Sniping tips please?!

[Thret]

Hello all. Some of you may know me and some may not. Anyways, I'm here because I've logged, what I feel to be, a fair number of hours as sniper and I still can't hit a headshot or even a bodyshot! I don't know what to do anymore. The sniper seems like the most fun class to me but I can't even hit anybody. Does anyone have any tips for trying to get better? Sniper is usually about all I play until I get too frustrated with dieing every 10sec or missing 30 shots in a row.

[Patrid]

If you're still using your huntsman, gl.

If you're looking to use the sniper rifle or machina, it all depends on practice. Practice makes perfect.

sincerely,
Bawdy-shawts everywhere

[Niko Jims]

Is it possible for you to post a video of you sniping? I'm not really sure what tips to give, seeing as you have 413 hours, but if you can't headshot people, let alone bodyshot, then there must be something you are doing wrong.

[Wakka]

i like to use my strafe to aim more than my mouse

position reticule at head height and let the enemy walk into your crosshairs if they are moving in a predictable manner

lowering your mouse sensitivity and using a larger mousepad may help

[medkitz]

occasionally ill alternate to a different class besides pyro and sniper is one if the usual classes. i find that just waiting for them to walk into your shots is good in the faster classes but for slowler classes try your best to combine walking amd shooting. I personally enjoying quickscoping in a sense but you'll get to that later.
-Medkitz

BTW
AIM AIM SHOOT
repeat

[Patrid]

I personally prefer to leave almost nothing exposed, aiming down long-range paths. As soon as an enemy pops through, I tend to either wait for them to cross my cross-hairs, or quickly flick my sites towards the target

[Mike808]

Lower your mouse sensitivity when playing sniper.

[Rologton]

How is your lag? Sniper is very lag dependant. Also, the only way to get better is to practice. Use the Stock rifle and go for headshots. The only way to learn is to learn properly.

Also, there are Sniperfort maps that some servers do that are all Snipers on each side. I think they're fun, and they're a good way to practice quickscoping, because sitting there scoped in will get you killed.

[duck]

try and stay on the same level as your oponent, straffe at their head level and you'll have a better chance of hitting them

[Guy]

Do what duck does... and aim for the body.




...


haha

[duck]

Do what duck does... and aim for the body.




...


haha

Well, if you aim for the penis, they will be unable to reproduce, therefore they will have less reinforcements, win!

[Spyder]

Don't stand in one spot. Move around a bit.

Prioritize targets. Heavies and Soldiers make good targets because of their fat heads. Medics are, well, a given.

Headshots are vital to maximize a sniper's damage output but, really, don't hesitate to bodyshot when you need to. A fully charged bodyshot can kill a Medic in one hit, which is useful if he's about to pop his Uber and you can't get a good shot at his head. Skilled Scouts are a pain in the ass to headshot as well.

Also, don't use the Cozy Camper. Has to be, in my opinion, the most worthless item in the game.

[medkitz]

Do what duck does... and aim for the body.




...


haha

Well, if you aim for the penis, they will be unable to reproduce, therefore they will have less reinforcements, win!

sperm bank

[Thret]

I might be able to post a video of me sniping but I have no idea how to do anything like that.

I reset my stats to try and get a better view of my current skill level. I usually strafe to shoot instead of moving my mouse. My sensitivity is on 2.5 right now with raw input enabled. The huntsman is more of a fun weapon for me I've been trying the Bazaar bargain and the piss gun since they're the only strange sniper weapons I have.

Having mentioned that I'm definitely in the market for a S. Rifle or S. Machina. I know the latter is fairly expensive but I might have some other stranges for trade that could equal out.

[Bullet Whiz]

Not much I can tell you for help, I am not a very good sniper my self, but having a high ping the game gives head shots to you.

[Saber]

By that logic, run some torrents while you play. It'll be a point-and-click adventure!
Topfrag! Rescue medics in distress! Kill everyone you meet!

[Phantom]

Strange snipers are still fairly expensive, esp the machina which is a bud (35-30$).

Anyways best of luck to you.

[Spyder]

Do what duck does... and aim for the body.




...


haha

Well, if you aim for the penis, they will be unable to reproduce, therefore they will have less reinforcements, win!

But what if all the Team Fortress 2 classes are male?

[Zeno293]

If you're looking to use the sniper rifle or machina

i use machina and im actually pretty good, even though medkitz calls me disgrace im fine with


anyways what i usually so (for some reason, which i agree to medkitz calling me a bad sniper) is to take my time (about .5seconds per headshot) during any type of kill

if its a pyro/demo/heavy/medic/anyone with overheal, you can wait for a headshot if you feel confident from far ranged, if not, headshot once and SMG (or run away, coward)

thats pretty much what i can explain, and if you want some visual use you can visit me and spectate my character in some random server

[medkitz]

If you're looking to use the sniper rifle or machina

i use machina and im actually pretty good

You farm points in a server where you can have a teleporter into their spawn and the server has the crappiest stability known to man. Also you kill little kids who have no sense.

[Mike808]

Brb, getting sandman, konfy, dbz, and smile.

[Vivi Hill]

I've actually improved my sniping the past few weeks. I can't really explain completely where my improvement comes from since I was surprised by it, but I can offer what seemed to help. First of all, relax your hand. I used to (and still do occasionally) stress my hand just before I shot, which would break my aim. This would also cause me to slide my aim and screw up. As soon as I became aware of this I was able to relax my hand and improve my aim quite a bit. Try not to move quickly when lining up the shot, or flash to the position and shoot as this seems to mess up proper hit detection. Get over their head first, track it, then shoot.

Another quick note: make sure your mouse movement is smooth. Sometimes this means turning raw input in the mouse settings on, sometimes this means turning it off. Either way, try it out and see if you get better or worse.

Finally, leave a small amount of time (500ms or so) after scoping in before you shoot. I'm pretty sure TF2 does not allow you to headshot before the first "lightning bolt flash" on the hud when scoped. This tiny tip actually helped me a lot, I think.

As for playing against other snipers, keep changing positions so they don't know where you're sniping from. Assume if they're scoped and facing you that they are aiming for you. You've gotta be quick to take them out and it's always going to be risky. The safest strategy if they're really good (like konfy) is probably to charge your shot while behind cover, and go for a quick bodyshot. However, it should be possible to find a safe sniping spot where they can't get to you. It's always fine to ignore them and aim for more juicy targets.

Anyway, I'm no pro, but I've been practicing sniper recently and those are what I've found.

[cloud]

When I first started playing snoipeh, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Start by using the Sydney Sleeper, just to get the hang of finding your target and pulling the trigger. After you feel comfortable, I would recommend switching to the stock rifle or the machina. After playing this and if you feel good enough, make the switch to the bazaar bargain, as the charge bonus can prove to be extremely lethal once you have 4+ heads.
Personally, I use the huntsman, and believe it or not, about 75% of my sniper kills have come from using it. There is a trick that works to get headshots and powerful body shots, but I'll leave you to figure that out.
Good luck.

[mrpikmin2]

When I first started playing snoipeh, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Start by using the Sydney Sleeper, just to get the hang of finding your target and pulling the trigger. After you feel comfortable, I would recommend switching to the stock rifle or the machina. After playing this and if you feel good enough, make the switch to the bazaar bargain, as the charge bonus can prove to be extremely lethal once you have 4+ heads.
Personally, I use the huntsman, and believe it or not, about 75% of my sniper kills have come from using it. There is a trick that works to get headshots and powerful body shots, but I'll leave you to figure that out.
Good luck.

"switch to bazaar bargain"

terrible advice

[Boler]

Personally I've found that I've done the best as sniper when I tried the least, and as soon as I started focusing on actually trying to do good the reverse happened.

You can take all the tips you want, but in a game where split second reactions can make or break a fight I find that relying on instict is the best way to win. Obviously you want to aim for the general area of the head, but as others have said before just relax and dont get too caught up on the moment. The hitboxes in TF2 are far from exact, so when the enemy is running certain directions you have to lead either in front of them or behind them to actually score a headshot, where as clicking on their head will register a miss.

My advice? Play on a casual server with some friends, and talk or think about something else while you're playing the class instead of trying to figure out how to play. You wont improve immediatly, but your mind will most likely pick up subtle clues to how the whole thing works, and in a weeks time you might accidently find yourself doing good.

[Thret]

Any examples of these casual servers? Whenever I seem to try and find one everyone has a skill level at everything far greater than my own. Our own servers included.

[Wakka]

valve servers

[Konfy]

The easiest way to hit is predicting where your opponent goes, aim there and wait a little. It's also the easiest way if you are quick scoping, because you don't really need to move your mouse between right and left click (at least if it's not low-range). Quick scoping allows you to move all the time, which gives you a better overview and makes you more difficult to hit (doesn't matter if it's spam or a sniper). It's normal to miss many shots if you are quick scoping.

Your mouse sensitivity shouldn't be below 4 inches/360° (it's actually more important to be used to a sensitivity, but yours doesn't seem to work for you so try a lower)
Training maps are always good for a little warmup. I don't know many, but killing some scouts on tr_aim_training works for me.

btw quick scoping and flickshots are more about "feeling" when to trigger than actually knowing that you are on the head.

[Capiturism]

REMEMBER
WHEN IN DOUBT
TWITCH SHOT IT OUT

[WNxPurge]

Neon pink dot. Use it. It surprisingly helps me a lot.

[Spyder]

When I first started playing snoipeh, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Start by using the Sydney Sleeper, just to get the hang of finding your target and pulling the trigger. After you feel comfortable, I would recommend switching to the stock rifle or the machina. After playing this and if you feel good enough, make the switch to the bazaar bargain, as the charge bonus can prove to be extremely lethal once you have 4+ heads.
Personally, I use the huntsman, and believe it or not, about 75% of my sniper kills have come from using it. There is a trick that works to get headshots and powerful body shots, but I'll leave you to figure that out.
Good luck.

"switch to bazaar bargain"

terrible advice

Bazaar Bargain guide:
1. Do not buy, trade for, craft, or use the Bazaar Bargain.
2. That's it. You win. Congratulations.

[cloud]

When I first started playing snoipeh, I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Start by using the Sydney Sleeper, just to get the hang of finding your target and pulling the trigger. After you feel comfortable, I would recommend switching to the stock rifle or the machina. After playing this and if you feel good enough, make the switch to the bazaar bargain, as the charge bonus can prove to be extremely lethal once you have 4+ heads.
Personally, I use the huntsman, and believe it or not, about 75% of my sniper kills have come from using it. There is a trick that works to get headshots and powerful body shots, but I'll leave you to figure that out.
Good luck.

"switch to bazaar bargain"

terrible advice

Bazaar Bargain guide:
1. Do not buy, trade for, craft, or use the Bazaar Bargain.
2. That's it. You win. Congratulations.

Questioning my advice when I clearly stated "if you feel good enough" just prvoes to me that you're here to cut people down and not to contribute. Also, I use the bazaar bargain because I'm good at getting headshots, and having a full charge almost instantaneously works well for me. What this tells me is that you both suck horribly at sniping, both probably use the machina, and both probably body shot most of the time.
I rest my case.

[Spyder]

Questioning my advice when I clearly stated "if you feel good enough" just prvoes to me that you're here to cut people down and not to contribute. Also, I use the bazaar bargain because I'm good at getting headshots, and having a full charge almost instantaneously works well for me. What this tells me is that you both suck horribly at sniping, both probably use the machina, and both probably body shot most of the time.
I rest my case.

Not particularly. I'm horrible with all classes.

Problem with Bazaar Bargain is that it's a gamble. Even with literal perfect aim you cannot hit every headshot because the game engine is not precise enough. Period. Misses will happen. They are inevitable. Unless you do three or four consecutive, successful headshots, the weapon isn't as good as the Sniper Rifle.

[cloud]

point taken. I play without alot of lag, and my ping consistently stays below 50. I've just gotten use to it and good with it.
I won't try to make you change your playing style, i was just giving advice

[Alchemist]

Might sound weird but learn to quickscope, placing spacebar as your secondary fire will help with this because it won;t require two mouse clicks so you'll be more accurate.

[Rologton]

Might sound weird but learn to quickscope, placing spacebar as your secondary fire will help with this because it won;t require two mouse clicks so you'll be more accurate.

Quickscoping is rediculously helpfull for countersniping. Going back to the Sniper only maps I was talking about, it's pretty much the only way to survive. It's also very useful to learn if your opponant is in close range and you want to get a flick shot.

[Thret]

I cannot express how ridiculously bad I am at quickscoping and always have been (Like below 10% accuracy bad). I've been focusing on trying to get better at sniping and seem to just get worse. I have no clue why.

I did like the idea of uploading a video so I could get some critique but I have no idea how to do that.