Regarding the Sniper...

Is he not that good or am I playing it all wrong? His damage output is hilariously high, true, and hitting perfect reloads is pretty easy, but I still feel weak. He also falls off way too much late-game, where almost every enemy requires a fully-charged Steady Aim to be killed, which is suicide if you didn't find a lot of Syringes.

Earlier, you struggle to survive. If you do, you struggle to control all the hundreds of enemies around you.

I think all he needs are small changes, like:

- Reload does not stop you from moving
Hitting perfect reloads is simple, your damage output per shot most of the time compensates for the time each shot takes and getting increased attack speed turns you into a dps monster. But all that is wasted by having to stop to reload, leaving you vulnerable for too long.

- Less cooldown time (4 seconds?) on Backflip
It doesn't make much sense that Huntress gets a 3sec cd on her Blink and Sniper's 6sec. He needs it way more to stay safe and position himself. A 4 second CD seems fine, but maybe that would mean less travel distance.

- Sniper can't "roll the dice" like other characters
Most items are chance-based, and he has no other way to take advantage of %-based effects (Like Engineer's mines and three-hit basic attack) outside of basic attacking, so getting great items like the Ukulele feels like a waste of money. Of course, buffing every single %-based item would mean that every single class would need rebalancing, so maybe Sniper could benefit a bit more from levels than other characters?

Well, that got bigger than I expected. I could be completely wrong, sure, but I just wanted to share my thoughts on what I think is one of the most fun characters to play as.

 

would be interesting if the % chance could scale with the base-RoF of a character.
A Sniper would have a higher chance to trigger the effect per shot than something like the commando.
there are some very interesting ideas about the sniper in the forum, thats interesting indeed. ammo system instead of damage buff, Steady Aim as base-attack and smoke grenade as replacement...if the devs consider a change, it will become very interesting to see the future of this class

 

I think I said in some other thread, all the sniper needs is maybe a smaller reload animation and have his basic attacks pierce on perfect reloads.

Oh and a nice quality of life change will be making his drone toggle-able instead of an activate-able. I find myself forgetting to turn it on amidst the heavy micromanaging the sniper needs to do (compared to other classes anyway).

 

Sniper is currently the worst of the 10 classes, so no, you're not playing him wrong.
I shall be writing a large post about him and everyone else once I unlock Miner and beat the game with him.

 

I spent about 2 hours yesterday playing Sniper, and the furthest I managed to get was the 3rd level. He's easily the hardest character to master, and a needs a little love.

 

It's because sniper can't crowd control. Well, he can, but nothing like the commando. A fully charged steady shot does less damage to the 10th enemy than the full metal jacket does.

 

in a group (for example paired with mercenary) he can be good, but he is absolutely no solo-player.
reached stage 4 with him today (solo) but there...nope, and i had stuff that is normally a win-win. all health regen items, infusion, all on-kill items etc...but still...no chance.
even the first level took me 10min, i had acrid runs where i beat the game in a bit over 30min...

 

Sniper is hard to play in single player obviously. As soon as you have another person however, Sniper gets a sharp increase in damage output. He needs co-op support, but once he does get it , the damage output is insane. He also deals the highest consistent damage of all characters (with possibly the exception of Acrid/Engineer) without items. This really doesn't seem to be a problem to me.

 

All characters should be able to fend for themselves in solo equally. After all, it's supposed to be a singular survival atmosphere, the multiplayer co-op is just a fun bonus.

 

think so too.
nothing against good coop combinations, but each character should survive solo too

 

Thanks for the answers, everyone. Sniper does need some love.

I couldn't agree more.

Regarding what you said about Sniper being the worst class currently, I disagree. I really think it's the Enforcer, I just can't not be flanked when trying to play with him. Even if I do back up into a corner, some enemies, like Parents, have weird hitboxes that makes them hit your back when hitting you from the front, while on some levels there's not even a good corner to back up to.

 

The Sniper is quite different from the other classes. It's a top tier choice once you master it. Your main goal should be staying mobile, and making good use of your abilities. If you jump while attacking and reloading, you can hit most enemies, and only stutter for the briefest of moments. With a single attack speed increase, you can do it without stopping. Further attack speed upgrades let you use your charged shot more quickly which is nice for when you get a bit of range on a group of enemies. When fighting a lone enemy, or a few stragglers, jump shooting and jump reloading are very effective, even when jumping over/through enemies. Most of the time, you'll avoid the hitbox of their attacks.

As far as items go, crowbars are without a doubt the single biggest damage boost you can get. Paul's goat hooves are very helpful as well, as they'll let you get enough distance to kite enemies and get shots off on them. As with any character, you should aim to get a bit of life recovery early, as you will likely be hit by the occasional attack. Also, sometimes it's worth taking a few hits to charge a shot for a bit longer. Repulsion armor is great for this, since you can charge shots with impunity after being damaged a few times. A hit list will scale really well, especially if you're dealing 2000% damage with your fully charged execute ability. Tesla coils can be awesome, since it can interrupt enemies that get too close, giving you enough time to either kite or pop off a strong shot. The shattered mirror can be an excellent use item choice, as you can deal incredible amounts of damage with a single shot. It's very strong against lined up enemies, or a tough boss. It's also handy because you can deal the same amount of damage with half the charge time. On-attack/hit items aren't the greatest for the Sniper because you lack the quick attack speed of other classes, so items like the ukulele aren't terribly effective. I'd say the exception for this is the heaven cracker, since it lets you hit all enemies in a line, allowing you to apply the effects of prison shackles, permafrost, concussion grenade, boxing gloves, or thallium to a huge group of enemies at once. In fact, it can be beneficial to pop off a quick execute shot at a line of enemies just for the crowd control benefits. On-kill items are excellent as well, since you're almost always guaranteed to kill the first enemy hit by a charged execute. Will-o'-the-wisp, ceremonial dagger, gasoline, and the happiest mask will help you deal with large groups quickly.

Sorry for the huge wall of text, hopefully it's informative though. If anyone wants some additional pointers, feel free to PM me, and I'd be happy to Skype, play a multiplayer game with you, or stream a few games on twitch.tv to demonstrate.

 

You know, I really like the Sniper right now. Sure, it's really hard, but he still has that power - it just takes a lot to get it to shine. IMO the ONLY thing that should be touched is the damage fall-off on Steady Shot. It really should pierce more. Other than that, I'm ok with Sniper and I'd hate to see giant buffs that make it really easy.

Edit: I'm with this guy *points up* I think Sniper is pretty good, it's just a different playstyle and different items you are looking for.

 

Your playstyle is pretty much the same as me, I jump-reload a lot and stay mobile, but it's only useful for so long. Soon enough, common enemies will have two health bars and elite ones will have three. And they'll attack you in packs. There's is nothing you can do against that besides running or dying. Hell, Sniper can barely kill Providence, he moves way too much for you to charge your shots.

Going back to the first level after Temple with Sniper is complete suicide on medium difficulty. Only thing you can do in hard difficulty is die to massive missile elites on the second stage before you can reload your third shot.

Is it possible to finish the game with him? Sure, but you need to be very lucky with your items and you need to rush to Risk of Rain ASAP, which, honestly, only means the character is not good.

I never said he needs giant buffs. Besides, "it's just different items you are looking for" just proves my point. A good character in RoR can survive and kill enemies with almost any item he gets. It IS completely random which one you get, after all.

 

A lot of people think this, but he'll probably end up in tier 3 out of 5 in my character tier list. Main reason? Enforcer's shotgun is ridiculous. The fact that it's a medium range weapon that pierces all enemies is absolutely absurd. Also, the detonation radius on his stun is simply massive. Enforcer is, however, one of the hardest things to learn in the game because you have to know how his shield works with enemies, but I'd say, once mastered, he's way better than Sniper. (he's also leik, the god of co-op)

 

I've beaten the game at least three times with the Sniper. I tend to finish levels quickly with every character. So far, I haven't had a huge problem with taking a long time so long as I get a lot of kills and keep my character's level high enough to keep my damage competitive with enemy health.

Also, not every item is random. There are at least two ways ensure getting an item you want; the three item shop and the item roulette shop. As long as you are alert for a few specific items, chances are good that you'll get what you need most of the time. Needing different items doesn't make the class weaker either. Crowbars are far more effective for the sniper than any other class. Spikestrips and other crowd control items are also more valuable for ranged characters than melee. On the other end of the spectrum, getting the wicked ring, harvester's scythes, and stacking critical chance for the Mercenary is very effective. Other classes benefit from those items, but not nearly as much. Having different item priorities doesn't make a character weaker, it just means you have to be selective about what you're looking for. As far as getting bad items, that's something that can happen with any class. It's just the nature of roguelikes, sometimes you just have a bad run.

 

And that's why I can't force-unlock his 2nd achievement. Gutten dam.

 

you dont need to kill them all at once.
killed 10 enemys in a row with one shot, worked.
the weird part was, that i got the unlock in the next round with my first kill...

 

Sniper needs a buff...
but I think HAN-D is in more need of a buff.

 

sniper, yes
han-d, no