Aggressive Sniper Guide. The Finals

A sniping guide for the finals. Oddly, this is one of the most requested articles on my channel as of late, and the reason I think it's odd is because the sniper is probably the most straightforward weapon in the game; it has no recoil patent to learn; it's a hit scan weapon, so there's no bullet drop or projectile speed you have to learn; it's inaccurate when you're not zoomed in; it's completely accurate when you are zoomed in; and its effective range is essentially infinite.

But despite the sniper being such a straightforward weapon on paper, it's probably one of the hardest weapons to master in the game. This article isn't just going to be another basic sniper guide that tells you to go for a head shot and make sure you sit on a roof 100 meters away from the action, because that's just not my style.

If you've watched my finals, you'll know that I have an extremely aggressive play style, and the sniper is the only weapon I ever use. So with such an aggressive play style, why would I use the sniper rifle, a weapon that should be the most passive weapon in the game? Well, it's because of movement.

The sniper is a burst damage weapon; it does damage less frequently but in much bigger chunks, meaning I can spend less time aiming straight at my target and more time utilizing movement to be evasive and change positions, compared to something like an SMG, which requires you to aim at your target for much longer and generally sacrifice your movement while doing so.

Have you ever been playing light with an SMG and you're fighting a medium or heavy at close to mid-range? You peak the corner and your ads to make your gun accurate, but it slows your movement by so much that you just get absolutely fried because of your tiny health pull. Now imagine that same situation, but with a sniper rifle, you can peak the corner and do a potential 230, damage, and an unpak while your bolt PSE all while only receiving 40 to 50 damage, then you repak for another potential 230, damage.

You can avoid so much damage while still putting out your maximum DPS. Now you might think you could just do the same thing with a shotgun, but the shotgun is a much better weapon at close range, which is probably true. At close range, the shotgun is probably much more effective and easy to use than the sniper.

But outside of close range, the sniper is much better, and the shotgun becomes basically useless. The sniper can effectively do the same thing in close range that the shotgun can do, which is burst damage while still moving evasively. Okay, so I think I've explained that enough. But how do you actually play the sniper aggressively?

What load-out should you be running, and what movements do you need to know to do this effectively? I'll show my load out here that I use, but the only thing that really matters is your specialization. That's what's going to allow you to move around and play aggressively. I would recommend the grapple hook, but the dash is also a lot of fun and does provide some really nice movement options, especially in close range.

Don't use the invis, which is for bot Burgers. Now what movement text should you know? First, by far the most important movement technique that you need to know is bunny hopping. I spoke about this in my first movement experiment article, and I briefly explained how to do it and use it effectively.

But basically, bunny hopping allows you to carry your momentum, and in combination with the grapple hook, it is honestly some of the most fun that you can have in the finals. In my opinion, if you're watching the clips in the background, you'll see just how useful bunny-hopping is. You can grapple and fly past your opponent while putting out maximum DPS without sacrificing any movement to do so.

Another thing you might notice is how I hardly scope in at close ranges; sometimes I scope in about halfway, and other times I don't scope at all. This has mostly to do with movement. When you are fully scoped in, both your movement speed and fov are greatly reduced, as well as your sniper showing glint for the enemy player while scoped in.

I will note that you can actually beop at full speed while fully scoped, but I almost never do it. There's no real reason since all it really does is reduce your FOV. And if you're not scoping in at all or just not scoping, there's a chance your shots just won't hit, even if you're centering on your target perfectly.

The only reason I would ever really have no scope is purely for style points, or if I'm so close to range that you know the chance of it hitting is much more likely than it not, or if you're guaranteed to hit if it's something like a heavy up in your face. No scopes in the finals aren't super inaccurate, but it's still not great, and if you tap your ads and just scope in about halfway, like I was showing, your crosshairs get much more accurate very fast, and as you get to know this timing and how much you need to zoom in to make your crosshairs accurate enough to hit your target, it can be a very effective way to take your shots faster and continue moving in a fight.

Now, all these tips are great for moving around and playing aggressive with a sniper, but they don't really count if you can't hit your shots. If you are someone who struggles with aim.

If your sensitivity is too high, you're going to be sacrificing precision, and if it's too low, it's going to be near impossible to hit certain shots, especially at close range, because you just won't have enough space on your mouse pad to move your mouse. I personally play the finals with a sensitivity of about 32 cm per 360.

Also, if you are having any issues with your scope sensitivity feeling too low, which is what I had when I started playing the finals, then go into your settings and turn off focal scaling. This will allow you to make your scope sensitivity much faster, so you can turn that off and adjust your ad sense accordingly until you find something that feels comfortable.

I have focal scaling off and use a scope sensitivity of about 22 to 25. Generally, it is important to note that if you have your settings like here and you switch to any other gun that you can advertise, including the stun gun, the sensitivity is going to be very low. Now, there are a lot more advanced movement techniques I could go over, but I don't want this to be a movement guide either.

However, I do intend on making a complete movement guide in the near future. Now this play style isn't something that is really easy to do; it will take a fair bit of practice to get the hang of, and by no means is this the most practical play style; it's risky and it's difficult to pull off consistently, but I do believe it is very effective when mastered, and not only that, it's just a super fun way to play the game