Capwn's Comprehensive Guide to the Sniping Playstyle
Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:06 pm
Capwn's Comprehensive Guide to the Sniping Playstyle
Intro to Sniping/Basic Sniping Technique:
The role of the sniper in halo is both versatile and powerful. In this guide, I intend to describe some of the basic tactics behind sniping, as well as proper technique for dispatching your enemies from range. Let’s start out with a brief overview. Sniping, contrary to the belief held in many people’s minds, is not a strategy that should involve camping. There are many reasons for this. First of all, moving around affords you new angles to shoot from, and it makes it harder for the opposing team to locate and countersnipe you. Also, if you hide behind the same rock the whole time, you’re gonna get pwned by pros (me) many times over. Instead of camping, you’re going to want to cycle around the map, moving through 12 key sniping zones (I will cover these later) for each team. Not only should you move from zone to zone, you should also be sure to move around within zones. The reasoning behind this is fairly simple: In halo, the only advantage to standing still is that you won’t show up on radar. This is useful if you want to set up close range ambushes (like a shotgun ambush inside the base). If you’re sniping, you will be far out of radar range of your opponent, so staying still has no inherent benefits. Moving, however, gives you effective protection you from getting countersniped by pros (me).
Sniper vs. Generic Enemy
The beauty of sniping is, in most situations, it poses very little danger to yourself. Picking off opponents is mostly just a matter of marksmanship. Whilst most of this depends on your own skill level and reaction time, there are a few tricks that you can use to improve your aim. Firstly, if you are not hosting the game, you are going to need to find your lead. The lead is the correction that you need to make to your aim in order to offset server lag. The lead scales with your ping, so you can usually make a pretty accurate guess based on that. If you are not as skilled at estimating it, take a few practice shots before you begin the round. If you are hosting, you don’t have to worry about this. Nex, you should always try to mimic the movements of your target. This is important for a couple of reasons. If you are sanding still, you do all the work of aiming with your hand. This makes fine adjustments tricky. If you are moving in the same direction as your target, you only need to make fine aim adjustments with the mouse, making it a lot easier to kill him. Moving also prevents you from getting countersniped, as I said before. Another useful trick to sniping is this: If you go into game settings, you’ll see a category titled “mouse sensitivity.” Tweaking this setting will make your crosshair move at different speeds. If you want to take the time to train yourself to a higher mouse speed, you can greatly improve your fine aim adjustments and reaction time. I am currently playing with a horizontal sensitivity of 6, and a vertical sensitivity of 5.
Sniper vs. Sniper
Most of the time, you can quickly dispatch enemy snipers before the notice you, but sometimes you miss the shot and/or are spotted. If this is the case, something of a 1 on 1 sniping “duel” takes place. In a long range fight (Distance between cliffs and caves), there isn’t really much you can do but aim well and hide while you reload. In a medium or close range fight, he rules change a bit. When in a mid range battle (distance between fuel rod and rocket), the most important thing to do is to screw with the opponents scope. The sniper is probably the least effective weapon for this. If you have a pistol, AR, or plasma rifle on hand, take it out and start shooting at the enemy sniper. Every time you get a hit, the other sniper’s scope will deactivate, forcing to re-aim. After a bit of this, any smart enemy will either take cover (use long range strategy), or close the gap between the two of you (if they stay at medium range, just continue shooting them until they die). At close range (about the same size as the inside of the base), there are a couple things you can do. Your chosen action depends mostly on personal preference. What I usually do in a close range sniper fight, is run at the target, quickly strafe as I approach him, then turn and melee him from behind. This is usually easier when you are playing as host, because then you do not have to adjust your melee for lag. Another good strategy is to jump over our opponent, then snipe his head while you are going over him. This is fairly easy to do, and it makes it a lot harder for him to shoot at you.
Sniper vs. Vehicle
Warthog (driver):
Taking out a moving warthog is quite hard to do, and a fair amount of skill is needed to do this. I’d suggest doing one of the following: When somebody gets into a warthog, they lose complete control over their movement for a brief moment. This means that you know exactly where their head is going to be for about a second. If you have a good angle at the hog’s weak point side), you can line up a headshot and take out the driver before he can go anywhere. If you don’t have the side shot, or are targeting an already moving hog, you can try to catch his attention with a couple of sniper rounds, hope he comes after you, then try to take him out with a close range wep (remember to sidestep!).
Warthog (turret):
Turrets are fairly easy. Just line up a headshot, then shoot. If you want to take out a gunner in a moving hog, just correct your aim a bit (like you’d do to account for server lag). Since the gunner has a lot less protection than the driver, the shot should be a lot easier. Also, if the hog stops at all, you can take out the gunner with a quick shot. If you ever have a chance to take out the driver, kill him before you get the gunner. A gunner in a stationary hog is an incredibly easy shot, and you should have no trouble picking him off.
Banshee:
Taking out a banshee with a sniper is pretty much impossible to do, since snipers do very little damage against vehicles. I’d recommend the second strategy listed for warthog driver (try to get his attention with a sniper, then take him out with close range weps when he tries to run you over). If the banshee doesn’t attempt to squish you, and guns you down from a range, you’re pretty much fucked.
Tank:
The weak point is the cockpit. Say hidden until you know you have a good shot. Try to take out the driver when he is focused on a larger target (like a hog). If you notice him trying to line up a shot, take cover. You can not dodge a tank shell.
Sniping Zones (see end for photos):
Red:
i. Good angles on the heavies and the cliff. Watch out for snipers in position vii.
ii. Good angles on the heavies, cliffs, blue base, and caves. Good cover from all sides except for cliff. Watch out for snipers in positions i or ii.
iii. Good angles on most of the center of gulch, and the cliffs. Watch out for snipers in positions v or viii.
iv. Good angles on blue base and blue teleporter. Watch out for snipers in the caves, or in position ii.
v. Good angles on blue base, blue teleporter, and the cliffs. Don’t try to cover everything at once, and watch out for snipers at blue base, blue teleporter, or the cliffs.
vi. Good angles on blue teleporter and cliffs.
vii. Good angle on blue base. Watch out for snipers at the blue teleporter or positions xi.
viii. Good angle on blue base and position xi. Watch out for enemies coming from the teleporter behind you.
ix. Good angles on blue base and blue teleporter. Watch out for snipers in position x.
x. Good angles on blue base. It’s a pretty dangerous spot to stay in. Watch out for close range enemy spawns and snipers at blue teleporter and the cliffs.
xi. Good angles on blue base.
xii. Good angles on blue base. Watch out for snipers at position xii and close range enemy spawns.
Blue:
i. Good angles on red base, red teleporter, and red zone ii. Don’t try to hold this spot for too long, you’ll get picked off if anybody sees where you are. Watch out for snipers in positions iv or v.
ii. Good angles on red base and red teleporter. Watch out for snipers in position v.
iii. Good angles on red base. Very little cover against caves. Watch out for snipers in position v.
iv. Good spot for camping on the red teleporter. Watch out for snipers on the cliffs.
v. Good angles on red base and red teleporter. Watch out for snipers on the cliffs.
vi. Good angles on the cliffs and red teleporter.
vii. Good angles on red base. Great for spawnkilling, but remember to move around. If anybody sees you you’ll get countersniped. Watch out for nades.
viii. Good angles on red base and red teleporter. Make sure to kill anybody coming out of red teleporter before they can close the range. Watch out for snipers on the cliffs.
ix. Good angles on position v and the cliffs. Watch out for snipers on the cliffs.
x. Good angles on position v and the cliffs. Watch out for enemies in position x.
xi. Good angle on red base. Good-ish angle on position v. Watch out for snipers in position v, or on the cliffs.
xii. Good angles on the whole map. Does not have very good cover though. Watch out for snipers in the caves. Don’t stay here for too long though.
There are also many areas of "quick cover," such as bushes, trees, rocks, and vehicles. These can be very useful if you need to take cover from an enemy sniper or to hide behind as you move from zone to zone. Snipers would be wise to take full advantage of these objects.
Images:
PDF version (bonus mod included):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xmdlmjmgwwk
Intro to Sniping/Basic Sniping Technique:
The role of the sniper in halo is both versatile and powerful. In this guide, I intend to describe some of the basic tactics behind sniping, as well as proper technique for dispatching your enemies from range. Let’s start out with a brief overview. Sniping, contrary to the belief held in many people’s minds, is not a strategy that should involve camping. There are many reasons for this. First of all, moving around affords you new angles to shoot from, and it makes it harder for the opposing team to locate and countersnipe you. Also, if you hide behind the same rock the whole time, you’re gonna get pwned by pros (me) many times over. Instead of camping, you’re going to want to cycle around the map, moving through 12 key sniping zones (I will cover these later) for each team. Not only should you move from zone to zone, you should also be sure to move around within zones. The reasoning behind this is fairly simple: In halo, the only advantage to standing still is that you won’t show up on radar. This is useful if you want to set up close range ambushes (like a shotgun ambush inside the base). If you’re sniping, you will be far out of radar range of your opponent, so staying still has no inherent benefits. Moving, however, gives you effective protection you from getting countersniped by pros (me).
Sniper vs. Generic Enemy
The beauty of sniping is, in most situations, it poses very little danger to yourself. Picking off opponents is mostly just a matter of marksmanship. Whilst most of this depends on your own skill level and reaction time, there are a few tricks that you can use to improve your aim. Firstly, if you are not hosting the game, you are going to need to find your lead. The lead is the correction that you need to make to your aim in order to offset server lag. The lead scales with your ping, so you can usually make a pretty accurate guess based on that. If you are not as skilled at estimating it, take a few practice shots before you begin the round. If you are hosting, you don’t have to worry about this. Nex, you should always try to mimic the movements of your target. This is important for a couple of reasons. If you are sanding still, you do all the work of aiming with your hand. This makes fine adjustments tricky. If you are moving in the same direction as your target, you only need to make fine aim adjustments with the mouse, making it a lot easier to kill him. Moving also prevents you from getting countersniped, as I said before. Another useful trick to sniping is this: If you go into game settings, you’ll see a category titled “mouse sensitivity.” Tweaking this setting will make your crosshair move at different speeds. If you want to take the time to train yourself to a higher mouse speed, you can greatly improve your fine aim adjustments and reaction time. I am currently playing with a horizontal sensitivity of 6, and a vertical sensitivity of 5.
Sniper vs. Sniper
Most of the time, you can quickly dispatch enemy snipers before the notice you, but sometimes you miss the shot and/or are spotted. If this is the case, something of a 1 on 1 sniping “duel” takes place. In a long range fight (Distance between cliffs and caves), there isn’t really much you can do but aim well and hide while you reload. In a medium or close range fight, he rules change a bit. When in a mid range battle (distance between fuel rod and rocket), the most important thing to do is to screw with the opponents scope. The sniper is probably the least effective weapon for this. If you have a pistol, AR, or plasma rifle on hand, take it out and start shooting at the enemy sniper. Every time you get a hit, the other sniper’s scope will deactivate, forcing to re-aim. After a bit of this, any smart enemy will either take cover (use long range strategy), or close the gap between the two of you (if they stay at medium range, just continue shooting them until they die). At close range (about the same size as the inside of the base), there are a couple things you can do. Your chosen action depends mostly on personal preference. What I usually do in a close range sniper fight, is run at the target, quickly strafe as I approach him, then turn and melee him from behind. This is usually easier when you are playing as host, because then you do not have to adjust your melee for lag. Another good strategy is to jump over our opponent, then snipe his head while you are going over him. This is fairly easy to do, and it makes it a lot harder for him to shoot at you.
Sniper vs. Vehicle
Warthog (driver):
Taking out a moving warthog is quite hard to do, and a fair amount of skill is needed to do this. I’d suggest doing one of the following: When somebody gets into a warthog, they lose complete control over their movement for a brief moment. This means that you know exactly where their head is going to be for about a second. If you have a good angle at the hog’s weak point side), you can line up a headshot and take out the driver before he can go anywhere. If you don’t have the side shot, or are targeting an already moving hog, you can try to catch his attention with a couple of sniper rounds, hope he comes after you, then try to take him out with a close range wep (remember to sidestep!).
Warthog (turret):
Turrets are fairly easy. Just line up a headshot, then shoot. If you want to take out a gunner in a moving hog, just correct your aim a bit (like you’d do to account for server lag). Since the gunner has a lot less protection than the driver, the shot should be a lot easier. Also, if the hog stops at all, you can take out the gunner with a quick shot. If you ever have a chance to take out the driver, kill him before you get the gunner. A gunner in a stationary hog is an incredibly easy shot, and you should have no trouble picking him off.
Banshee:
Taking out a banshee with a sniper is pretty much impossible to do, since snipers do very little damage against vehicles. I’d recommend the second strategy listed for warthog driver (try to get his attention with a sniper, then take him out with close range weps when he tries to run you over). If the banshee doesn’t attempt to squish you, and guns you down from a range, you’re pretty much fucked.
Tank:
The weak point is the cockpit. Say hidden until you know you have a good shot. Try to take out the driver when he is focused on a larger target (like a hog). If you notice him trying to line up a shot, take cover. You can not dodge a tank shell.
Sniping Zones (see end for photos):
Red:
i. Good angles on the heavies and the cliff. Watch out for snipers in position vii.
ii. Good angles on the heavies, cliffs, blue base, and caves. Good cover from all sides except for cliff. Watch out for snipers in positions i or ii.
iii. Good angles on most of the center of gulch, and the cliffs. Watch out for snipers in positions v or viii.
iv. Good angles on blue base and blue teleporter. Watch out for snipers in the caves, or in position ii.
v. Good angles on blue base, blue teleporter, and the cliffs. Don’t try to cover everything at once, and watch out for snipers at blue base, blue teleporter, or the cliffs.
vi. Good angles on blue teleporter and cliffs.
vii. Good angle on blue base. Watch out for snipers at the blue teleporter or positions xi.
viii. Good angle on blue base and position xi. Watch out for enemies coming from the teleporter behind you.
ix. Good angles on blue base and blue teleporter. Watch out for snipers in position x.
x. Good angles on blue base. It’s a pretty dangerous spot to stay in. Watch out for close range enemy spawns and snipers at blue teleporter and the cliffs.
xi. Good angles on blue base.
xii. Good angles on blue base. Watch out for snipers at position xii and close range enemy spawns.
Blue:
i. Good angles on red base, red teleporter, and red zone ii. Don’t try to hold this spot for too long, you’ll get picked off if anybody sees where you are. Watch out for snipers in positions iv or v.
ii. Good angles on red base and red teleporter. Watch out for snipers in position v.
iii. Good angles on red base. Very little cover against caves. Watch out for snipers in position v.
iv. Good spot for camping on the red teleporter. Watch out for snipers on the cliffs.
v. Good angles on red base and red teleporter. Watch out for snipers on the cliffs.
vi. Good angles on the cliffs and red teleporter.
vii. Good angles on red base. Great for spawnkilling, but remember to move around. If anybody sees you you’ll get countersniped. Watch out for nades.
viii. Good angles on red base and red teleporter. Make sure to kill anybody coming out of red teleporter before they can close the range. Watch out for snipers on the cliffs.
ix. Good angles on position v and the cliffs. Watch out for snipers on the cliffs.
x. Good angles on position v and the cliffs. Watch out for enemies in position x.
xi. Good angle on red base. Good-ish angle on position v. Watch out for snipers in position v, or on the cliffs.
xii. Good angles on the whole map. Does not have very good cover though. Watch out for snipers in the caves. Don’t stay here for too long though.
There are also many areas of "quick cover," such as bushes, trees, rocks, and vehicles. These can be very useful if you need to take cover from an enemy sniper or to hide behind as you move from zone to zone. Snipers would be wise to take full advantage of these objects.
Images:
PDF version (bonus mod included):
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xmdlmjmgwwk