Darkname's view on sniping.

imBODACIOUS

Darkname's view on sniping.



F01- Intro.
F02- Why should you snipe?
F03- The role of the sniper.
F04- Gaming setup.
F11- Aiming styles.
F12- Accurately aiming.
F13- Quick scoping.
F14- Drag/flick shots.
F15- Pre-scopes.
F16- all together.
F21- Angles and peeks.
F22- Shoulder peeks.
F23- Jump peek.
F31- The truth about hiding.
F41- your position.
F42- Aggressive.
F43- Counter picks.
F44- Defensive.
F45- Planting the c4.
F46- Defusing the c4.
F51- The fear factor.
F61- Ending notes.

F01- Intro
I am Darkname, by far not the best sniper in this game, but still quite decent. I played this game for now two years, one year of it being SND. i recently started playing competitively and to my opinion, does quite recently. If you want to learn about sniping but feel you only find guides addressing beginners, this is the guide for you. For another guide made by me made during my ghost mode time, visit: (http://forum.z8games.com/showthread.php?t=87209)

F02- Why should you snipe?
Sniping is for those who are confident in their shots, like being sure if the person will die or not and like to frag. You should consider rifling instead if you tend to freak out, are willing to give away your score to help the team win or like to be up and personal.

F03- The role of the sniper.
Is to get picks. Meaning fraging. You need to slow down and/or destroy the opposite team as they try to rotate and allow the riflers to take the site.

F04- Gaming setup.
Being setup properly is a lot more important then what most players believe. Especially for snipers. Those are a must have:

- A PC that can run the game smoothly. If possible never going under 40 FPS. the more the better. There is many ways to improve the PCs' performance, Google it up!
- A proper mouse. I use a DeathAdder, effective and in my price range. Many peoples have different opinions on mouses but in short you need an accurate mouse that wont lag and wont disconnect. ( No wireless mouses!)
- Proper settings. This mean that mouse acceleration should be turned off. Flick shooting is impossible with acceleration on. I use markC's mouse fix but there is more out there. Crossfire use an old engine so take that into consideration, my mouse fix supposedly fix it, but I sometimes feel a de-acceleration.
- A headset that allows you to hear a good distances and clearly. You do not need to go expensive, just something better then ear buds.
- a way of communication with your teammates, most likely trough ventrilo and a microphone, but if LANing it up or talking on the phone suits you, go for it.I do not recommend using the chat as it is a distraction.


F11- aiming styles.
As a sniper, it is important you hit your shot, a miss means sure death to you, but sometimes it doesn't mater that your aim is perfect if they hit you before you can. Knowing how to aim at what time and being able to do it properly is crucial, in short there is three ways to aim, aiming slowly making sure you hit the shot, quick scoping and flick shooting. As you improve, you will be able to flick harder shots and quick scope shots you would normally have needed to take your time, but still, it is important to know what kind of aiming you should go for. Knowing what your limits are is incredibly important for this part.

F12- accurate aiming.
Those are the times you absolutely must hit, and time is not an issue. Of course do not let the players get away either, just make sure you take a slight pause to make sure your shot is going to hit. Get used the move your mouse really slowly, i play at low sensibility and sometimes feel like its not low enough when i have to hit a small target. Your biggest difficulty with those shots will be being over confident, sometimes a shot will be so easy that instead of taking your time , you are going to flick and miss ridiculously, practice not making this mistake.

F13- quick scoping.
To be perfectly honest, in my opinion, quick scoping is one of the most overrated skill a player can have, its cool and is good for pubing, but that is about it. Nevertheless, its still a great skill to have and must be mastered.
to quick scope, simply aim an when un-scoped using an imaginary Target, if you played a lot the location of your cross-hair should be no problem to you. then quickly scope and shoot, since normally those buttons are right click and left click, it should be done rather quicly

Quick scoping is simply, a way to turn your sniper into a rifle, a less effective rifle, but a rifle still. Do not practice quick scoping players you see, instead, practice quick-scoping as a reflex of when a player unexpectedly pop up. If you know where a player is, quick scoping is simply the less effective way. Having the ability to always be ready will be your best bet for this.

F14- Drag/flick shots.
Drag shooting is what i call muscle movement. You don't actually aim with your crosshair, instead you aim with how far you move the mouse. It is the most effective when the opponent is already aiming at you and need to kill him quickly, it can be done when you are already scoped but i tend to do a mix of quick scope and flicks. A great trick to flick shot is to do it with a beat, my beat is about a quarter of a second. How this goes is: scope, take a beat, flick and shoot. As your reflexes get better, the beat should be shorter.

F15- Pre-scopes.
Simply put, camping. It is done by simply scoping where there likely is opponents that pass. It is the most effecting way to take picks and put fear into your opponent. Mostly used for covering a site, you can also use it to prevent the opposing team of rotating. This is where having good understanding of your reflex is crucial, you want to kill the opponent the sooner possible he pop out, but you also do not want to put your aim so close as that you will shoot and miss. You might also consider aiming directly next to the corner of the wall, this is to kill those planing to counter snipe you.

F16- All together.
This is where quick thinking will help you the most, do you simply shoot as he pass? Do you flick? Do you take the time to aim? If the opponent is running with a knife, he might run faster then what your reflexes allow, making you miss, so taking your time making sure you hit is good in this situation. If he jump ready to shoot at you, flick shooting is your solution.

imBODACIOUS

F21- Angles and peeks.
Knowing how to aim is fine and that, but it wont do anything if the opponent see you first. Knowing how and when to peek is a critical part of playing, i believe how you take peeks are at least half of how good your doing.

F22- Shoulder peek.
Shoulder peeks are what i use the most, its the best way to kill an unsuspecting opponent. It is simply taking a peek, showing the smallest part of your body possible. In a good shoulder peek, when you shoot the opponent your cross-hair will be close to the corner of the wall . shoulder peek work because your opponent normally do not have their cross-hair at the corner and shooting half of a target is harder then a full target. It wont work if the opponent is expecting a corner peek and is pre-aiming the corner tough as they will see your arm pop up before you can see them.

F23- Jump peek.
Jump peeks are extremely overused, most peoples use them because of the fact those opponents are slow to aim, but against a player with a good aim, you're only giving them the first shot. A jump peek is made by simply crouch jumping out of a corner, using the time you're in the air to aim, and shooting as soon as you hit the ground. Its a good tactic if you know the opponent know you are there and your not sure of the exact place hes hiding. It should be avoided, but like everything in life, you need to mix stuff up.

F31- the truth about hiding.
Hiding is not about having cover, it's about not being seeing. Take into consideration where your enemy will look and suddenly you will find spots that are in the wide open but fully hidden. There is many spots that give you good cover, but are so well known that they are pre-fired every times, those are the spots you need to consider since they are pre-fired, that mean that to aim at it, you need to ignore another spot, that other spot is called a blind spot, in the open but still they wont see you. There is many of those spots but remember to use them sparingly, as soon as your cover is blown, it's not a blind spot anymore.

F41- your position.
It is important to know what kind of sniper your team need the most, they need to adjust to your style and you need to adjust to theirs. Do they tend to all rush at the same site, using the opponent's slow rotation as their leverage? Then you might want to cover their back. Are they playing it slow but rarely rotating? Then you will want to practice counter picking other snipers. Do they tend to split in two to confuse the opponent? Then a more aggressive kind of play is needed. It is important to master all three kind of play as good team captain will often change the plans according to your opponent's.

F42- Aggressive.
Playing aggressively does not always mean rushing, it's mostly mean sniping together with the riflers as simply one more person to push. Out aiming and out reflex your opponent is critical here as you will face riflers head on. If you're pushing with your team, most likely you will be the person using flashes and nades as the rifler do the first push and you follow right behind, pre-aiming at where the first person on the opposing team could rotate from ( most likely mid.) and your job is to get that person. So the person with the c4 can plant in peace. ( do not forget that is the whole objective as Bl.) as GR, I do not recommend playing aggressive, but mixing it up is the key as always. Playing aggressive as GR often mean pushing till you reach the point where you will potentially face your opponent, getting a pick and the having to decide to either continue pushing or to fall back. Good decision making here is important.

F43- Counter pick
A counter pick is the art of having your team staying back and yourself taking the peek to pick off the opponent's sniper, allowing your team to either push the site then, or rotate. To counter pick you need to take into high consideration the ability of the opponent sniper and your peeking ability. is the opponent playing aggressive or defensive? Is he taking picks or staying behind to try to kill peoples that are already in the site? These often turn into a sort of cowboy duels as the first person to shoot win but missing is instant death. Be wary of the opponent. Don't play aggressive, instead try to catch him do the slightest error, if you take the first peek miss, and see the opponent falling back, do not follow him, hes most likely only taking a better angle against you, instead let him rot there as your team rotates to the other site or get your teammates to smoke the area and force the opponent sniper to rotate to mid, where he will be unable to cover the site. If instead, he decides to try to kill you, go to a location where there is only one spot he can shoot you from and pre-aim it. Most likely you will get him before he gets you. Being able to play according to what the opponent do here is critical.

F44- Defensive.
Playing defensively most likely wont gets you many kills, but your team will thanks you of not needing to fear getting screwed over by a push from behind. As GR, playing defensively mostly consist of slowing down the opponent's take of the site, you want the opponent to know your there, but now where. you want to put fear into your opponent and force them to play around you. No player will push if he knows hes only going to get picked off, so they will most likely smoke, flash and try to counter pick you. This is where it gets thought, staying will most likely get you killed, but leaving will give the opponent the site. This is why you got nades, leave, but make them think your still there and fine. Nade, flash and even take a shot trough the smoke as you retreat. If possible, find a spot you can still cover the site, if not retreat and switch position with a rifler. The rifler will do much better in a sea of smoke and will surprise opponents expecting a sniper. Being able to switch fast and slowing down the opponent enough is critical for this.

As Bl, playing defensively mostly consist of letting your teammates do the work as you give them ease of the mind by covering their behind. You will push with them for the few first instants and then start camping covering the flank. It is important to be able to rotate quickly to the site tough, as if your whole team die with the bomb planted, it's up to you to kill the defuser. Playing defensively will often put you in clutch situations as you will often be the last man to get action if the opponent rotate from mid.Take note, playing defensively is not baiting your team. Knowing what your team is doing and covering the proper location is the difference between having teammates that will hate you and one that will love you.

F45- Planting the c4.
Proper c4 placement is crucial, and knowing where the c4 is planted can make all the difference. Depending on the site and location, you might want to take picks or hide and only go for the defuser. Going to an odd location to pick of peoples while they rush to the bomb site can be extremely effective, but doing so at the wrong moment might simply make you one person less to cover. As the sniper, you should cover alleys and the most likely location a player will pop up from, trying to put the opponent's priority on killing you instead of trying to defuse. You will surely die but the amount of time saved should easily give your teammates an easy job at covering the last few seconds.

F46- Defusing the c4.
Very rarely should you continue awming when your job is to defuse the c4, instead try to find a rifle on the ground, there should be plenty. But if you absolutely must awm, you most likely should be pre-aiming common hiding spots while your teammates defuse. Sometimes baiting work if your team has more players left then the opponent and there is plenty of time left.

If you can make it in time, what i call cutting is incredibly good. It is the act of sniping the middle of the site, to deny the opponent's ability to spread out, concentrating the opponent's team to one half of the site, allowing your team to have only half the location to check. This only work if you can be there at the right moment and you know where all members of the opposite team went.

F51- The fear factor.
One of the strongest ability of the awmer is striking fear in the opponent team. Most team will change their strats according to what the opponent awmer is doing, doing so allow your riflers to hide on locations where they can possibly get a 5k while they all try to get you.

F61- Ending notes.
Well once again, a guide where i did not have the dedication to finish. Go figure! I tough about simply giving it to someone else for him to finish it, but you know what? I want all the credits! Greedy ******* i am. So i decided simply to give it a quick grammar check and added some quick fonts and I hope its good enough. If another guide maker want to take this guide and edit it to put inside hes own guide, that would be great. But for now, this is the final version

GoPancakes

Nice guide.
Just wondering, why did you skip numbers when you labeled them?

imBODACIOUS

GoPancakes wrote: »

Nice guide.
Just wondering, why did you skip numbers when you labeled them?

By exemple from 16 to 21?

Its mostly only to categorise, the first digit being the section and 2nd being sub section, its kindof my odd way of making guides ( im not the one who created this methode, copied it from other peps, i just dont see any1 else realy use it anymore.) its main use is to simply ctr+f and put in the number to directly skip to a section.

1g0tN0skillZ

Surely a nice guide!
I am a sniper too and I welcome any kind of useful information.

Youk_Fou

didn't see any progressive sniper tips ... but usefull tipps of minimap teamforcing ... cossacks - btw

one_9

O.o subscribed this thread.

I probably did know a few things already, but never really labeled them.

Great info here!