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***Part One: Available Certs***
Universal: Utility Slot
Medical Kits: Medical Kits will have limited value, as a sniper, it might save you after being jumped by an enemy and getting away, but in all likelihood, you'll just be burning them to die moments later, as a CQC (Close Quarters Combat) cloaker, it will have more value but in such situations you are again more likely to have access to friendly medics, also this takes the slot your proximity mines would.
Restoration Kit: Same as Medical Kits, just slower acting and potentially able to let you get hit and while healing and still reach full. They heal over 6 seconds and bring you to full in just over 2 from near death. (ball park numbers)
Infiltrator: Passive Systems
Advanced Equipment Terminal Hacking: This cert lowers the time it takes to hack a terminal or turret by 10% per cert level for maximum of 50% reduction, halving the time to hack.
You may hack any equipment or vehicle terminal in order to prevent use by the enemy and to allow you to pull vehicles, it is worth note that access to main battle tanks is based on the enemies access, not your own, this means that if you are on Esamier and the TR control the Techplant, you may not pull an MBT at your base, but if you hac k a vehicle spawn terminal at an enemy base you will be able to pull an MBT.
You may also use hacking to take over enemy Phalanx Turrets, these are the stationary turrets that are linked to the facility. Note that any enemy players currently using the turret will be ejected from the turret when the hack is completed, usually behind you facing your back with a rifle out, prepare accordingly.
, this will not effect the time it takes to overload a generator in anyway.
Infiltrator: Tool Slot
Recon Detect Device: This is an invaluable tool, well worth upgrading a few times. This tool fires darts that have a parabolic flight, once they land, they start sending out scan pulses and light up all moving enemies in detection range. The dart's scan will also be visable on the enemy's minimap. Remember to place your darts away from yourself and to use them regularly to provide information for your squad in close quarters. The darts are stationary when they land, so even if you hit another "entity" such as a player or tank, the dart will hang in the air after said entity moves.
Infiltrator: Ability Slot
Hunter Cloaking Device: This is the sniper's guardian angel, this is what will keep you from being picked out, hunted down and taken out before having some mouth breather NC or TR cover your face with their unwashed genitals. This cloak provides the longest duration and the fastest recharge. Exact numbers being 12 seconds active and 12 seconds to recharge, each level bringing it down to 10.8 / 9.6 / 8.4 / 7.2 / 6.0 seconds.
Use it to move between cover and to hide you between shots and during reloads. Remember, if you crouch and don't move (you can look and aim) it will shift into a stronger mode that actually is hard to see.(note you have to crouch after cloaking, if already crouched simply cloak, stand up, or move, and sit back down)
Nano-Armor Cloaking: This cloak works identically to the hunter cloak in most ways ecxept that it has a shorter active time, its recharge stays the same, and it provides a damage resistance mechanic.
The advantage of this cloak is primarily in CQC where it can be used to move through fireing lanes with less danger, and survive being ambushed or having an ambush go wrong, simply using good footwork and local cover to get you out of danger and cause the enemy to lose track of you while the resistance mechanic minimizes damage.
The exact numbers are as follows, 3.5 seconds of use going up to 6.5 over cert increase, with a 25% damage mitigation until the final cert level where it is raised to 35%
I dont recomend using this cloak untill you have maxed it out, but at that point, it is gold for CQC.
Infiltrator: Suit Slot
Advanced Shield Capacitor: This lowers the delay time before your shields recharge. This has pretty much zero value as a sniper and only minor value in CQC, remember infils only have 400 shields compared to the 500 of the other classes. However, if as a CQC infil you regularly have only brief moments between fights, this may be a good choice.
Ammunition Belt: This gives you one extra mag per upgrade to yer weapons, for bolt action snipers, that's 5 more rounds. If you are CQC you wont likely ever need this, if you empty your primary and secondary without getting a resupply then you are probably far enough out to find an equipment term to hack. If you are a sniper, this will extend the time you can opperate away from teamates significantly.
Flak Armor: This reduces damage taken from explosives, that counts tank shells, grenades, C-4, mines, the works. This is a good pick for CQC who like to provide over the shoulder sniping, otherwise you shouldn't be close enough to the nade spam often enough to matter. However it can and will save you from proxie mines. Furthermore it now works on direct hits of many explosive weapons, potentially allowing you to survive some hits that normaly would be one shot kills.
Grenade Bandolier: This allows you to carry an extra grenade per cert, leading to a max of 3 nades. If you play yer CQC like a demo man, this is your suit mod, but otherwise, read on.
Nanoweave Armor: Nanoewaeve armore give you a 5% resistance per cert level to small arms and most bullet based vehicle weapons. This results in a 25% resistance to small arms on your health pool, note this does not effect shields, this will give you the same effective hp of a level one nanoweave target of any other class. Note that since this does not stack with heavy assault resist shield, its a good bet it wont stack with nanoarmor cloak.
As a CQC infil it can be invaluable for keeping you in the field and fighting for longer. This really seems to be the key to making an infil that can fight alongside other squad members without just being a sacrificial lamb. On the downside is the loss in options such as the grenade bandolier.
Infiltrator: Grenade Slot
Decoy Grenade: These nades simulate gunfire, the sound effects are those of your faction's default carbine firing in a staccato of long and short bursts. It is supposed to create a blip on the mini map, but some doubt has been expressed, testing to follow.
EMP Grenade: These nades knock out shields, drain enemy class abilities, and scramble the enemies HUD resulting in lack of map, hip fire cross hairs, ammo count, health tracking, orientation, and lastly and most interestingly, IFF tags (the little colored triangles above friends and enemies) These may be of value to create chaos. The blast radius is huge, easily filling most rooms and reaching from corner to corner, it also has a reduced effect through walls, doping ability and shields to 80% or so and recharging immediately, this applies to people in vehicles as well, but does not effect the vehicle itself. It also now applies a visual distortian effect akin to poor resolution on a monitor.
Like most specialty grenades now, the EMP goes of sooner than Frags, and does not draw a grenade indicator. When combined with a group of grenades in a breach, it can weaken the enemy, and effectively increase the kill radius of other explosives.
Infiltrator: Utility Slot
Proximity Mine: These are the little devils that cause me to cackle. Fully certed you can carry and place up to two of them, however, they are very expensive. They are IFF so they wont friendly fire less they get shot, or otherwise detonated by explosives or triggered by an enemy when a friendly is near.
As a sniper these are your guardian angles, as a CQCer, they are an unplesent surprise for anyone looking to get an easy infil kill, be creative, predict enemy routes and locations, these will make you smile I promise. Flak armor will allow enemies to survive however, as will a good heavy shield. The trigger range for these mines is 5 meters.
Keep in mind they take a second or two to arm, and have lights on them to make them easier to spot.
***Part two: Weapons***
(Weapon Spread Sheet for all weapons all factions: [color=#0000ff]https://docs.google....rowsperpage=250)
Sniper Rifles: Semi-Auto
VA39 Specter: This is the Default rifle of the Vanu Infiltrator. Its functional if you want a mid range skirmish weapon, or simply need practice hitting with any weapon, it has no bullet drop and a so-so rate of fire, but with the limit of a 6x mil-dot sniper scope or longer range, and its inaccuracy from the hip, its value in CQC is negligible. Its damage degradation over distance is rapid, quickly requiring 2 head shots verses a single head plus body shot to kill, and anyone with nano-weave armor will exacerbate this even more quickly. If you plan to snipe for one shot kills, upgrade asap. If you want a 100 meter plus skirmish weapon, this will do nicely.
Phantom: This rifle is identical to the VA39 Specter in every single way save one. It starts with iron sights and has access to all the normal carbine sights save the IR/NV night vision and Mach 6 6X sight. Because of the shorter sights this weapon is viable as a CQC rifle, however hip fire is horrible and there is no laser sight to help, ADS (aim down sights) is mandatory to accurately hit, but at the ranges you'll use it the 400 dmg rounds are brutal, you will find your ability to chew max suits up quite impressive. Give it a try, maybe even buy it and throw a 1X reflex sight on it as it doesn't slow your turn speed unlike every other sight. If you like it, throw a suppressor on it and have at. Note any sight less than the 6X sight will not have any scope sway.
Sniper Rifles: Bolt Action
XM98: This Bolt Action rifle is the door into sniping for anyone gaming on a budget, at only 100 certs is very cheap and easy to get. Firing rounds at only 550m/sec results in the hardest to aim sniper in the vanu arsenal, however, a little practice and tweaking your setting up to higher levels so you can see your own bullets (at least to practice for a bit) will get you used to seeing how the round flies, at most moderate ranges fights (under 200 meters) you will rarely have to aim more than a sliver above the head if that. The damage degredation of the round makes it so that it will no longer be able to one shot past 250 meters.
V10: Until the release of the Parallax, this was the high end sniper, with a 600m/sec round velocity you don't have to aim above the head at all out to as much as 250 meters. damage wise it is identical. If you have alpha squad you likely already have this rifle, if you don't, go all out for the parallax. The damage degredation, like the XM98 will now allow a one shot kill beyond 250 meters.
Parallax: This is the king pin of snipers currently, with a 650m/s bullet velocity this rifle will strike targets, in the head, with very little to no compensation, out to nearly 300 meters, depending on firing angel. Damage degredation patter of this weapon will allow it to one shot kill out as far as 300 meters.
Ghost: This Rifle is the Bolt Action equivalent to the Phantom, it only has a 500m/s round velocity but this is equivalent to many vanu weapons, used with a suppressor, to avoid detection, its ability to one shot enemies in CQC with head shots is powerful, however it requires a lot of skill to use, as if you miss you have to drop out of ADS to work the bolt, but on the upside the bolt speed is the fastest of the rifles and it is feasible to double body shot provided your opponent is disoriented, slow to react, or a bad shot. I heavily recommend getting this if you are a hardcore infil and practicing like mad, it will be worth it if you can master it. It is a little easier to use now that it no longer has scope sway.
Scout Rifles
Artemis: This fully automatic weapon now handles very similarly to the Solstice SF, with identical damage and fire rate. This is compensated by a slightly longer reload, smaller ammo capacity, and lower accuracy in hip fire. With a laser sight, provided the laser sight bugs don't crop up, it acts as a very adaptable rifle allowing an infiltrator to fight like a normal infantry member without the accuracy issues of an SMG. Be wary of this weapons recoil however, it can be somewhat harsh.
Nyx: This semi auto is what yer looking for if you like the phantom but want the ability to hit targets in hip fire. However it'll be less effective at longer ranges than the phantom, but well handled it'll serve well as an adaptable rifle for most situations.
SMGs
Eridani SX5: This is the first SMG introduced into the game. It sports a TTK on-par with the most lethal automatics in the game, and a very tight cone of fire with almost no recoil. However it has a very slow bullet velocity, meaning that a suppressor will result in you needing to lead the target very slightly at 40 meters. Also while the CoF is accurate enough to consistently hit, it lacks precision needed for headshots. I recomend extended mag and suppressor.
If you can stand the bullet velocity loss of soft point ammo on top of a suppressor, do it, just be aware, grandpa is faster in his hover-round than your bullets.
Sirius SX12: This is the second SMG introduced and sports a TTK mere hundredths of a second slower than the Eridani and a significantly larger clip. Statistically this would seem to make the Eridani completely inferior, however it is worth considering that you may find the higher fire rate and lower bullet damage of the Sirius to be awkward to use. To choose between the two I recommend trialing in combat. I recommend suppressor and advanced laser sight, or forward grip, whatever fits your playstyle better.
Soft point ammo, same verdict as the Eridani, however the Sirius has a slightly higher base bullet velocity to reduce the penalties.
NS-7 PDW:This smg sports a significantly worse TTK compared to the above SMGs however its high accuracy and improved range makes it comparable to most carbines, much like the Artemis scout rifle. Think of this as an Artemis with a little less range and much better CQC TTK and cone of fire. If you are looking for something to hang with the carbines of other classes, and find the Artemis to not be cutting it, give this a try.
I recommend suppressor and extended mag. The hip fire accuracy is impressive without the laser sight which makes it almost to accurate. It does maximum damage out to 15 meters by default which vastly out performs the other SMGs. Soft-point will increase this to 20 meters which will cover the majority of urban combat. However be wary of the stacking velocity nerfs from it and suppressor as the base speed is only 400m/s
Pistols
Beamer: The Default Pistol of the Vanu, it has a rather impressive TTK for a pistol, roughly 0.8 seconds, it will take about 6-7 rounds to kill, at 167dmg at 10 meters, but losses power fast, as a infil, its viable if you like it but i recommend going for punch per bullet.
Manticore: At 200 dmg per round this pistol sacrifices a chunk of fire rate, and also TTK to accomplish a much harder punch, however the changes in damage degradation has reduced this weapons ranged capability. TTK is roughly 0.9 seconds, but its real value is head shots, 3 head shots is a kill without fail in my experience. Two rounds to the chest and a knife is also a very very fast kill, both rarely give the enemy time to respond.
Cerberus: This pistol is a CQC focused equivalent to the NC Rebel. It beats out the Rebel with a vastly superior fire rate which allows for a TTK comparable to the Beamer (only being 0.004 seconds slower than the Beamer) This pistol is able to be equipped with all the standard pistol attachments allowing for a strong punch with a suppressed weapon. The upgrade to a 10 round clip solves most of its ammo issues but is still a little tight.
NS-44 Commissioner: The .44 long revolver by Nanite Systems, this is currently the inferior of the two revolvers released. It has an impressive 450 dmg at 8 meters, which does allow it to one shot head shot infiltrators who lack nano weave armor. TTK is identical to the Underboss in all other situations baring a short range around 18 meters where it takes one less round. The lack of any accuracy or minimum damage advantage that changes rounds to kill, the Commissioner is flat inferior to the Underboss.
(Warning: Cannot equip a suppressor.)
NS-357 Underboss: The snub nose .357 revolver by Nanite Systems, this is currently the superior of the two revolvers released. While it gives up damage to the Commissioner, with a damage of 375 at 8 meters, and 100m/s in bullet velocity, in all other aspects it is superior, in fact, since both weapons need 3 body shots at 8 meters to kill a player, regardless of nanoweave, the 200 RPM fire rate gives the Underboss the win in TTK, this combined with a shorter reload makes it significantly more forgiving. Accuracy wise the Underboss is identical to the Commissioner with slightly better recoil control, and its minimum damage is 200, which results in the same number of shots to kill at 42+ meters as the Commissioner.
(Warning: Cannot equip a suppressor.)
***Part Three: Builds***
Sniper
Introduction: This is generally the easiest and most direct role for an infiltrator to take, it is also often the most poorly used and simultaneously the most poorly understood. More to come on how to be helpful as a sniper in part 4, for now the build.
Primary Weapon: Your Primary weapon will be, you guessed it, a sniper rifle. Specifically a bolt action rifle as these weapons will provide the one shot kill capability this role desperately requires. The XM98 is easily carted for this, only being 100 certs. If yer willing to shell out some SC, grab the parallax, if you have a V10, seriously consider the Parallax, it is worth it in many players opinions, 50 m/s velocity boost is surprisingly significant.
Weapon Mods: For your sniper a mach-12 12X scope is all you need, using a suppressor is usually more detrimental than beneficial. However for mid range sniping, a 6-8X scope and suppressor on a parallax is quite effective.
For your side arm, always always always, suppressor, laser sight, remember you can turn off the laser with the L key. (dont run about with your pistol out as the laser sight is still buggy and the enemy may see it as turned on)
Ability: Run hunter cloak here, the nano-armor will maybe sometimes save you from another sniper, but the longer cloak time and awareness of your visibility will protect you far more.
Utility: Medkits are a perfectly acceptable option, but be aware that you do glow in a nanite cloud a brief moment and it has been known to glitch and keep the cloud on you permanently, restoration kits will glow till they finish, avoid them, lastly, proxie mines are my preference, they can guard your sniper perch, save you from pursuit, and act as early warning alarms. They also make effective grenades in a pinch.
Grenade: Frags are a good option for those times you stumble upon a crowd, Emps are great for softening up a heavy before pistolling him down or popping a quick body shot, and decoys have the potential to evade pursuit. Emps also can be used to expand the kill radius on a proxie mine if used correctly.
Suit Mod: The ammo belt is ideal once you have reached the point where you are consistently burning through your ammo as a sniper with many head shot kills, if you also play CQC infil, leveling nanoweave armor first and using it will help with your survival when your position is compromised.
Tool: The recon tool is very useful to all roles, as a sniper you will use it to hunt other infils, watch your back, and check areas that appear abandoned but you are not sure about, as well as provide friendlies with enemy troop movements on their map.
CQC (Close Quarters Combat)
Introduction: CQC infils have seen a renaissance since the introduction of the SMG, tweaked scout rifles, and more CQC focused side arms. This has become perhaps the more common of the two primarily seen roles of infils, beating out the sniper.
Primary Weapon: This is a hell of a toss up as almost all the CQC weapons have good arguments and it comes down to play style.
The Artemis will give you some options with its fully automatic fire options, however its only real advantage over the smg is range. This allows you to maintain the same combat capabilities as the Light Assaults in your squads. Remember the NS7-PDW here, as you may find it a superior option in terms of balance of range and accuracy.
The Nyx will give you a strong ambush presence while maintaining an effectiveness at range that the Artemis will lack. This is probably the best weapon for ambush kills as two head shots seems to be a reliable kill inside of 10 meters, however its lack of fire rate means that in a tight situation you cant afford to miss.
The Phantom will give you all the advantages of the nyx with longer range effectiveness, a head shot/body shot kill, and the ability to wreck max suits, it also doesn't require more rounds to kill just because the enemy has nanoweave, at 10 meters it does 400dmg, 3 rounds will kill regardless of health. It also maintains more damage at range allowing it to out perform the nyx at extended ranges, and despite the lower fire rate, the enhanced damage per round results in a better TTK most of the time, unless the target has no nano armor at all. However this weapon completely gives up hip fire accuracy, making hip fire relatively worthless.
The Ghost is my personal favorite though it is the hardest to use, having a fast bolt action allows the Ghost to provide effective combat capability, however if you do not have cover and or surprise at your side, you will need to make a head shot unless the target is already damaged. With the right skill level, this is the single most frightening weapon you can use and will result in an effective drain of enemy moral. It also maintains its effectiveness as a sniper rifle at mid range, but it takes some practice to hit with only a 4x scope and a suppressor.
The SMGs provide what is likely the most direct combat capability. The super fast TTK and high fire rate gives the user the distinct ability to decloak, eliminate a target, then escape, and a suppressor will keep you quiet. However the slow bullet velocity and moderate CoF severely limit its mid and long range capability, robing it of the adaptability other weapons have.
Weapon Mods: Suppressor is a high recommendation as it allows you to fire undetected, and as infil weapons are quite recognizable by sound, combined with the fact you should be in odd positions without nearby aid, last thing you want is to glow red on the enemies map.
For the ghost I recommend the 4X simple crosshair sight, the Nyx, Artemis, and Phantom also benefit from this sight. You may find the 2x more appropriate however, sights are a matter of preference.
The Artemis, and SMGs are the only ones that benefit from a forward grip, laser sights however aren't a bad idea, provided you tap L and turn them off, for the Eridani I recommended an extended clip.
Ability: Nanoarmor-cloak is likely best option for CQC, but only if you have it maxed out. If you dont have it maxed then stick with hunter cloak.
Utility: Proxies are the most useful as you wont get much use out of the medkits, also your closer proximity to enemy forces will allow you to place mines in choke holds and high traffic areas, resulting in a lot of control of enemy movements. That said, this depends on your play style.
Grenade: Frags are a good option, especially if you run a grenade bandolier, however emp grenades are valuable as a support nade and help to expand kill radius on a suicide proxie. (This tactic has died off with the added arming time to the mine however.)
Suit Mod: I personally prefer nanoweave armor, specifically to 5, at level 5 you are more durable as an uncerted player of any other class. However grenade bandolier does provide a demo man style play allowing for much boom boom when combined with 2 proxies.
Tool: More valuable here than on the sniper as it allows you to scan ahead of your squad for enemy threats and provide early warning and rear guard. Knowledge is power.
***Part Four: Tactics***
Sniper
Introduction: The sniper role is the most well know role an infiltrator can take. Its worth note though that many players will assume you to simply be a kill whore.
In truth you can be a valuable presence, having a staggering impact on the battlefield, providing tactical data, early warnings, eliminating key targets, and suppressing locations.
Location: The key to fulfilling any role as a sniper is location, location, location. Firstly, I recommend a Flash with stealth, wraith cloak, and the surger chassis, this will allow you to travel undetected quite quickly and will help get you up hills and rough terrain quickly. Radar is a good option as well as it may provide early warning on enemy locations.
However, location, never ever stay near your flash for long after dismounting, it is much easier to spot, and in fact can tip off the enemy where to look, keep it hidden or hit page down and deconstruct it. Your survival as a sniper depends on keeping the enemy from knowing your exact location, whether they know yer out there or not.
Now identifying good spots and bad spots can be tricky, elevation is always valuable, but once you start shooting, its also where the enemy will look. Difficult to reach locations are best, the longer and harder it is to get to a spot, the more secure it is, however it also makes leaving the spot and getting resupply harder, and a secure location is not necessarily a good one.
The ideal location is relatively secure, provides a good view of the battlefield, in the case of towers, provides a good view of all levels of the tower, is at least 200 meters out from the nearest enemy, and has multiple spots with cover, and narrow angles of attack.
Lastly, remember that the traditional location, regardless of how good it is, is often a death trap, most traditional sniper roosts are for farming only, you'll get a lot of kills, you'll also be smoked out and killed before you can provide anything particularly useful.
Intel Gathering: A good perch will give you a good view of the field, if you bother to look around, use yer scope to get a better look, and study how the enemy is acting you can provide extremely valuable intel. However be wary of giving to much unimportant info, don't clutter coms with intel on single enemies less you see who they are sneaking up on and can warn that person in particular.
Call out enemy armor, infantry, and aircraft waves coming in, and watch for enemy sundies, you may not have the ability to kill a sundy yourself, but with intel on its exact position your squad can be ready for the incoming infantry and maneuver to take it out. Also remember you can suppress a sundy with your rifle, but be aware that it is very risky for you. Remember to be careful of spawn protection.
Always study the enemies psychology, this is an MMO, those soldiers out there are played by people, they have emotions, instincts, and generalized concepts, study them and you'll find you can predict them, during casual play, test them, poke, prod, learn all you can, and you can predict their movements before they even think of it them themselves. It sounds condescending, it sounds arrogant, and maybe it is, but its also true, your mind is your greatest weapon, always use it.
Targeting: A lot of snipers just meander away with headshots, never thinking much about what they are are killing unless its got more metal thrown on it than is reasonable. That is fine for farming, but when you need to make an impact on the field you need to target the right enemies.
Most of the time your primary targets will be medics, in extended infantry fights medics are what keep an assault going, we as an outfit have had assaults crumble due to lack of medics, and the same happens to the enemy. Remember if the medic is hidden, kill someone near him, then pop him when he comes out to rez, just be ready for him to squirm, it take some practice to hit moving targets but with a parallax you can do it easily once you get it down.
Yer next most common target is, surprise surprise, the other support class, engineers keep the max suits up, the heavy assaults loaded with rockets, and often carry enough explosives to make the entire Vanu sundy army quake with mechanical fear. Also they are usually the pilots of vehicles, in heavy vehicle engagements finding where they are falling back to repair can allow you to kill the driver while he repairs his tank, allowing an infil to neutralize an armored threat.
Your primary targets always depends on the situation, while medic and engineer are most often the numbers one and two, remember in a combined arms fight, suppressing heavy assaults dumping rockets, or counter sniping and hunting other infiltrators may be what is needed to keep the pressure off your units. always study the battlefield and find what is most valuable at the time, and do it.
Suppressing: Suppressing is something usually done with fully automatic weapons and rarely with less than 6 people. However in some instances it is possible for a sniper to suppress an area on his own. In a game where one has infinite re-spawns, the fear of being sent back to the spawn tube without any chance to defend yourself is a surprisingly palpable one.
Carefully setting up on the target facility allows you to take out engineers repairing turrets and max suits, and take down heavy assaults firing down on friendly armor as well as harry the max suits into retreating. The more skilled you are with your rifle when it comes to snap shots, the more potent you will be in your attempts to suppress, if you make sure every shot is a kill shot, (which is next to impossible but its the goal) you will keep your position nearly anonymous provided your positioning is good, this will cause the enemy to often hide or search for you, and spend more time focus on evading your aim then firing on friendly forces, all of which mitigates their ability to fight. This can be done anywhere but is most noticeable when attacking a tower.
Be warned, you will need ammunition resupplies in order to keep this pace up for any extended period of time.
Tips: Now comes the little tidbits of info you will likely find most interesting and useful.
Skylining:
Skylining is one of the areas where snipers differ from other infantry greatly. Firstly, skylining is when you stand at or near the crest of a hill or other elevated position, thus when people are looking at you the sky is all they see behind you, hints the term.
For normal infantry skylining is a very bad thing unless the enemy consists mostly of tanks. This is because your silhouette stands out very clearly against the sky. This makes it easy to spot you and turns you into a bullet magnet. Normally vehicles kill with splash so its valuable then because it can force them to hit you directly.
For an infiltrator skylining is still bad, unless you are cloaked. Your cloak has a lightness to it on the shimmering edges, against the sky during daylight it often makes you next to invisible. During the night its still often advantages. Skylining against a daytime sky is the closest to invisible you will ever be, and it should be used, so here are some rules.
Obviously you have to decloak to shoot, so post up so you are just looking over the crest, make sure your rifle barrel is over though or else you'll be shooting the hill, and as little of you is exposed as possible, cloak, get your target, decloak, fire, cloak again, and scoot over a little. If you need to recharge back down the hill so you are no longer visible from the other side. This will keep you from being spotted, and reduce the likelihood of you being counter sniped.
Counter Sniping:
It is inevitable, as a sniper you WILL be caught up in a duel with an enemy infiltrator, and even more importantly, you might be the one to start that duel, as the best person to send after an infiltrator is another infiltrator. Now ideally these shouldn't happen, you find the enemy infil, and put a bullet in his head and move on with life, he never knew where you were, or vice versa, however someone will miss a shot eventually, or you both spot each other at the same time.
The keys to a infil fight are patience, concentration, and above all, nerves. The infil that panics is the one that losses first. Often you will see enemy snipers start running side to side popping shots every time they finish their bolt action, don't do this, because you'll also see they miss most of their shots and when they do hit its just a body shot.
Stay calm, watch their movements, set up to catch them at the apex of their shuffle, and above all, don't panic, move a little here and there, just enough to keep his aim off you, and don't worry about the wushing noises, that is just them wasting time. You don't have forever, once their clip is empty most will run and hide, however, they may do so poorly and you might catch them then, some aren't even paying attention to their clip and the reload catches them by surprise, this is when you strike if you didn't get a shot before.
Not all enemies will be this foolish, some will use cloak and cover to keep shifting positions on you, do so as well, but don't lose track of them, keep tabs on your cloak and your clip, and try to catch them just as they are lining up their sights on you, a slight step to the left or right just before you take your shot will often throw the enemies enough to give you the win.
Many infiltrators, particularly TR will try to use cloak and cover to close the distance and use a pistol to take you out, or try to be more crafty and use a quick scope shot to wound you before using a pistol to finish you.
The Repeater has a TTK similar to some main combat weapons, that is not an exaggeration, its a fact of the weapon, however most people are panicking while using it, keep moving, minimize hits, and put your own rounds on him with as much accuracy as possible.
For those Infils who try to put a sniper round in you, when you see the rifle come out and the scope pop up, shoot, jump, and strafe back and forth, between being a moving target and the flinch mechanic, you will more than likely ruin their shot, but beware, they will often try to kite you and lead you on a chase to get that shot, keep the pressure on, and watch for proxies, if it comes down to it, pull out of the fight, but remember, if they cloak and you got eyes on them they are at their most vulnerable, end them there if you can.
Lastly, know when its best to approach with the pistol, this is usually when you are relatively close to each other, at shorter ranges the sniper rifles become awkward to get shots with and your best bet can sometimes be to push forward, its not something you can teach so much as something you gotta learn on your own, and sometimes it'll backfire, try to avoid pistol fights with TR however as the repeater is far more deadly than any vanu pistol in these kinds of fights.
Last note on terms of actually sniping, remember to use your recon beacons and and watch the minimap for popups from the sniper you are hunting taking shots. This is your best bet of finding him, other than that, learn the common locations, and study the suspect region for positions you might use yourself, specifically to farm, that will help the most with finding the enemy infil.
Misc:
Keep an eye out for friendlies who move near you thinking safety in numbers, all to often they will give away your position, communicate with any squad members who do this and ask them to give you space less you ask for assistance.
CQC (Close Quarters Combat)
Introduction: Colonel, whats a Vanu infiltrator doing in a bio lab!? Until Game Update 2 and the introduction of SMGs, the capabilities of infils in CQC was so limited that the majority of players had written them off. While CQC was always a viable combat profile for the infil, the SMGs have really increased your options, and much like sniping, being the boogie man has devastating effects on enemy moral.
Gear: I already covered a build guide, however, it is worth repeating that nanoweave armor or grenade bandolier are second only to your choice of CQC weapon in importance. Your weapon will also heavily effect you game play.
Flanking: Even with maxed nanoweave armor you are a common target, particularly due to your disadvantage in health and, or dps.
If you are not running an supporting in suppressing fire, it is best you use your cloak and the cover of the terrain to move to the sides or rear of the enemy, however, where striking from behind is briefly powerful, remember that you are likely to have people come up behind you on their way back out to fight. The sides will provide you with more cover and an easier time remaining undetected.
Remember, sometime you need to take the time to reposition, you are only useful when you apply your force in the right area, if you stubbornly fight in the same location you will get over run all to easily.
Hit and Run: The key to your survival is remaining undetected, the issue here is that every person you kill or who spots you, knows yer out there, no matter how many times you kill him he will know you are there, and will likely attempt to find you. This gets especially bad when you have more than one person attempting this as inevitably the zerg at large will follow a group of people to see whats up.
To avoid this move regularly, change positioning, get to the other side, and support your squad's advances so that the battlefield can change and your location can be kept a mystery.
The Ghost can bring a whole new level to this as it allows you to head shot enemies giving them little to no indication of where the shot came from, especially when equipped with a suppressor, a 4X sight and some practice will allow you to strike form further as well, which will give you more hiding places and more locations the enemy must look to find you.
Traps: Remember to use your mind, think in three dimensions, and memorize every detail you pass, over time you want to have a 3d map of all the continents in your head, this will allow you to bait and down single or small groups of enemies. Damaging or killing one enemy and leading him or his friend off on a chase will give you time to catch him with a proxie mine or a grenade or a well placed rifle round while they are still sprinting.
Tips: A few things to keep in mind, regardless of cloak you are hardest to spot when not moving, stay in peripheral vision and strike after they look away, people will walk right by anything that doesn't move and never know it was there.
Ambush, whenever possible force the fight on your terms, and remember, "ganking" causes the enemy to panic, and get annoyed and angry. When repeated on the same enemies, it can severely weaken their ability to play at top form.
Emp nades, remember that these can be used to kill shields and even weaken or disable a heavy assaults ability shield. This can give you the edge.
***Part Five: Miscellaneous Facts and Tips***
-Headshot multiplier is 2X
-Bolt Actions do have damage degradation, see weapons chart link in weapons section.
-All current radar systems are in fact motion trackers and do not pick up motionless soldiers.
-All sniper rifles are identical across faction, the TR and NC have identical versions of all sniper rifles.
-All scout rifles have nearly identical versions, the VS ones simply don't have bullet drop.
***Part Six: Credits***
Authors: Koopak
Contributors: Azoron, Torokokill, Resonance, Krinje, Jobarra, Halsoy.
(Let me know if I missed anyone)
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