This will be a guide compiling some tips, tricks and skills I have developed and learned over my time playing as sniper. I have had extensive practice in sniper duels, casual play as well as some competitive play, although only in official Valve competitive.

I hope that aspiring snipers can learn new skills from this guide or at least enjoy the walk through.

Regardless, I hope all enjoy and possibly learn something new. Who knows, if there is something you would like to add to the guide, lets me know! I am not shy to additions or criticism for the guide.

(I would also like to apologize for the low quality of the gifs. Steam only allows a max of 2mb gifs to be posted on guides. The only other way to show quick clips would be to make Youtube videos but I don't want create a bunch of 5 second videos on Youtube. Hope you can understand.)

If you have played Tf2 for any good amount of time, you have most likely changed your FOV to the max settings allowed by Valve.

However, playing at 90 FOV can harm your aim while playing as Sniper. Since your Fov changed, but the sniper rifles FOV is still the same, you might find yourself missing more shots, atleast when you first switch.

That's because the default Zoom Sensitivity Ratio of the Sniper Rifle was created for the default FOV and does not adjust with FOV changes.

Thanks to this[www.teamfortress.tv] thread, if you open your console and type "zoom_sensitivity_ratio 0.793471", It will be as close as you can get to a seamless sensitivity transition.



However, just because that is the seamless transition between regular and zoom sensitivities, that does not mean that it is the best one for you. I personally opt to play with a lower zoom sensitivity ratio of 0.45 in order to be more precise with mouse movements. I have never been a fan of high sensitivities in games, so that was a personal change for me.

Of course, there might be other ratios that work for you, but that is all personal touches.

Note: These stats shown only Sniper Rifles that do not have a damage reduction for bodyshot


As seen above, the sniper rifle scope has 13 ticks (what I am going to call each individual bar) for the charge bar. When you first zoom in, 3 ticks are already glowing. At full charge, all 13 will be lighten up.

Now for some stats that were tested by myself a while ago.

Although the sniper rifle increases damage over time the longer it is zoomed in, It will not start increasing damage until the 7th tick is lit. After that, every tick adds damage. Also, the Sniper Rifle Cannot headshot until 0.2 seconds after zooming, or just before tick #4 is lighten.

Down below is a table of data as well as a short definition for both bodyshot and headshot damage values.

(Please note that the values with the symbol [~] in front of it are estimates, as the damage varies by a few integers depending on how long the newest tick has been lighten up.)

For Bodyshots: Roughly 15 damage is added to a bodyshot every tick EXCEPT for the first damage ramp up tick (Tick # 7), which adds only 10 damage.

For Headshots: Headshot values simply follow the Bodyshot damage values, except they are multiplied by three because headshots are counted as critical damage.

So, the question is, why did I choose to make this table to showcase these damage values?

The answer is because I want snipers to know about how long they need to wait in order to 1-shot a class that has more than 150 health with a single headshot, or to know how long to wait in order to kill a wounded enemy with a bodyshot. These values in correlation to the ticks on the sniper should be memorized in order to help you to determine when to shoot.

As a sniper, being able to snipe the important targets out of a group of people should be a known skill that is exercised regularly. Of course, many people believe that medics should be the #1 priority, and to be fair, it is in most situations, except for 1.

Hostile Snipers

If push comes to shove with an enemy sniper, target them immediately. Along with spies, other snipers are the strongest counter to this long range single shot class.

Below is a list on what i believe the Snipers hit-list should be, although the main parts i want to be focused on are the bottom and top of the graph. Heavies, Soldiers, Demomen and Pyros are what I like to call 'Eh, just pick one to shoot"


<----[Example of passing up a lower tier target in order to pick the medic]

Of course your current situation can change the priority list, such as finding a sneaky engineer trying to place a teleporter or if a scout or spy gets up in your face. This is just a general and generic list of what targets should be picking out at range if a group of enemies emerge.

While it can be quite tempting to follow the trail of a target you are wanting to shoot, I am afraid this isn't trapshooting. There is no need to follow your targets movement all the time while aiming.

Instead, aim ahead to where they are going to go if they are in a relatively straight line. This works for forward, backwards, side to side and even falling or jumping as seen in the video on the right. All you have to do now is wait for when they cross your dot and.....boom, their head is gone.

Now I won't lie, this isn't the only way you should be shooting as a sniper, but this method can help simplify your shooting as well as reduce involuntary flicks your arm makes when trying to fire. Just keep a calm mind and a non-tense wrist and your aim will improve with this technique.



<------{Here is a great example of what i am trying to say. At first I figure out which way the medic is committing to go, then I place my crossair ahead of the medic, then simply fire when his head crosses the dot. It is simple, easy and makes getting picks a whole lot easier.}

One thing that many snipers do, I included for awhile, was to only try to go for headshot kills and to avoid bodyshots like the devil. That is not how a sniper should think

Bodyshots are a vital skill for a sniper to learn to use correctly. If you can secure the kill of a medic with a fully charged bodyshot, go for it! The ultimate goal of playing sniper is to get the important picks and to secure kills without putting yourself in danger. Sure, you will get some people who will call you out for being a bodyshot machine, probably some in the comments of this guide too, but the ends justify the means. Dropping a med at full charge with a bodyshot is more important that risking a headshot and allowing him to pop uber, most likely costing your team many lives and a valuable choke point.

Using a quick bodyshot to finish off a wounded player is a good skill to learn as well. A bodyshot does 50 damage, a quick headshot does 150 and a fully charged bodyshot does 150 damage as well. Soldiers (200hp), Demomen (175hp) and Pyros (175hp) can survive a quick headshot or full charge bodyshot (-150hp), but will be brought below the 50 damage threshold. Most enemies after recieving a headshot will try to run to cover, thus giving you the sniper little time to accurately place another shot.

But here is the thing, there is no need to go for a second headshot

Why risk missing your target for an additional 150 damage when a bodyshot will do?

<-------[here is an example. I hit a Pyro for 150 damage and finished him off with a bodyshot. no need to go for a headshot]

Any fleeing enemy will make an easy target to hit with a 50 damage shot to the sternum, so go for it. I cannot stress this enough, you do not need to go for headshots on enemies who have very low health. All you are doing if you do so is creating a higher risk of missing. Sure it may be less flashy, but kills are kills, and as a sniper, precision elimination is your specialty.

One thing that I have seen many new Snipers do is to only take shots when the know they will get a kill. Usually on a slow moving, oblivious heavy or an afk scout trying to pick up the fancy Australium Scattergun on the ground. This shouldn't be the mentality for snipers. For those who do not play sniper often, I do not think they realize how many shots are missed even by the best of the best.

The thing is, when you shoot more shots at the enemies, you have more opportunities to hit and kill your target. I found in a personal test with a strange sniper rifle with the parts players hit and headshot kills some interesting results. At a time when I was recording all of my gameplay as sniper, I started counting the number of shots taken in order to compare it to the rifles stats. Unfortunately, I sold the rifle awhile back in order to buy my new one, but I still have the raw data I recorded on a spreadsheet from 2019 from both the videos and the rifle. I played until I had 1032 shots logged on video for the rifle, excluding wasted shots in-between games or during setup, just straight game play. The data goes as followed:

• Shots fired- 1032
  
• Players Hit- 664
  
• Players Killed-496
  
• Headshot Kills- 352

What can this data tell us? It tells us that even good snipers with over 1500 hours in the game do miss shots, and quite a bit as a matter of fact. When it comes to game play as sniper, it doesn't matter how many shots you miss, only how many you hit. So go for those rocket jumping soldiers or juking scouts, you may surprise yourself with some of the shots you connect.

Wall tracing is an interesting skill for snipers to learn while playing, especially when versing another sniper. While I am not sure if there is an exact name for this skill or tactic, this is the name I like to call it by.

So, what is wall tracing?


Wall tracing, as I can best describe it, is to memorize where an enemies last location was while you are behind cover and to place your crossair accordingly. This is where an example will show better than I can describe, so here it is. It may just seem like a glorified pre-fire, but there are a few things to know about it.

• Aim is kept at head level of the target and not adjusted while behind cover.
  
• Quickly fire after emerging from cover as to hit and run
  
• Adjustments to aim are made when you see your intended target, normally minimal movement
  
• Only move with a and d keys, no forward or backward movement

In the example you can see me keep my aim at roughly his head level while moving across the wall. Next when I see the enemy sniper, i quickly do a small adjustment to secure the kill. While I know I said before to not risk a headshot on an enemy sniper, this occasion was different. He had a medic healing him so a bodyshot would not do. Finally I retreat behind cover again so retaliation damage would be practically non-existent.

This tactic can be quite good in a heavily fired upon area, such as the rocks at the top of the red hill on pl_badwater where the health pack and ammo pack are. I would only suggest this tactic though when under fire or at risk by an enemy sniper, otherwise you might miss a shot because of it.

I know that this will make some snipers angry (I am looking at you anger wearing, AWP wielding snipers), but wearing unusual's can make you both a bigger target as well as allows you to be spotted from areas you think you would be safe.

Some effects, such as Purple/Green Confetti or Kill-a-Watt are not huge problem makers. Their effects are usually harder to see from a distance or stick close to the users head. However, the BIG problem makers are effects like Stormy Storm, Blizzardy Storm, Starstorm Insomnia and all the effects that are brightly colored and ABOVE the snipers head.

A sniper can't be hidden behind a crouch-tall piece of cover from the enemies if they have an unusual effect that broadcasts "Hey, there is an enemy behind this wall. Please aim at me and charge up a shot until I decide to emerge back to the world of the living......right before getting shot"

Here are some examples of popular spots on pl_upward and pl_badwater, two of the most popular payload maps.


Now I know this might be more of a problem for well off players, but it can be a problem nonetheless. Unusuals can give info to enemies, especially other snipers before your head will even pop out, giving your opponent a "heads" up. (hehe)

Being an effective sniper is just as much about choosing your location to fire from as your aim and patience. A good sniping spot can be the difference between securing some important kills and getting immediately killed by a roaming soldier. That's not saying the later won't happen with a good spot, but it will happen less.

Many of the generic sniping spots are technically good places to snipe from, but are far from perfect because they are so well known and enemy team members will target those places as a first priority.

Strive to shoot from those odd angles and areas that are less well know.

One of my favorite sniping spots that I hardly see any snipers shoot from is on pl_swiftwater at checkpoint 1. I don't understand why more people don't use this spot, it has gotten me a 20ks many times, more than any other spot.


In this spot you are:

1. Well protected thanks to being in the back lines of your team
   
2. Able to see multiple sniping areas that people don't expect to be shot from
   
3. Able to easily retreat through either the tunnel or doors that opens up after point 1 is captured

Not all sniping places you take up have to be like this one, but look for those uncanny ones and surprise your foe with a bullet to the brain!

Sniper duels are bound to happen when playing on either a casual or competitive server. One way to not only avoid getting your head blown off by a sniper or some of his teammates that you just killed is to move positions often. Many opponents will try to target you based on where you last killed them, so switching positions can give you the upper hand in a rematch.



(Picture 1) After besting a sniper in a duel, they will most likely try to target you based on your last know location.


(Picture 2) Try switching up positions after successfully killing an enemy sniper to catch him off guard the next time he peaks to try to kill you.

As with many classes in the game, sniper is a lot stronger when being played WITH the team, not being a solo player. Sniper is strongest when is allies are holding a choke point against the enemy team. Snipers are incredibly frail when by themselves. Unless you are an absolute god at hitting every shot (which even I am not) you are going to have a bad time unless you have support.

That is why sniper in classified as a Support class. A sniper in the right position with aid from his buddies can help stop an entire push. The sniper is the only class that can one-shot a heavy at max over heal from a distance. Use this power to help out your team, and as a result they will help you out in return

Another useful tactic is to join up with another friendly sniper in order to take down a pesky sniper on the enemy team. Even if he spots the both of you, he can't shoot you both. (unless he has a Machina and somehow gets a collateral) If either you or your partner sacrifice their life in order to take down the enemy headshot machine, then that would be considered a trade, and a quite useful one at that.

Remember, if you want one sniper dead, two snipers are better than one.

All in all, I hope this guide helps people on becoming a better sniper overall in Tf2. Of course, tweaking your gameplay as well as setting will only get you so far when playing. The best way to get better is to just keep playing. I know it sounds sappy, but it really is true. Happy Hunting!

I would also like to take this time to thank three people, EnterPrise, ipodtouch0218 and geemailman007 for helping me make this guide. I would not have been able to show all of the picture examples in this guide without their Unusuals as well as their help with formatting, proofreading and suggestions while creating the guide. They have my upmost gratitude as well as respect for taking time out of their day and helping me, a complete stranger, make this.

I just wanna say that if you made it to the end, I cannot thank you enough. This guide took me a long time to put together. However, I have been wanting to make a good guide on this subject for awhile, so here it is in all its glory....I hope.

I also want to say, if you see any mistakes in it at all, such as grammar, spelling, formatting, etc, do not be afraid to point it out so i can fix it. I want this guide to be the best it can be, and it won't without your help.

I might add more sections to the guide if the need arises or if i think of something else I missed.

Once again, thank you all so much for reading. Go shoot some enemies in the head for me will you?

October 2, 2020: (3:43 PM PST)
-Added Change Log
-Added gif to section titled "Wall Tracing"
-Added extra explanation to section "Wall Tracing"
-Added extra info to section called "Adjust Sniper Rifle Zoom Sensitivity Ratio"
-Various small capitalization or grammar changes
-Adjusted order of sections in guide for a more coherent reading
October 4, 2020: (9:40 AM PST)
-Fixed a formatting error with the gif on section "Wall Tracing"
-Reworded some info on section titled "Sniper Rifle Zoom Info"
-Removed part of sentence in section "Finishing Thoughts, Thanks and Credits"
where the end of the sentence accidentally was repeated.
-Added and removed some info on section "Introduction"