In Borderlands, a sniper is a hunter who has spec'd into the sniper tree and makes frequent use of sniper rifles. Snipers can be very handy for either team play or solo play. What should I be looking at in regards to talent points? guns? I wrote a guide to attempt to answer these questions. If you have any additions, I will add them.
Skill Trees.................#001
Weapons...................#002
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#001- Skill Trees
Sniper Skill Tree
If you want to have a sniper character, a lot of important skills are in this tree. Some are not so important- but what is important is totally up to you. To start, we have Focus. This increases accuracy with all weapons types. Hold off on this skill for now, if you have spare points, put them here. Caliber increases your damage with sniper rifles, so max that out. In the next tier, we have Smirk. This is totally useless except for leveling. People may argue about critical hits not occuring often, but I find that they do, especially if you are on the BRAAAAAINS!!! mission and are not level capped yet. Killer is also a nice talent to put points into: if you are concerned that you won't get a lot of kills in team play, put the points in focus instead. Next we have Loaded. Definitely max out this skill- it increases your magazine capacity with sniper rifles. Carrion Call isn't useful unless you are into using your bloodwing- as a sniper I like using accurate revolvers as a backup- so I generally skip using this talent. In the final tier we have Trespass, the skill that makes hunters very powerful. Your bullets have a chance to ignore shields, and your bullets have increased damage. WOW. If you want to be a sniper, I highly recommend putting points in this tree. Remember that elemental effect weapons will still DOT off the shield before they hit the health bar, but the bullet damage will hit the health bar.
Gunslinger Skill Tree
Let's look at the next tree. I will skip the rogue tree for a moment because I usually go to the Gunslinger tree next. For snipers, Deadly is a talent you want, maxed out. At this point, you have two options. You can either put points in to benefit bloodwing, or to benefit pistols. I prefer the pistols route, and I will build that way. You can still build a mean sniper with semi good pistol skills and a mean bloodwing. Next I would put points in Gun crazy, since we are going with pistols. Hair trigger is nice, and Relentless will stack onto our other sniper damage.
Rogue Skill Tree
If you are level 61, you have 16 more talent points to spend. Divide that number by 5, and we can max out three more skills. At this point, you can probably put points in the sniper tree for focus [or use a class mod to get more accuracy]. Accuracy isn't everything- it is important, but recoil reduction is even more important. I will talk about that later.
If you want to put points towards your bloodwing, first put points in predator [gunslinger tree]. The less down time bloodwing has, the more available he is to do some extra damage. Next I would recommend swift strike to increase bloodwing's damage. Swipe isn't really needed unless you want it for leveling. Finally, we have a choice of Out for Blood, or Fast Hands. Fast Hands will give you a faster reload speed, while Out for Blood will increase the amount of targets bloodwing can hit. I am focusing on bloodwing, so I will go for Out for Blood. If you can't find a middle ground, you could always put 3 points in Out for Blood, and 2 in Fast Hands. At 61, this leaves you one point, and possibly more from DLC content. I would put the point in Aerial Impact.
___________________________
#002- Weapons
Leveling your hunter, take advantage of any good sniper rifles and pistols you can get. Personally, I like revolvers for their high accuracy and firepower.
There are approximatly 8 orange sniper rifles up for consideration. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. For general purpose sniping, I like sniper rifles with a fire rate of anywhere from 1.6 to 1.9 with as high damage and accuracy as possible. Recoil reduction is always a plus.
+Critical hit damage- increases critical hit damage. Always nice for a sniper.
+Recoil reduction- very important. This will determine how well your scope/gun stay on target after a shot.
+Weapons zoom- sadly, in Borderlands you can't adjust your scope, it is a pre-determined number.
Lets look at those guns, shall we?
Atlas Cyclops- If you need a LONG, LONG range, this gun is it. It features a 3.2x weapon zoom, but the special weapon effect "I have you in my eye, sir" makes it even longer, adding 5.2x weapon zoom. the special effect doubles bullet velocity.
Jakobs Skullmasher- this gun is good against opponents without armor. with the guns high accuracy, if you manage to hit a target with 6 projectiles, it is going down. This weapon is also useful against Crawmerax the Invincible.
Maliwan Volcano- I see a LOT of these drop. These guns are very effective against bandits, even if you have Trespass. In fact, against a bandit, this gun is death. It features a high elemental effect chance with a small weapons zoom, so it isn't for long range sniping. I tend to stay away from these, but you may like it.
Vladof Surkov- T he red text gives this gun high reload speed. If you need high reload speeds, Vladof guns deliver. Also fire rates range (no pun intended) from 1.1 to 1.7, which in my opinion makes an ideal sniper rifle from 1.4 to 1.7. Accuracy is good, fire rate can be increased, and 200% critical hit damage is nice. I've seen a few, but I wonder what the recoil on that thing is like.
Dahl Penetrator- This gun is interesting. I won't even try to pronounce the red text, but it means a fully auto sniper rifle. This gun is great with Roland, but we aren't talking about soldiers. This gun is useful for the Carrion Call skill and for defeating Crawmerax the Invincible. The gun is basically a scoped machine gun, and with a small magazine, it is better to burst fire. I generally stay away from these on my hunter.
Hyperion Invader- this gun is like the Dahl Penetrator, but it burst fires. I would consider using it if it had recoil reduction built in.
S&S Orion- One of my favorite sniper rifles. Even with Trespass, this gun is useful for taking out things with heavy shields, like drones in DLC 3 or eridian defenders. The red text makes the bullets split into three or four directions if the bullet ricochets. A high rate of fire and good damage make this gun awesome. Even better- if you have the Loaded skill, this thing has a lot of rounds to go through.
Torgue Cobra- I've never seen one of thee things drop. It deals explosive damage, so it would be good for Brick. It fires slowly, and has a small magazine capacity. I would tend to stay away from these on my hunter.
___________________________
I will update this guide at a later date. This guide is free to use in private (print it out), and you may link to this guide from anywhere. This is MY guide, so if you want to post it elsewhere, you need my permission first. Should I find it on another web page without my consent, there may be legal consequences. Thankyou for understanding.
Skill Trees.................#001
Weapons...................#002
___________________________
#001- Skill Trees
Sniper Skill Tree
If you want to have a sniper character, a lot of important skills are in this tree. Some are not so important- but what is important is totally up to you. To start, we have Focus. This increases accuracy with all weapons types. Hold off on this skill for now, if you have spare points, put them here. Caliber increases your damage with sniper rifles, so max that out. In the next tier, we have Smirk. This is totally useless except for leveling. People may argue about critical hits not occuring often, but I find that they do, especially if you are on the BRAAAAAINS!!! mission and are not level capped yet. Killer is also a nice talent to put points into: if you are concerned that you won't get a lot of kills in team play, put the points in focus instead. Next we have Loaded. Definitely max out this skill- it increases your magazine capacity with sniper rifles. Carrion Call isn't useful unless you are into using your bloodwing- as a sniper I like using accurate revolvers as a backup- so I generally skip using this talent. In the final tier we have Trespass, the skill that makes hunters very powerful. Your bullets have a chance to ignore shields, and your bullets have increased damage. WOW. If you want to be a sniper, I highly recommend putting points in this tree. Remember that elemental effect weapons will still DOT off the shield before they hit the health bar, but the bullet damage will hit the health bar.
Gunslinger Skill Tree
Let's look at the next tree. I will skip the rogue tree for a moment because I usually go to the Gunslinger tree next. For snipers, Deadly is a talent you want, maxed out. At this point, you have two options. You can either put points in to benefit bloodwing, or to benefit pistols. I prefer the pistols route, and I will build that way. You can still build a mean sniper with semi good pistol skills and a mean bloodwing. Next I would put points in Gun crazy, since we are going with pistols. Hair trigger is nice, and Relentless will stack onto our other sniper damage.
Rogue Skill Tree
If you are level 61, you have 16 more talent points to spend. Divide that number by 5, and we can max out three more skills. At this point, you can probably put points in the sniper tree for focus [or use a class mod to get more accuracy]. Accuracy isn't everything- it is important, but recoil reduction is even more important. I will talk about that later.
If you want to put points towards your bloodwing, first put points in predator [gunslinger tree]. The less down time bloodwing has, the more available he is to do some extra damage. Next I would recommend swift strike to increase bloodwing's damage. Swipe isn't really needed unless you want it for leveling. Finally, we have a choice of Out for Blood, or Fast Hands. Fast Hands will give you a faster reload speed, while Out for Blood will increase the amount of targets bloodwing can hit. I am focusing on bloodwing, so I will go for Out for Blood. If you can't find a middle ground, you could always put 3 points in Out for Blood, and 2 in Fast Hands. At 61, this leaves you one point, and possibly more from DLC content. I would put the point in Aerial Impact.
___________________________
#002- Weapons
Leveling your hunter, take advantage of any good sniper rifles and pistols you can get. Personally, I like revolvers for their high accuracy and firepower.
There are approximatly 8 orange sniper rifles up for consideration. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. For general purpose sniping, I like sniper rifles with a fire rate of anywhere from 1.6 to 1.9 with as high damage and accuracy as possible. Recoil reduction is always a plus.
+Critical hit damage- increases critical hit damage. Always nice for a sniper.
+Recoil reduction- very important. This will determine how well your scope/gun stay on target after a shot.
+Weapons zoom- sadly, in Borderlands you can't adjust your scope, it is a pre-determined number.
Lets look at those guns, shall we?
Atlas Cyclops- If you need a LONG, LONG range, this gun is it. It features a 3.2x weapon zoom, but the special weapon effect "I have you in my eye, sir" makes it even longer, adding 5.2x weapon zoom. the special effect doubles bullet velocity.
Jakobs Skullmasher- this gun is good against opponents without armor. with the guns high accuracy, if you manage to hit a target with 6 projectiles, it is going down. This weapon is also useful against Crawmerax the Invincible.
Maliwan Volcano- I see a LOT of these drop. These guns are very effective against bandits, even if you have Trespass. In fact, against a bandit, this gun is death. It features a high elemental effect chance with a small weapons zoom, so it isn't for long range sniping. I tend to stay away from these, but you may like it.
Vladof Surkov- T he red text gives this gun high reload speed. If you need high reload speeds, Vladof guns deliver. Also fire rates range (no pun intended) from 1.1 to 1.7, which in my opinion makes an ideal sniper rifle from 1.4 to 1.7. Accuracy is good, fire rate can be increased, and 200% critical hit damage is nice. I've seen a few, but I wonder what the recoil on that thing is like.
Dahl Penetrator- This gun is interesting. I won't even try to pronounce the red text, but it means a fully auto sniper rifle. This gun is great with Roland, but we aren't talking about soldiers. This gun is useful for the Carrion Call skill and for defeating Crawmerax the Invincible. The gun is basically a scoped machine gun, and with a small magazine, it is better to burst fire. I generally stay away from these on my hunter.
Hyperion Invader- this gun is like the Dahl Penetrator, but it burst fires. I would consider using it if it had recoil reduction built in.
S&S Orion- One of my favorite sniper rifles. Even with Trespass, this gun is useful for taking out things with heavy shields, like drones in DLC 3 or eridian defenders. The red text makes the bullets split into three or four directions if the bullet ricochets. A high rate of fire and good damage make this gun awesome. Even better- if you have the Loaded skill, this thing has a lot of rounds to go through.
Torgue Cobra- I've never seen one of thee things drop. It deals explosive damage, so it would be good for Brick. It fires slowly, and has a small magazine capacity. I would tend to stay away from these on my hunter.
___________________________
I will update this guide at a later date. This guide is free to use in private (print it out), and you may link to this guide from anywhere. This is MY guide, so if you want to post it elsewhere, you need my permission first. Should I find it on another web page without my consent, there may be legal consequences. Thankyou for understanding.
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