Returning player: state of Sniper weapons?

[Olbohn]

I've been gone for a couple of years and I'm looking to get back into the game. I've always been a fan of sniper weapons and before I took a break I recall the game was looking to rework Sniper weapons to make it more viable.

Has that rework gone through and was it successful? If so, any recommendations on which Sniper gun to start hunting for? If not, any suggestions on where I what I should do to get back into the game? I always loved getting new Primes/Gear and Min/Maxing their Mods.

 

Thanks!

[NinjaZeku]

IMO, Snipers are still a bit of a mess.

That whole long-range single-target approach doesn't quite work when you're fighting large hordes in small corridors.

You get a bonus by not missing between shots ... on a timer, so you're encouraged to fire again quickly and thus likely miss.

Snipers now have varying effects depending on the weapon and zoom level
(though mostly it's just +damage which, while nice, is not the top-most problem Snipers have)
while non-scoped shots have a severe accuracy penalty for no raisin.
[Thus, combined with my first point, Rivens with -zoom are highly sought after, ironically enough.]

Oh and the custom scope designs are kind of horribly distracting,
luckily you can deactivate them ... and any zoom level / bonus info along with them.

An entire weapon type meant for big single hits and headshots, thus encouraging crit builds,
cannot (excepting Lanka) hit even 100% Crit Chance with just Point Strike. (Meanwhile, looking at Dread ... yeah this is just shameful.)

That all said, with a good +Crit Chance Riven and maybe Hushed Invisibility / whatever so you can take your time, they're far from unusable.

Rubico has stupid high Critical Multipliers and Vectis Prime has high base damage (also possible Primed Chamber shenanigans)
but Lanka pretty much beats everything, assuming you can handle it needing to charge / being non-hitscan,
as it can be a red crit (more Crit Chance the higher your zoom level) + status (yay Gas build + Magnetize) monster,
has innate Punch Through and massive(r than Vectis Prime) base damage when fully charged,
plus it IIRC gets the "Sniper combo" bonus rolling the fastest and has the longest grace period between needing to hit something.

Edited July 10, 2017 by NinjaZeku

[CY13ERPUNK]

whenever U22 drops, snipers are going to see a pretty huge buff by proxy

Edited July 9, 2017 by CY13ERPUNK

[DatDarkOne]

2 hours ago, CY13ERPUNK said:

whenever U22 drops, snipers are going to see a pretty huge buff by proxy

^^This.  Once the open world maps become available, sniper rifles will truly start to come into their own. 

Of course there are a few frames that can utilize the power of snipers right now.  Ivara, Nova, Ash, and Banshee being prime examples.  Ivara more so than all the others especially when playing solo.  Her whole kit caters to sniper play.