Overview

tldr: GiT gUD SCRUB!

Introduction:

Picking the sniper specialist means you’re gonna be harassing enemies and suppressing boilers that try to hurt you. You’re gonna need to learn the few necessities with playing this specialist class.

Equipment:

You have the following in your specialist sniper kit:
M42A Scoped Rifle
- Has IFF, very important.
3 spare magazines
- One marksman
- One flak
- One incendiary
VP78 Pistol
Two VP78 Magazines
A M45 Ghillie helmet.
A sniper smock.
Acts like a satchel with backpack storage
M45 Pattern Ghillie Armor
Full body face paint.
M42 Scout Sights.
- Allows you to see in the dark.
A pair of regular binoculars.

Those are the things you’re given when you take the sniper specialist kit. And you’re gonna throw part of it. It’s because some of that stuff is useless anyway. You’re gonna need a custom set of tools designed by yours truly. It’s gonna be necessary to be an effective sniper.

Loadouts

The Purist Loadout:

The only things you’re gonna take from that kit is the following:

The sniper rifle (duh).
The spare magazines.
The scout sight.
Normal webbing for more ammo.
The Sniper Smock.
The Ghillie Suit
Containing a pain killer injector, first aid injector and tactical binoculars
Ghillie helmet
Containing ointment and bandages
Belt with all of your ammo
A JTAC kit
- You take the tactical binoculars, JTAC encryption key.
Two Large magazine pouches

The additional equipment you need will be, though optional is as follows:

A bipod (recommended as it boost your fire rate)

This type of loadout is for those who really just want to play sniper and nothing else. No backup weapon, just you, your gun and as much ammo you can carry.

My Loadout A:

The sniper rifle (duh and with the bipod on it).
The spare magazines.
The scout sight.
Belt with all of your ammo
Brown/black webbing.
- 3 stacks of buckshot shells, splints + 1 extra spot
The Ghillie Suit
- Containing pain killer injector, first aid injector and tactical binoculars
Ghillie helmet
- Containing ointment and bandages
M37 Shogun on the suit storage slot
- Loaded with buckshot, a mag harness, mini-flamer or angled grip and bayonet
  - Mini-flamer cause, what else are you gonna use to scare ambush castes that are hunting you.
A JTAC kit
- You take the tactical binoculars, JTAC encryption key
Two Large magazine pouches

This is the practical loadout. Your backpack slot will be for your sniper rifle as you’re going to be holding your sniper rifle about 80% of the time so try not to lose it. Make it an extension of your brain cause if you lose it, you’re useless and an idiot without it.

The shotgun is your close range FUCK OFF machine that kills runners in one PB shot and scares everything else in existence. If you land it.

And you’re gonna also vend ammunition for both loadouts. I recommend you choose for the sniper rifle the following. Vend 2 extra Incendiary magazines and 1 extra flak magazine or just vend 3 Incendiary Magazines.

Weapon:

Loadout:

M42A Scoped Rifle

Strategy and Tactics

Your M42A is the only thing that matters to you. Do not lose it. If your rifle is gone, you're just regular marine with night vision. The idea for me at least is to use the laser sight ability to fire off as many aimed shots as possible.

M37A2 Pump Shotgun

Attachments Used

Version A:

Magnetic Harness	Bayonet	Mini Flamethrower

Version B:

Magnetic Harness	Extended Barrel	Angled Grip

Strategy and tactics This depends on what you're going to be using the shotgun for. You want an instant pocket fuck off gun by your side or do you want the shotgun to be used in a more active role.

Strategy A: Using Buckshot

This is your true friend for those close encounters. This is your secondary weapon for when the enemy is within 2 tiles of you. If you're skilled and quick enough, you can holster your rifle into your back slot by pressing E twice. Once to put the rifle away and again to bring out your shotgun.

Switch to harm intent, click on their sprite and with a bit of luck, you'll be able to point blank them in the face, either stunning them, allowing for follow up shots or causing enough damage to kill them (AKA Runners).

The mini flamethrower isn't meant to be used offensively. It's a deterrence tool that blocks the path of xenomorphs and causes them to flee in panic. It's always something xenomorphs don't usually expect. To suddenly be on fire from what looked to be just a marine with a shotgun. The fire by itself isn't strong at all. Yet, if a xenomorph is on fire, they emit light, which is a good way to allow you to track and hunt them down. Fire is still dangerous and can hurt, not a lot in the mini flamethrower's case but every little helps.

Just try not to walk or get pulled into your own flames.

The bayonet is solely for helping you clear weed nodes and resin structures. Do not try to kill a xeno with it. It won't end well, most of the time.

Strategy B: Using Slugs This is using the shotgun with a more proactive role in combat. You load it with SLUGS and not buckshot. The utility of long ranged stun is very useful. The way I use it is holding the shotgun in my active hand and a motion detector on the off hand. Once I detect something or see anything in visual range, I immediately wield the shotgun and deliver a 1.5 second stun and a slow down on the target.

Instantly drop the shotgun, switch to the rifle and start blasting. You might secure a kill, you might not, really depends on how accurate you are.

The idea with this type of strategy is to get the early advantage against xenos gain the upper hand. This also comes in handy with fucking over warrior grabs. Slugs have a 6 tile range for knockback and can save a marine from dying to xenos dragging them.

With the extended barrel, this will make all slugs reach their target instantly. So there's no need for leading the target most of the time.

Equipment:

Loadout:

M45 Ghillie Coif

Storage Slots

Emergency Auto-Injector	FREE SLOT'

The helmet's storage slot keeps your one time use excuse to run away limping back to safety. In reality, if you need to use this, that either means you're already dead or you chose to go frontline sniping.

The free slot is up for grabs. Put anything you can in there.

M42 Scout Sight

The second most mandatory piece of gear. Being able to have night vision is a must in combat. The place is dark, dirty and full of xenos. Do not lose it.

M45 Pattern Ghillie Armor

Storage Slots

Splints	Ointment	Gauze

The M45 Pattern Ghillie Armor allows you to go into stationary cloak. If you move then you'll lose your cloak. But if you fire a weapon, your cloak will become less transparent. This is great for sniping quietly in the backlines because they'll be scratching their heads trying to find you. This also works for any gun you have as well. Just be careful to not drag too much attention to yourself.

M276 Pattern Ammo Load Rig

Storage Slots

	4 x M42A Marksman Magazines

Just a nice tip. If you right click your belt and click Switch Storage Method. You can make it so when you click the belt, you instantly take out a magazine rather than opening up its inventory.

There's 3 modes to it.

Default: It's where you click on the belt and open the inventory up.

First Item: It's where you click the belt and take out the first item you put in.

Last Item: It's where you click the belt and take out the last item you put in.

I advise you switch it to the Last Item, because if you're collecting AP magazines or the like, you probably don't want to accidentally take out an empty magazine you just put in and forgot about.

Brown Webbing Vest

Storage Slots

	3 x Handfuls of Buckshot	Tricord	Tactical Binoculars

Same thing with the belt's quick tip. But I advise against it. Cause when you do use your shotgun shells up. You'll run into the problem of accidentally putting your medical supplies or other small things into your webbing. And if you forget to keep track of what's in the webbing, at an inopportune time you might pull out something that wasn't shotgun shells. So I advise to keep it on the default storage method of opening up the webbing and manually taking out the shells to avoid confusion.

The Tactical Binoculars allow you to utilize CAS and Mortar support to rain down hell on everyone. Though I mostly use it as another option to see far away. Sure the sniper rifle does the job but sometimes you'll might find a nice opportunity to blow shit up with fire support.

Tricord injector is just there for if you get scratched up a tad. Though if you're under attack that probably means you're dead.

Large Magazine Pouch

Storage Slots

4 x M42A Incendiary Magazine

Same thing with the belt's quick tip. Being able to quickly take out and reload magazines is a godsend. But if you want to, you can have the magazine pouch's inventory open and do a tactical reload without ever un-wielding the gun.

Large Magazine Pouch

Storage Slots

4 x M42A Flak Magazine

Same thing with the belt's quick tip. Being able to quickly take out and reload magazines is a godsend. But if you want to, you can have the magazine pouch's inventory open and do a tactical reload without ever un-wielding the gun.

Armour

There’s two ways to dress up. Either dressing up like a PFC so you’re less conspicuous to the xenos or you’re going to use the ghillie suit (recommended).

PFC Incognito

You’re gonna dress yourself up like a normal PFC so the aliens see you as a low priority target rather than the high priority target you would be. So grab a helmet, you’re gonna need it to survive and if you want to live life on the edge, grab a cosmetic hat.

Light Armour:

Taking this means that with light armour you’re going to be rapidly repositioning. If you’re taking this, use the mobility to your advantage.

Medium Armour: With this kind of armour, you’re going to utilise the 3 item slots for the tactical binoculars and more space for ammo. This is a jack of all trades type of armour where it fits perfectly with my specific play style.

Mister Bush Man

The Ghillie Suit Armour: The Ghillie Suit is the medium armour with the additional benefit of being as fast as the light armour. The only downside is that you’re a big target. But that is rectified by the Ghillie Suit’s two new abilities.

Prepare Position

Prepare Position allows you to cloak yourself into the surroundings which means you’re practically invisible. It also means you’ve gone prone, so anyone can just walk over you without you getting pushed aside. Bullets also phase past you as long as they are from friendlies. It also links directly with the Aimed Shot ability.
The cloak isn’t perfect, because the more you shoot, the more opaque you become. So be mindful that your shots may give you away.

Aimed Shot

This ability allows you to amplify your ammunition and give near guaranteed aimbot shots and whoever you click on. It’s a toggleable ability and to use it, you must be in full cloak and middle click your target. There will be a 1.25 second windup + 0.05 for every tile from you to the target and the target will know you’re going to shoot them. After the windup is complete, you’ll fire an auto corrected shot at your target where it will more than likely hit. Be mindful though that the longer the shot, the more time you need to home in on the target.

Different ammunition types will do different kinds of damage and apply status effects.
The boosted shot will on be applied to the target you aimed at. So if a xeno was to go between the bullet and your target full on GET DOWN MISTER PRESIDENT style, it will hit like a normal bullet.

The pre-drop preparations:

Before you deploy to wherever it is, you’re going to need to ask req for more ammo. I advise taking the multipack of 6 magazines, 2 of each kind of magazine available to you. This will allow you to diversify how you tackle certain kinds of xenos. With ammunition for any situation, you’ll be able to adapt to the changing tides of war.

Though, if you’re feeling very lucky, ask requisitions for two crates of the multi pack sniper ammunition. This is more of a, pray they give it to you kind of request. And if they give it to you, you’re set for the entire game. Well, now all you need to do is have the space for it.

Fighting the enemy:

Whether these are far flung over taxed space farmers to hostile aliens that want to eat your face, I’ll be covering the general basics of what you’ll be doing.

Ammunition for alternating assignments:

Marksman ammo: Marksman ammunition for your sniper rifle does slightly more damage than the rest. Very painful against all targets. You use this against ravagers and queens or when you run out of ammo for the other 2 types.

Aimed Shot: Using the ability will TRIPLE the damage for a whopping 210 damage. That’s nearly enough to crit a runner. And since you have the highest AP available to the marines. NOTHING can withstand that.
- You should also use this when a xeno is retreating from the battlefield after they've sustained a lot of damage. If the shot connects and you're lucky, they will be instantly killed from the 210 over kill damage they've just received.

Incendiary ammo: Having slightly less damage than marksman ammunition, the incendiary part of the ammo is very useful for tagging xenos that are harassing your marines. Use this against boilers, crushers and anything that’s flammable if the other two aren’t seen anywhere. This should be your most available ammunition type and the one you use most often.

Aimed Shot: Using this ability will both weaken their field of view and apply maximum fire stack on them. This also can blind fire proof aliens too. So using a very timed blinding shot at a Queen and Uh Oh, RPG just noob tubed her with an AP rocket.

Flak ammo: The weakest of the 3 ammunition types but also the most annoying to be hit by (friend or foe). This ammunition will deal area damage to any mob it hits. So if you hit a xenomorph with flak, xenomorphs next to them will also take damage (slightly less than the flak bullet itself) as well. This also includes friendly marines if they’re within the affected area so be careful when using it. Your best targets are against grouped up enemies since the flak will damage everyone around the target you hit. Great for hitting xenomorphs around corners and against boilers being protected by other xenomorphs.

Aimed Shot: The damage is doubled and the target is slowed down. 5 second slow down for T3s and 7 seconds for the rest. Great for slowing down the queen during a retreat or anyone else who’s backing off. This is for aiding marines in securing kills. Downside is that the AOE flak is lost on aimed shots.

General basics of sniping:

These are the general basics of using the sniper rifle.

Situational awareness
Leading your targets (against fast enemies)
Remember what you have chambered in the sniper rifle
Do not panic
The Hunter and the Hunted

Situational Awareness:

Do not get tunnel vision. The battle may be occurring at the other end of your zoomed out view, but there could be a sneaky xenomorph (runners, warriors or lurkers) near to your position.

They’ll see this as an opportunity to either kidnap or kill you out right. In order to avoid this, I highly advise you stay near friendly marines so they’ll be discouraged from attacking you. I also would advise you to occasionally look around you with the scope or tactical binoculars to catch any would be assailants that dare perpetrate your sight lines.

Leading your targets:

Leading your targets basically means shooting at where they will be when they’re moving. So if they are quite a fast enemy, I advise you to shoot ahead of your target, so they’ll run into the bullets. Nothing stays in one place for long. They will run away and you will need to account for both how fast your bullets are and how fast they are moving.

Unless you're using aimed shot then leading your target doesn't matter at all.

Round in the chamber:

When swapping ammo types, always remember what’s already loaded in the chamber. If you previously loaded flak and want to swap to incendiary. You’re going to need to unload the magazine, clear the sniper rifle which will clear the round in the chamber and then load the other magazine you want.

If you forget, you might accidentally hit your buddies with flak AOE by accident. Be mindful of what round you have in the chamber.

Stay calm, stay focused and DO NOT PANIC!

Though a general rule of thumb of being a marine is not to panic. This goes EXTRA for those who are in cloak and the entire hive is now rushing your position. DO NOT MOVE. They don’t know you’re there and unless boiler gas lands directly on top of you or they saw you.

DO NOT MOVE. Stay calm, stay collected, keep yourself on the cool and don’t move.

Scope around your position and hope nobody reads the few lines of text that pop up that you’re scoping and unscoping.

The Hunter and the Hunted

So, it appears that you’ve garnered a lot of attention from the opposing forces and now they’re hunting for you. Stay calm and look around for any possible aliens that are actively hunting you down. You might also want to see possible escape routes as well. Now, if those pesky aliens are very close to your location, aimed shot to scare’em off and either follow through with it or drop it immediately. Try not to reveal your location in a particular no concealment zone by shooting cause that will probably reveal your position very quickly.

The reason you would possibly drop it, is so to confuse them. Where they are searching for is not the right place, meaning they’ll need to search elsewhere.

Now, if you’ve annoyed certain xenos enough, they will relentlessly hunt you down. They are the kind of aliens you want to watch out for. Cause those sons a bitches will do everything to take you down.

So keep a low profile and try not to drag too much attention towards yourself from your adversaries.

Tactics:

Tag’em and Flak’em

(Best used against a group of enemies)

Chamber incendiary into the sniper rifle and then load the flak magazine into it. You’ll first fire incendiary at your target, igniting them and forcing them to resist in cover. Fire flak at them to harass any xenomorph trying to help extinguish them as well as continuing to damage the one you set ablaze.

OR

Tag’em and shoot‘em

(Best used against a single target)

As per the last one, chamber incendiary into the sniper rifle and load the marksman magazine into the sniper rifle. Tag your target, igniting them and shoot them with a constant stream of marksman ammo. You use marksman ammo to deal damage while the xenomorph is on fire and alone. With enough shots, it’s gonna die.

Blazing Targets

(Used against every flammable xenomorph) Use only incendiary ammunition against all flammable targets. If any of them peak their stupid faces out of cover, you force them back behind their pathetic excuse of a wall.

Sweaty gunning

(Not my kind of tactic but it’s there cause I found it interesting enough) Assuming you took the ghillie suit armour, a shotgun and the sniper rifle loaded only with incendiary, this is for baiting runners and anyone who wants you dead.

Tag them with incendiary, hunt them down with your speed and give them a face full of buckshot to dunk on anyone that dares try and hunt you down.

Buckshot surprise

Cloak in a rather active pathway where aliens are going through and PB click any xenomorph that gets near you. Apart from terrifying who ever the hell you just shot at, you probably revealed your position, assuming you didn't hide in a very concealing tile.

So shoot them again with either incendiary or hunt them down with the shotgun.

Bushman Sniping

Using the Prepare Position ability in tall grass or in any location that allows your cloak to not be as noticeable on the first shot. Since your first shot will not reveal your position as easily, you can just stay about hidden forever if you play your cards right.

Your main objective with this is tactic is playing normally, plink targets with your Aimed Shots or otherwise.

But, if you have the entire alien hive bearing down on you because the marines got pushed back to FOB. Do not panic. Do not move and most certainly do not shoot at any of them yet.

Once they’re about half a sniper’s screen away from you, going in the opposite direction of you, now you start shooting. Just don’t reveal your position.

Prepare your positions where nobody expects you to

Ye know what nobody expects?

THE SPANISH INQUISITION?!

Or you know, the scout spec.

No, we already expect those guys and they probably attracted the horde of xenos.

What xenos don’t currently expect is to have a cloaked sniper, hiding, literally, in the one place, they do not expect them to.

This could literally be out in the open while cloaked. Any aimed shot you do will have them look for you as the targeting reticle will point in the general direction of where the bullet comes from. But suddenly BLAM. A cheeky shot from the rear and THEY ARE SUDDENLY VERY TERRIFIED THAT A MARINE POPPED OUT OF NOWHERE AND SHOT THEM. Usually you should follow this up with a face full of buckshot. Assuming you took a shotgun with you and they are not too far away as well as you’re within safety distance of running the fuck away.

It’s best to hide in debris that allows your first shot to not reveal you as much. More on that later.

Attacking:

When you’re pushing up against the xenomorphs, your main goal is to force them back and to keep their heads behind walls. Though I would usually recommend staying behind the push, you can indeed push with them as long as you have meatshields standing between you and certain death.

I recommend you load incendiary to force them back as psychological warfare plays somewhat into this. “Oh look I’m on fire, better retreat and extinguish the fire”. This mentality is just natural for normal people on fire. This will allow the marines to advance while the burning xenomorph is retreating. This also helps in lighting up the area as well.

If you find a group of xenomorphs, switch to flak ammunition to further harass them. They would be forced to duck behind walls and out of your line of fire. Because if they don’t, they along with the rest of their buddies, will eat a face full of flak.

Take and Hold

This tactic is best used in conjunction with the porta-cade or any object where you can deploy your bipod on quickly or forgoing the cade and just planting the bipod anywhere. You deploy yourself near the front, deploy the bipod and start blasting away at the xenomorphs.

Once the marines have pushed up, pack up your setup and rinse and repeat.

Defending:

Wherever you’re defending, whether it’d be at the FOB or at a line of barricades in the front. Your sniper rifle will help in deterring xenomorphs from getting close to your lines.

I advise using your bipod here as the extra fire rate will help in outputting more damage.

Flak ammunition will help here, as the xenomorphs will usually group up to siege the FOB or attack your defences. Just be careful not to hit your own marines with flak. Boilers are your key targets here as they’ll be raining down hellish acid on your lines.

FOB Defence:

Defending the FOB is the perfect place for a sniper. There’s targets everywhere and you’re (hopefully) in the safest place to shoot them all.

You should be alternating between places where they’re attacking the barricades. Don’t stay in one place because they’re going to know you’re guarding it. So do be reactive to where they might strike next.

Be VERY mindful of drones, hivelords and your nemesis, the boiler. With drones, they WILL build walls/resin membranes that will allow boilers to shoot in the safety of their damned resin bunkers.

Frontline Defence:

Usually at the front, when the marines can’t push up and the xenos are counter attacking, you’re there to stop that from happening, sorta. Or at the very least, buy as much time as you can for reinforcements to arrive, assuming there are reinforcements to help. Just sit back, deploy that bipod and go annoy anything that comes near your defences.

Backline Defence

This is going to be very boring or very exciting. Lurkers, runners and hunting packs are going to be gunning you down if they see you out in the open, but who in their right minds would want to guard the backline? You will. You are the only thing, other than literal barricades guarding the supply lines from having your medics, engineers and troops moving up to the front from getting ganked by those backline skirmishers.

This is where the beauty of aimed shot comes in, usually. Since aimed shot is a full on auto aimbot machine that has about an 80% chance of hitting your targets, you're going to be using this a lot.

Find a place to camp out, under cloak and just wait for them. Maybe get a motion detector to see if anyone is coming in ahead of time or if you're going to get stabbed in the back and eaten alive.

I won't lie to you, this is boring. You're not being really effective here unless the xenos actually have skirmishers fighting in the backline, in which, it's up to you to remind them, that these roads are closed.

I advise using Incendiary aimed shot as they are going to be in places where there are no weeds to save them.

The Art Of Not Being Noticed

Hidden in Plain Sight

If you dressed up as a regular PFC to go sniping, you’re pretty much blended the fuck in already. Until you whip out your sniper rifle and OH BOY THEY KNOW WHO YOU ARE NOW.

But, once that sniper rifle is tucked away and not visible on your character, it’s back to looking like a PFC.

Though the downside is, you don’t get to use your very powerful ghillie suit abilities so, there’s a massive trade off to it. So unless you somehow didn’t have the ghillie suit in store, stay hidden in plain sight.

Using debris and very obscuring objects

The battle field is a messy place. And, assuming you took the Ghillie Suit (why wouldn’t you), the Prepare Position ability will not keep you hidden forever. The split second you fire a shot, your opacity goes up and it is VERY noticeable.

You’re going to need some concealment. And the best things are as follows:

Xenomorph bodies
The Smartgunner’s giant drum magazine
Plasteel Barricades facing north or south
Tall Grass
- A.K.A Bushman Sniping
Any tile that looks like the pixels will obscure your first shot

It is essential to remain vigilant. Your most potent rivals are the runner, lurker and any xeno that is ACTIVELY looking for you when it comes to them hunting you down.

Prioritising Targets:

Note: Use the priority list as a loose guide to targeting xenomorphs. The battlefield will change so priorities will also change. This doesn’t represent the best case scenario for acquiring targets.

All targets are equal but some are more equal than others

I must admit and re-emphasise, the above does not properly categories who should be shot and who shouldn’t. The battlefield is a very chaotic place and who you need to shoot will be up to you.

Priority of who you want to shoot is always up to you. So good luck and pick your targets.

Tier 0s

From none to fuck all health. The very squishy targets.

Facehuggers

Now I know what you are thinking. “Why should I waste a perfectly good bullet against a face hugger?” Well my good friend, usually, you shouldn’t shoot them. It’s a waste of ammunition and other marines can shoot them.

But then there’s this situation where a marine waltzes into a hugger trap and you have the split second decision to just shoot them. They’ll be very thankful they aren’t infected AND that meat shield won’t be out of the fight just yet.

Larvas They are still, a very important target and should be an absolute priority to murder in cold blood. You see that smug little wormy fuckers face? That bitch says You can't hit me and I can waltz around the battlefield like it was my own damn hive. Strangle that danger noodle with your 10x28mm caseless ammunition AND MAKE THEM PAY FOR EVER EXISTING.

And on a more real reason, it stops a cascading effect of the xenos getting more T2s and more T3s. So if possible, shoot the larva to stop them from getting more xenos.

Tier 1s

You’re gonna be facing very low healthed runners or in and around 500 HP aliens. Very squishy-ish.

Drones The weed and resin wall builders. Those suckas are gonna be planting weed sacs and resin walls and membranes for boilers to shoot over. It’s best to send them back with incendiary shots just to delay the deployment of weeds everywhere.

500 health points is a lot, even though 3 aimed shots of marksman will take them down easily. But they aren’t gonna be staying in one spot all the time, they will make cover for themselves and they will do their best to get the fuck outta there once they’ve been targeted.

So do your best to delay them from building as long as possible if you see one anywhere.

Runners Ah yes these annoying bastards. Fast and very furious cannon fodder for the aliens. If you’re trying to hit them normally, don’t bother, unless they are either standing still or you’re using aimed shots.

They only have 230 health points. So an aim boosted shot with marksman takes them RIGHT DOWN to 20 HP. Now, if they’ve already taken damage from other sources, let’s say other marines or explosions, they will just book it outta there. So give them a parting gift of a whooping 210 aim boosted marksman shot to straight up gib them. That’ll teach the bastards to ever mess with you.

Sentinels Ah these scrubs. Annoying to marines trying to take them on and very annoying when they use scatter spit. Not that big of a target but if you see them around, send them running for the hills.

They’ve got 500 health points and they’re somewhat fast. Still, 2 aimed marksman shots will nearly down them and a final regular marksman shot puts them into crit but they shouldn’t be considered a priority. They’re more of a hinderance to your meatshields but it ain’t worth it. Unless they’re the only target around or they are too much of a problem for your marines to deal with.

Defenders Ah yes these armoured scrubs. 35 armour is not a lot when they aren’t in fortified mode. But, your marksman shots have the highest penetration available, so their armour basically means fuck all, even when fortified.

3 aim boosted marksman will crit them, the forth will kill. Best to keep them away from your precious marines.

Tier 2s

The Tier 2s aren’t that tanky. You’re facing at best 650 Health Points on an alien down to 450 Health Points. Even with these tiers of aliens, they aren’t much of a hassle when it comes to dealing damage against them.

Carriers These aliens are the support class for the xenos. Their main priority is to drop face huggers on marines that have been captured. Setting them on fire WILL kill the hugger in their hand. So keep that in mind if you see a soon to be hugged marine via a carrier.

These scrubs have 650 Health Points so aim boosted 3 marksman shots and 1 normal shot will put it into crit. It’s not worth using all those 4 marksman shots cause they would probably be behind cover by now. If you really want it dead, I advise you fire either an aim boosted incendiary shot to blind and set them a light or a flak boosted shot so they’re slowed down, allowing you to hit them with either marksman or incendiary rounds.

Burrowers The tunnelling aliens that like to shake the ground. And make tunnels and acid mines fucking EVERYWHERE. Seeing one around is a bit uncommon to say the least. Burrowers are usually behind walls or just indirectly contributing to the frontlines. Priority is up to you if you want to annoy them.

They’ve got 500 Health Points so 2 aim boosted marksman shots and 1 normal one would pretty much crit them. They really don’t stand much of a chance in the open so they will probably start burrowing sometime soon, the minute they need to get the fuck outta dodge.

If you see one trying to escape, hit them with incendiary so they’ll take additional damage while tunnelling.

Hivelords Ah yes these resin spamming sons a bitches. They hide behind walls of resin and pretty much are your worst nightmare. Because the perfect place to snipe your foes is when they don’t have cover. These guys are mobile hive builders that can summon shit up pretty fucking quickly. To be frank, these guys should be a priority when it comes to weakening the aliens.

550 Health Points isn’t much when you’re using aim boosted marksman shots. Just 3 aimed boosted marksman will out right kill them. But aimed shots take time, so in the best case scenario, you’re probably getting 1 aimed shot off with the rest being normal ones. You won’t kill them that easily. So it’s best to at least try to keep their heads behind walls.

Lurkers Your other eternal nemesis. These aliens like to hunt lone marines and specialists. They would probably value your head to be extra high since you’re one of the only specialists to be able to effectively kill them.

450 Health Points is again, not that much against aim boosted marksman as they are have the lowest HP out of all the Tier 2s. 3 aim boosted marksman shots and they are fucking dead. But the best case scenario is that they’re already low on health. This would allow one well placed aimed marksman shot to take them out for good. But that ain’t always the case. Preparing your position takes time and aimed shots have a wind up period. So if you do see them lurking about. Send them one aim boosted incendiary shot. That’ll keep the bastards occupied for a while and if possible, send an aim boosted marksman shot their way while they are on fire. That should put them down for good.

Warriors Well, what can I say about these guys? They’re annoying to fight against and they’re just your typical frontline combat aliens. But, their grab ability is very annoying to deal with. Puts marines into a neck grab and they can just toss’em into the hive. Annoying to fight up close, so do watch out.

500 Health Points is not much. 3 aim boosted marksman shots will kill them. But more realistically, 2 aimed marksman shots and a normal one will kill’em.

Spitters These acidic bastards. Annoying acid spit and spray will hurt a lot. So prepare to pack some incendiary to scare them off. With their acid spray, they can just extinguish their fellow aliens that are on fire. So keep that in mind when you light any aliens up with incendiary. They’re really just a nuisance to the marines.

Until they get to your barricades. That’s usually when shit is getting real. Once they start vomiting acid onto it, your fortified lines are on a ticking clock to be breached. So keep them away from your barricades as much as you can. One breach is all it takes for the entire line to crumble.

550 Health Points is a fair amount of health They don’t really have armour and they’re more than likely to just run away from any shot. 3 Marksman shots will kill them.

Tier 3s

Now we’re getting to the big aliens that are terrifying to deal with.

You’re going up against 600 to 700 health point aliens. This doesn’t include their strains and their shielding abilities. These guys are the tough fuckers you need to shoot but you won’t outright kill them.

Boilers Your true nemesis, besides the lurkers and building castes. These fuckers are the bane of all snipers. Depending on the strain they pick, either base or trapper, they’re the highest priority target you need to kill. If they even notice your existence, they will make it a living hell for you to try and land shots. But this goes both ways, because you are also the bane of their existence as well.

600 Health points can go down quick enough with 3 to 4 aim boosted marksman shots. But I keep using boosted marksman shots. Why may you ask? It deals the highest amount of damage. And it’s a very clear sign that the sniper specialist is in play. Realistically speaking, you’re probably going to need to rely on an aimed boosted Incendiary bullet for this alien. It’ll put them on fire, blind them AND take them out of the fight. Even if it’s just for a second.

Don’t expect to kill this one, if at all. Especially when it’s behind a resin membrane bunker. And if they’re the trapper strain, they will be peak shooting acid mines.

Crushers These aliens are the tankiest aliens on the field and very annoying to fight against. Those stomping and charging aliens are crowd controllers. Sniping these guys is somewhat of a pain to deal with. But fire is always your ally in this ordeal.

700 health points, highest HP of all the Tier 3s. It will take 3 aim boosted marksman shots to crit them and a final one to kill. All these aim boosted markman shots are in the best case scenario. And since you will rarely see the aliens out of position allowing you to straight up shoot them to death, you better adapt.

Use aim boosted incendiary against them. It literally is the best as it forces them back, for a good bit. Which usually is like 10 seconds max.

Or.

If they do charge in with their ability, use an aim boosted flak shot to slow them down. This will allow your marines to deal a good bit of damage against them

Praetorians Ugh, these fuckers. Depending on the strain, they are very annoying to deal with. This goes double for when they use their abilities that generate shields for other aliens. They will terrorise the shit out of your marines and can eliminate marines very quickly if the alien player is really good.

Depending on the strain, it’ll take between 4 or 5 aim boosted marksman shots to crit them. Best use incendiary to fuck up their day and force them to back off for at least 5 more seconds.

Ravagers The big red menace. And I’m not talking about the UPP. These behemoths of pure destruction are lethal to the core. Made to specifically shred marines and anything in their way. Depending on their strains, they usually all will have a shield up at some point, usually when entering the action or when retreating.

6 or so aim boosted marksman shots. 650 Health Points, they are tanky. I’m going to be honest with you. They will have a shield up, so you’re going to need to dump a 7 aim boosted marksman shots to kill them, maybe even more.

Do not expect to kill them alone. I advise you fire aim boosted flak at them. It will slow them down when it comes to retreating or when they are trying to push. A slow alien is a dead alien. Slowing them down, even if it’s for 5 seconds, is enough for your marines to deal the damage.

Tier 4

The Special Aliens. There’s only two of them. But they are special for a reason.

The Queen

The biggest, baddest bitch in this sector of the galaxy. 1000 hit points, 35 armour. Normal marines need a lot of firepower in order to kill her. You need 7 aimed marksman shots to kill. And that bitch ain’t gonna be standing around when a cohort of aliens are surrounding her, healing her and taking the bullets for her.

You are not going to kill her, your marines are. You are going to slow her down with an aim boosted flak shot. You are going to slow her down as long as you can while the marines are doing their best to shoot her. I advise you to chamber in a flak round and load a marksman magazine. You need to shoot and slow her down and then bring on the pain.

The Abomination (A.K.A the Predalien)

It is going to be extremely rare to see this on the field. And rarer still to defeat them. They’re tough, fast and armoured. Sure, your marksman rounds have the highest AP in the marine’s arsenal, but that won’t stop this creation of the Satan.

From personal experience, it is very rare to see these guys in action. I have rarely seen them in action but I do know that they are very terrifying to fight against. I’d wager 6 aim boosted marksman shots will down it and a final one to kill. It’s not immune to fire or explosions so boosted incendiary will work here.

The Perfect Camping Ground

You obviously won’t get the best place to snipe at everyone. But the perfect battlefield is where there is no cover for your enemies to hide behind. I’d say that if you can have two scoped screens of fairly unobstructed vision around you, that’s the sweet spot.

Having only 1 screen to cover is great. Not only is it that you’re only looking down one screen but the psychological effect you pose on the aliens is also great. Once they know you’re looking down there, they will have to contend with you shooting at them. And nobody likes getting a large portion of their health going bye bye.

Having 3 screens worth of little view obstruction to cover is pushing it. You need to cover all three as you’ll be constantly swapping between them to find targets AND to stop harassers from either breaching your barricades or sneaking up on you.

If you can scope in all 4 directions with nothing impeding your vision, that’s a mixed blessing. I say mixed because you have to scope into all 4 directions every so often so that you won’t get flanked. Yet you can scope in on all directions.

But if you need to scope in all 4 directions, I think you're surrounded and should probably make a break for it when you get the chance.

Rare tactics:

Left Behind
Let’s paint the picture here. The FOB has been overrun. The marines are going to evacuate and the alien hive just passed you by while you were in cloak. Now, what do you do? Accept that you already have died. And then you start a guerrilla war in the tall grass and any obscuring object that hides your first shot. What you do is you aim boosted incendiary shoot aliens that are going to the dropship. Or well, any alien you can find that won’t immediately hunt you down. They will try and hunt you down and boy you are gonna teach them the lessons of Che Guevera and Ho Chi Minh. You are now the resistance. Go hide in the bushes and go shoot everyone that dares enter your domain.

Scout and Sniper Tag Team
This tactic is best used either behind enemy lines or when you're both out in the open. There’s a few ways of doing this: The Scout loads impact rounds and you load incendiary. You aim shot pick a target and when the scout sees the reticle on the alien, they shoot impact to stop them from running away. This guarantees your shot will hit in addition to having extra damage on the target. The Scout loads incendiary rounds and you load marksman. The Scout picks the target and lights up the target. You aim shot and kill it while it panics and either runs away or starts trying to put the fire out, hopefully it dies before it can escape and warn other xenos.

No longer applicable strategies:

Quiet’s speciality
If by SHEER CHANCE AND LUCK, the scout spec dies and goes into perma. Take their cloak and start disappearing and shooting at everything. They can’t find you due to you being cloaked (and not being stupid enough to stay in one place) so you’ll be constantly repositioning if they attempt to look for you. Sure you may not be able to fire when cloaked and you have a large cool down before you’re able to fire once out of the cloak, but since you can just disappear at will, you can just disengage from any situation, whenever you want to.