Basic Sniper Help

[DaMeiN]

Respawning

It is in my best knowledge to only box two of the three respawn points. I myself box the left respawn point and the middle.

Reason

If you hold down the box starting from the left respawn point and dragging it to where an opposing sniper is walking, when you select your sniper ( if you are following the moving sniper with your cursor ) you will already have your cursor over or at least very near the sniper to lock him quickly, usually you only have to press a and lock (Unless you rs right, then that is the only downfall. But if you box all 3, you will either be at the right side, or the left side. Which you will have to move your cursor to the middle location, which is a lot more than not at all to an inch or so. Or if someone were to come from the right side, or left side I would box all three, starting the box from the opposing side ( Images Provided at the end of post ).


Flagging

I myself, know a lot of the boxing positions ( from how good they RS from certain locations, of most the snipers I snipe with ) Like if I were to face my RS I would flag like so: I would walk up the left side, then as soon as I hit the turret turn to flag. That way, I will either have to re-box ( because I get right rs, or mid because I followed his sniper too far out of range ) or I will just have to move my cursor further. Just vice versa it, depending on which rs they are strongest at.

Angles

This is most likely the hardest thing to learn in Snipers ( If you believe in angles, there are some that don't. ) But this will need to be a more.. practical approach, I will refer you to Ghosty's angle picture for an idea of angles. The blue line indicates you have an angle over someone if they are in that line. ( Picture in following link )


D-Lock

Now this has been mistaken for "Double locking" a lot. A double lock can be like a D-lock, if timed right in an angle, but most the time you will skip if you attempt to double lock someone. To accomplish a D-lock you must either right click or attack move (IE "Missclick" ) near the sniper ( Easiest spot, but you don't have to, you can right click infront of you ) then lock him very quickly ( Since you will most likely die if you lock too slow, since you are walking towards him. FYI, you cannot right click away from him and then lock to accomplish this ). You must be in a decently close range to do this, or you will just walk forward too much and the D-lock is no good anymore ( Meaning, you must be almost to the exact range where you will shoot him )

Reason

A D-lock is used for mainly two things, accomplishing an HS or just spinning around and killing quickly. Normally, when you are luring someone, and you lock them, you will slowly turn around and shoot or die, depending on if you are in angle or just too dang close and you don't spin fast enough. But, if you D-lock properly in range; you will very, very quickly spin around and shoot them, once again if you are in angle ( To some people angles do not exist, so meh to those people ). As for an HS, if you time your D-lock to where they are just about to go out of vision you are likely to HS them ( If you are facing towards them; further explaining of this later ).

S-Lock

An S-lock is known as two things to snipers, either Stop Lock, or Shift-Lock ( I believe in shift lock ). Now a Stop Lock is like a D-Lock, you simply press S and then lock them ( This works good, but it is harder to time, I use it for stancing; better explained later ). But a Shift-Lock is one where you would be luring someone, and you right click somewhere, and then hold down shift, and right click to the proper angle then shift lock them. This will accomplish an angle, and a lock. ( Or if you are in an angle, you can just right click back then shift lock them ) But be warned, the shift is sometimes slower then a regular lock, but if you are afraid of missclicking the lock, you can shift it that way if you missclick, you can just re-do the right click+shift and still live.

Glitching

There are very, very many glitches in the snipers map. These are like blinds, except you never need to move in/out of them to gain vision of the enemy, you will forever have vision of them and they will not have vision of you ( Unless them come from a spot that is not in that blind spot ). This is once again, a more practical lesson and I will be glad to show you all of them I know ( which is quite a lot, I have even discovered one that no one knew ( until I showed them, or at least I am 90% sure no one knew ) Mind you, this will take a little time, since there are I estimate around 25-30 glitches, but only like, 12-15 are commonly used.

Blinding

A blind is a position on the map, that you will have vision over them, but they cannot see you ( You will lose vision of them if you do not kill them quick enough, and if they locked you then you are more likely to die ). This is once again a more practical lesson, seeing as there are just about if not more blinds than glitches, every wall, or pillar has blinds all over for almost any position. But blinds are very useful if you can time them right.

Trailing

Trailing is a very useful method for getting the kill, if you were to be walking straight up the left side and not pull you are likely to get shot first, because they will be moving back and fourth, waiting for you to come into their vision and locking you first. So, to do a "Trail vis" you must go towards where you believe them to be, then pull back and wait for them to come into your vision then lock. Thus doing this you will lock them before they ever know where you are, unless you came into their vision or they trailed you aswell. This is also useful for flagging, then noob locking someone following you ( after you click to your flag, hold shift then lock them from your trail vis ).

Stancing

Stancing is another type of angling to some people ( Others once again believe a proper locked stance will overcome an angle ). Once again a more practical lesson. To stance is not to move your sniper and kill the enemy. To do this, I get into the proper angle I believe the enemy to be coming from ( Mostly used to fight off noob locks ). Then I press S then lock right when they get into my vision, save for sideway angles. If they are coming from the side, I will press S 3x then lock, because you have less range on a sideways angle, so it makes you wait a lot longer.

Quicklock

This is something you really can't be taught, you must develop on your own. But here is a tip, you can either do what a lot of the older snipers do; "A-walk" which is where you do not use right clicking, but always move around using attack, it is slower than right clicking, but you are more likely to have your cursor closer to the enemy, for a quicker lock. Or you can just get that luck lock and kill them by accident. But what I do, I move around with right click, and then press A and keep it right in the line of my vision where I assume the enemy is, if you have sniped awhile and if you are sniping with the same person you have played before you will quickly learn regular patterns and commonly used places. So you will learn to assume where they will be at, and thus you will have a easier chance quicklocking, but once again.. you must learn this on your own. ( Picture for the tip in following links )

Hsing ( Hackshot )

HS is a very useful ability to have when facing constant blinds, but to do this you must have a decent quicklock, or you just need to be a very well timer. The idea of a HS some believe to be luck, this is 100% a lie, now you may get a couple luck HS's, but it is not due to the luck people assume. To accomplish an HS, you must either time your lock for when they are just about to go into a blind, double lock before they go into a blind, or D-lock them before they go into a blind. But take into consideration, you must be at the proper angle ( meaning facing the way they are walking into the blind ) to accomplish this. So if you were to try and HS someone in mid you need to be facing directly down, unless they are moving from a side-to-side angle, then you must slightly slant your sniper to the way they will be going into the blind

Shsing ( Shift hackshot )

A shift hack shot is a very useful, but also very unfair ( to some people, I myself think it should not be in Snipers ). The idea of a shift hack shot is that you can kill someone with 0 vision of them at that time at all, glitches and all. But, you must have vision of them before hand to do so. This is how you do it: With vision of them, right click some place, hold down your shift key and right click very close ( for a more successful and quick SHS ) to the initial click, and then hold down shift again and lock them before your vision runs out. Now, note that you must be facing the angle they are facing, or you will not get this. In some occasions you can null the first right click and just shift once and shift lock them, but to do this you must be in the right walking angle to be in the correct angle to SHS them ( meaning you must be at the same angle, or walking into a position that will keep that angle when you attempt the SHS )

This ends my explanations further explaining will be in the pictures and/or in-game if you so choose for me to help, I hope this helps and enjoy. I also have various maps that can help you practice these if you do not wish to in real games.
Practice Maps


Links to information

Left RS Box

Right RS Box

Reason For Not Boxing All 3

Box All For Right-Side

Box All For Left-Side

Flagging Strong Left-Side RS

Basic Angles
^ Image created by GhosTy ^

Tip For Quicklocking

[Mellow]

Thanks

[ZER(o)]

Ah, very good. Thanks for all the time and work you put into this.

[SaVoR]

You're a newb. J/k

[LaZeR]

Very good guide.

[Relieve]

I don't understand the Basic Angles picture...?
So basically if the enemy falls on the blue line you supposedly have an "angle" on them?

[LaZeR]

No, I think it's more to remind you of the many angles a sniper can shoot in, so newer snipers can keep it in mind while playing, and learn the different ranges.