When played by an experienced player the Sniper can become a real killing machine.
But even a Sniper with incredible marksmanship is only as good as his team allows him to be.
That is why you have to learn how to play your part in your team's victory.

Please see below the common Sniper priority targets:


Medic
It doesn't matter on which map you play, the Medic is always your first main target. You have to kill him as soon as possible, otherwise he'll just get busy healing up the
Demoman, Soldier and Heavy. Which in turn will give your team a hard time.

Sniper
Your second target is the enemy Sniper. Always remember that he is a threat to your team as you are to his! In comparison it's harder for other classes to get to him, so he's basically your responsibility. Make sure you dominate or/and intimidate him, for the team which has the better Sniper will control the battlefield.


Demoman and Heavy
Finally we have the two main damage dealers, the Demoman and the
Heavy. They are the muscle of the team, they protect the Medic and with him in the back they have the courage to be more aggressive.


If the above mentioned classes are not in sight, feel free to take out the others. But remember, that your main priority is to silently and effectively eliminate the key targets of the enemy team.



In a cooperative team play (9vs9, say, Lobby or even Tournament), the team does not depend on the Sniper or the Spy as much as on other classes. By that I mean that the Sniper and the Spy are not chained by teamwork. Their only task is to scout and kill.

The Medic, on the other hand, plays a major part in any team battle. With him (and his unique ÜberCharge ability) the enemy team will move more bolder into the fray.

Look, killing the enemy Sniper will most certainly give you the upper hand and more freedom in battle, but since he operates outside of his team (and because his team doesn't depend on him), the enemy team will not care about his death. Of course in the end it all depends on the situation, but if you have a choice between sniping out the Sniper or the Medic, the choice should always be the Medic. Because, even if after killing the Medic the enemy Sniper kills you, by removing the Medic from the battle you not only ensured your team's advantage in battle, but you also force the enemy team to retreat.

In my many TF2 plays I have met capable and experienced Snipers, but more often than not I see them making simple mistakes, which then cost us our victory. Please see below some simple learning tricks for a beginner Sniper.

Always be on the move
If you're going to camp in one good position most of the time, you will not only be discovered and killed, but also the enemy team will check now every time this good position of yours, making it useless for you in the long run. Don't stand too long in one place, always be on the move. Surprise the enemy with your constant position shifts. Make them think twice before moving around the corner. Make them understand that they are the prey and you are the predator.

Train your marksmanship
Accuracy training should be part of your TF2 game time. Some say "If you cannot get a head shot on the Heavy, then you shouldn't play Sniper!". Most consider joining a game and play as the
Sniper is enough to train their Sniper skills, which is so wrong. If you want to progress and see results in your Sniper play, you must train every day.

If you follow this link[tf2.gamebanana.com], you will find a training map tr_walkway. It only has one long corridor, where from both sides bots are running. It's a great training map to hone your Sniper skills. Train yourself to always go for the head shots! If you missed, and you will miss a lot, make sure that the cursor stays focused on the head.

And if you can't get a head shot, don't shoot at all. It's a common mistake Snipers do "hell, I can't see his head, but I can see his foot, I will shoot at it" - to that I say no, respect the art of the
Sniper and only do head shots!



tr_aim[tf2.gamebanana.com] and tr_aim_training_b13[tf2.gamebanana.com] are specifically designed training maps for the Sniper. You won't have bots here though, no, in these two maps a Sniper can train and evaluate his reaction, accuracy and speed. I recommend to try them both out and consider using them as your training maps for the Sniper class.

Of course saying "only do head shots" is easier than actually doing them. In the beginning you will fail a lot, having some good days and lots of bad days, but day by day you will see improvements. One day, after countless hours of training and exercise, you will find yourself punishing the enemy team with merciless head shots left and right.

As an example, please see a video of some amazing Sniper skills from Clan "Auto-Aim". The level of awesomeness might intimidate a beginner Sniper, but please take this video as a motivational video, because if you train hard this will be you!

Now let's talk weapons. Sniper has a rich arsenal. Let's not focus on the good weapons though, let's check out the two most terrible weapons. It baffles me how some players, who played as the
Sniper a lot do not understand that these two primary weapons are just rubbish.

Sydney Sleeper
With this rifle you won't get a critical hit when doing head shots. In this guide, our Sniper is all about the head shots, so this weapon will not do. There are Snipers out there, who use this rifle as a team support weapon since it applies the Jarate effect to the target.

To me it sounds like blasphemy, so to any Sniper out there, who wants his skill to improve I would strongly recommend to get rid of this weapon. With this weapon you won't care about head shots, you will camp a lot and you will be served to the enemy Sniper on a platter. Basically you will be a player, who doesn't really want to learn the beauty of the Sniper class.

Machina

While you can get used to this rifle only firing when zoomed in, and the fully charged shots will deal +15% damage and penetrate players, damaging also enemies behind them is a nice trait, it is outright a terrible weapon for the Sniper!

As mentioned above, a real good Sniper always moves, never staying in one place too long, making unexpected shots from different angles. With the Machina equipped this tactic becomes useless since the shots fired leave a bright, easily traceable team-colored line behind! Not only will it alarm the enemy of your position, it will also make them less likely to fear you.

Jarate

By throwing this jar on the ground it will cover a small area, which will make enemies in that area wet for 10 seconds. Those doused enemies will take mini-crits on hit. It also can extinguish flames on allies and yourself. But the most important trait is that it partially nullifies the cloak on enemy
Spy. A wet Spy will become most certainly a dead Spy since it will be almost impossible for him to escape. I recommend to use it with Bushwacka.


Razorback
It blocks one backstab attempt from the enemy
Spy. After a backstab attempt not only will the
Spy be unable to turn invisible for the next two seconds, but also he will be unable to switch weapons. After a failed backstab you will be alerted by a very distinct, loud electrical sound.
Once used, the Razorback has to be recharged from a Resupply locker or at respawn.
Some tricky Spies like to hit the
Sniper one time and then run away in hopes that the Sniper won't go recharge. In my experience I will always advice to recharge it.

The Spy is the archenemy of the Sniper. It is extremely difficult to avoid this sneaky bаstard's knife to the back. As you have read in this guide, I advise to be more mobile with the Sniper, making him more unpredictable for the Spy.

Ambassador
If you thought that the Razorback was enough protection against the enemy Spy, then unfortunately I have to disappoint you.

Although the Ambassador's accuracy decreases after the initial shot, and it has no random critical hits and firing rate is lower than the Spy's usual handgun, I have to mention this revolver, because of its high accuracy and the head shots will always be critical.

For the Sniper, who usually stands around in place, this revolver can be devastating. But even if a Spy manages to sneak up on you and deliver a head shot with the Ambassador, you still have the chance to survive and even kill the Spy. The damage from a head shot will always be equal to 102 hp. If you had more hp than that, you now have the chance to react and try to kill the enemy Spy before he delivers a second shot.

Dead Ringer
This watch is most known for turning the Spy invisible for 6.5 seconds upon receiving damage, while also dropping a fake corpse. It allows the Spy into tricking the enemy team that he's dead, while he's free to position himself behind them and cut silently their throats. Sometimes though it is possible to call on his bluff. It's highly unlikely for the Spy to get killed by one shot in the beginning. If you ever suspect him of trickery, then just play along. Don't look around too much, face one direction and look distracted, but be prepared because he's most likely coming at you from behind. Wait for a very loud and distinct sound, it means he's out of invisibility, turn around and surprise him with a shot to his face!

Note:
Some players like to change the sound file of the Spy's uncloak moment. They either change it to something more distinct or they just crank up the volume. There are guides on how to do that, but I do not recommend it since some servers don't allow such sound changes.

This is an English translation of the
original Russian guide by [GN] Mr. Gaunt.
This guide marks our, Burn and [GN] Mr. Gaunt, first collaboration.

If your skills are getting better and you'd like to enjoy a good challenge, then we recommend to try out the "European Highlander" format. Please see kkaltuu's guide on what this format is and how to set it up.



THANK YOU for taking the time and reading my English translation and alternative design
of [GN] Mr. Gaunt's Russian guide "Как научиться играть за снайпера?".

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