count as exposed, but should be prioritized after ground targets because they are likely to end the ITZ chain. Be wary when firing at flanked targets in Squadsight Range. SS Flanked targets will often not be tagged as exposed and will end the ITZ chain.

Role: Assassin, Long Range Offense

The sniper in this role stays behind and relies on its Squad Sight. It is the classical "one shot - one kill" role where you focus on doing maximum damage per shot and landing every possible shot. For this, high aim soldiers are preferred and perks are centered around gaining more aim and damage.

Sample sniper:

Lone Wolf -> Precision Shot -> Sharpshooter/ Damn Good Ground -> Ranger -> Vital Point Targeting -> Double tap.

Note: Ranger + VPT provide you with +3 minimum damage, which should be enough to guarantee you one shot kills even without a critical. Precision shot, Lone Wolf and Sharpshooter provide you with additional critical chance. Double tap is the signature ability, with which you can take on two separate adversaries in one turn, or focus on one tough one.

Role Stalker, Mid to Long range Offense

A mobile, versatile sniper who uses terrain and mobility to find himself on the flank or even behind enemy lines. It makes heavy use of In the Zone, which works against flanked and exposed targets (such as flying and those with no cover), which in turn requires the sniper to have a suitably large ammo magazine. While not staying far behind, the sniper should still keep some distance from the main group because of the short range penalty of the Strike/Sniper rifle. Perks focus on critical chance and utility.

Sample sniper: Lone wolf -> Snap Shot -> Sharpshooter -> Lock N' Load -> Bring 'Em On -> In the Zone

Note: Since Lock N' Load only works together with Snap Shot ( you can not shoot after taking a costly action, reloading included), the two perks go together. With Lock N' Load, Ammo conservation project and Hi-Cap magazine your sniper rifle will have +3 maximum ammo (!), more than enough for In the Zone. This build works well with Marksman Rifles as well as sniper rifles, making use of the +1 mobility and avoiding taking the Snapshot perk; here is how the marksman rifle build will look:

Lone wolf -> Precision shot -> Sharpshooter -> Aggression -> Bring 'Em On -> In the Zone

You will have less ammo and more critical chance.

See also

Long War: Soldiers
	Soldiers Assault Infantry Rocketeer Gunner Sniper Scout Medic Engineer
	MEC Troopers Marauder Valkyrie Archer Goliath Jaeger Pathfinder Guardian Shogun
	Officers Psionics Gene Mods S.H.I.V.s