It is without a doubt that the sniper class is a favorite amongst
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 players; using the sniper class effectively can lead to you being a vital asset to your team. You can play an important role in holding down a chokepoint, calling out enemy positions, and simply scouting out open areas for your team to pass through. Becoming a dominate Sniper can be invaluable and result in consistent victories for your team. This guide will walk you through some of the basics of what it means to be a sniper, and how to get the most out of your class.
The Rifles
There are four Sniper Rifles available in
Modern Warfare 2: CheyTech Intervention M-200, Barrett M107, Walther WA2000, and the M21 Enhanced Battle Rifle. Being comfortable with your rifle is crucial to being successful, so for the most part, choose a rifle you feel comfortable with firing, reloading, and easily taking a second shot.
The early stages of
Modern Warfare 2 have shown the Intervention to be a favorite amongst players, most likely relating to a favorite from
Call of Duty 4, the M40, due to its bolt action nature. The Barrett, however, it not close behind.
The Intervention and Barrett are commonly considered "one-shot-one-kill" rifles, while the WA2000 and the M21 are more often "two-shot-kills." Therefore, it is advantageous to load up your one shot kill Sniper Rifles with a zoom scope and Stopping Power, and take up a more defensive position. Save the two shot kill rifles for a more assaulting role, maybe adding a Silencer or an ACOG scope, and a perk other than Stopping Power, considering it will most likely take two shots, regardless.
The Damage
All four Sniper Rifles deal 70 normal damage, and 50 damage silenced, with the following modifiers:
[head, chest, stomach]
Intervention: 1.5 - 1.5 - 1.1
Barrett: 1.5 - 1.5 - 1.1
WA2000: 1.5 - 1.5 - 1
M21 EBR: 1.5 - 1.1 - 1
This means that the Intervention will deal 105 damage if you hit someone in the chest [70 x 1.5 = 105 - A kill], while the M21 will only deal 77 damage when shooting someone in the chest [70 x 1.1 = 77 - Not a kill].
Silence Wisely
Silencers drastically reduce the damage of Sniper Rifles down to 50. This is a huge impact, as this prevents one shot kills, even with headshots. The Stopping Power perk is required to allow for one shot kills with silenced Sniper Rifles, but even then, it will only kill in one shot with a headshot.
The ability to remain hidden for longer periods of time comes with a big cost to damage potential.
Attachments
There are so many options to load up your rifle with in
Modern Warfare 2 you can really customize your role down to a strict point. For a better scouting role, take a Silencer and a Heartbeat Sensor. You can stay hidden, locate enemies, and keep your vocal role for your team longer without being spotted. By taking a Thermal Scope and Stopping Power you can prove to be an intimidating foe for the enemy team being able to lock down a large area fairly easily.
Silencer: The Silencer in combination with a sniper can be an extremely powerful tool by staying hidden for long periods of time. The Silencer keeps your location off the enemies radar and allows for continued firing on your enemies. The Silencer works better in some game types than others. For example, in a quick fast paced game types like Headquarters (which has kill-cams) a Silencer won't be as powerful as your enemies will be constantly coming back for revenge, so staying hidden is nearly impossible. However, a game like Search and Destroy with no respawns, staying hidden is extremely important. Having a Silenced Sniper Rifle can give you the edge you need.
Heartbeat Sensor: The Heartbeat Sensor send out pulses and detects enemy locations and displays them on your screen. This is not a recommended attachment, as you should be spending most of your time looking down your scope, scouting over long distances, not close range. By taking a Heartbeat Sensor, you are giving up a valuable attachment slot, for something which will only benefit yourself in the very short term game. Remember, being a Sniper is about helping your team in the long run.
If you take Bling as your first perk though, the Heartbeat Sensor can be a nice backup for yourself in case of an enemy trying to sneak up on you.
FMJ: FMJ, or Full Metal Jacket, serves the same purpose that the perk Deep Impact had in
Call of Duty 4; being deeper bullet penetration through cover. As a Sniper, your role is to down targets as quickly and efficiently as possible, and being able to pierce through to an enemy behind cover is great way to optimize your performance as a Sniper. Taking FMJ is a lifesaver for those pesky counter snipers just barley sticking their heads out. Just shoot them through the wall rather than tediously aligning the headshot. Your bullets will cut through brick and concrete like butter.
What Scope?
Normal Scope: The normal stock scope is your normal cross-hair zoom scope which comes standard on all the Sniper Rifles. This works perfectly for almost every map as it gives clear vision with precise accuracy, in addition to give you the ability to steady the scope by holding your breath.
ACOG Scope: Allowing for a deeper level of play, the ACOG can put you further into the action and allow for much quicker shots on target. It is worth noting that this ACOG is a massive improvement over the ACOG which appeared in
Call of Duty 4. With actual cross-hairs, but a smaller view and zoom level the scope can result in easier assaulting and better offensive accuracy.
Thermal Scope: The Thermal Scope gives a much better view through the map, cutting out the unnecessary items in your scope. Enemies glow white hot and stand out easily in contrast to the cold black. This scope is a fantastic choice for large open maps like Wasteland and Underpass, but fall short on maps like Derail where the glowing white hot of the enemy does not contrast to the snow in the background.
This is a scope you can easily interchange with the normal scope because the zoom is so similar, it doesn't take much adjustment between the two.
The Cold Blooded perk keeps an enemy "cold" so they will be much harder to spot through a Thermal Scope.
General Tips
Keep a keen eye on your radar. Knowing your position and the position of your teammates can help locate where your enemies will be coming from. If you see a large group of friendlies in a specific area, it would be beneficial to turn the other way and scan the area. Protecting your teammates should be your first priority as a sniper, while keeping yourself covered.
Never be afraid to fire a shot. Just the mere sound of your rifle could be enough to make the enemy second guess popping out from behind that piece of cover.
You miss every shot you don't take
This is a basic rule of thumb in being a successful sniper: You control the tempo of the round with the sheer intimidation of your rifle. You can easily pin a target down by shooting randomly at them. This causes the enemy team to react by covering their teammate or rotating to respond to your aggressiveness, opening up a great flank for your own team. Doing this is a huge advantage of being an aggressive sniper as you can slow your opponents down and reveal yourself as their primary target, allowing your teammates to go for a quick bomb plant or overpower the enemy team.
Watch the kill-ticker; for slower paced game types like Search and Destroy, if you see your teammate go down from a Sub Machine Gun, or even better a knife, in a specific location, more than likely that very enemy will be in that vicinity. When a teammate dies a skull appears exactly where they died, locate that icon and position yourself to take a shot in that direction. You will more than likely see an enemy sprinting away from that area, which equals an easy kill. Even if the shot isn't quite there, take it anyway. It might flush you enemy out of their hiding spot.
