Sniper Chronicles: Being A Better Sniper

[generalsam122 18]

Hey guys, coming from someone that has had a reasonable amount of experience with a sniper, I wanted to lay down some tips that will help other bandits out there get the most out of their rifle and time.

1: Don't dive balls-deep into every situation, patience is your friend. Don't just shoot when you first see a guy, wait that shit out and only fire when you have the perfect shot lined up.

ex: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW1eXRg39kM (example of a time when I waited for the perfect shot instead of getting impatient and possibly missing)

2. Don't fall into the ruts of stereotypical sniper locations. Trap tents and weapons work often, but they are also dead giveaways. The same applies to camping crashed helicopters, they are just too convenient for sniper targets and survivors generally look out for any possible bandits before looting. (this applies to the generic elektro-sniping-hill as well. while it may be fruitful, everyone knows about it and you will eventually get caught there if you stay long enough).

ex. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywtAVJf9O50 (example of a bandit that was easily taken out due to his generic sniping position)

3. Understand human nature. When using vehicles, survivors will often stay away from cities and choose gas up at locations that are out of the way, have a wide range of sight (so they can see any danger), and are near points of interest (factories for car parts / large cities for loot / along major roadways for convenience). Because of this, the gas station in between Gorka and Polana can be one of the most profitable sniping locations in the game. It is close to Polana (which has a grocery store) as well as Berezino (all around great city for loot) and the gas station itself is wide open for sniping. This is a prime example of how to easily acquire a vehicle just by understanding how your enemy is thinking.

ex. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xomJ3KPeuNY (example of a great sniping spot that survivors generally think is empty)

4. Watch cities before going into them. As a sniper, you need to realize that unless you are 300+ meters away, you are most likely going to lose a gunfight unless you have the drop on a guy. That being said, a great way of ensuring that you won't run into any survivors is to do some basic recon. When looking at a town from a distance (300+ meters away) if there are no zombies scadoodling around, then there are no survivors either. Zombies generally despawn fairly quickly after a survivor has left an area, so a zombie filled town is a dead giveaway of survivor activity. If you are a bandit, this is also a great tactic to use so that you don't waste your time looking around a city that has no survivors in it.

5. You don't aways have to camp cities, camping common traveling routes can be a significantly safer way of taking out survivors and looting their goodies unscathed. Watching the barn north of Cherno is a perfect example. The survivors generally have their guard down because they are outside city limits and are in a semi-remote location. Little do they know that virtually everyone that plans on going to the airfield or stary sobor makes the exact same route.

ex. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzamYe5_8fw

6. Parked vehicles/ tents/ weapons/ other dead survivors are great ways of drawing the attention of other players. You can use this to your advantage... but don't be a dipshit about it. Leaving a tent in the middle of the road will draw the suspicion of any survivor... and they will immediately start hunting you down. The same goes for any fully repaired vehicle left out in the middle of the road. If you are going to lay traps like that, hide them in a way that you know they will be found. A tent partially protruding from a bush that is next to a heavy traffic area is a lot less suspicious than a tent in the middle of an empty field. The same goes with vehicles. I don't know how many survivors i have personally taken out trying to get into the tractor near polana. The tractor is a big red bastard, but it is hidden partially behind some bushes... so survivors believe they have found themselves a secret car and are far less likely to get suspicious of it.

7. Instead of making the trek to Stary Sobor / NW Airfield / NE Airfield it is significantly safer (and more time consuming) to search for a crashed helicopter. When initially setting out for one, make sure you have plenty of rations and make your way west of gorka up to altar. Altar is a hill that power lines going down it and marks the transition from the woodsy southeastern portion of the map and the plain-like north western section. From altar you should have a relatively clear view of the plains to the west and should easily be able to see a helicopter if one has spawned. I often walk the stretch of power lines all the way to Novy (all the while checking the little fields to the right and left of the lines). If this tactic does not come to fruition, try server-hopping.

You might be tempted to stroll the fields west of Stary Sobor... well think again because those fields are wide open for sniper fire coming from lunatics dwelling in and around stary as well as the snipers located on the elevated NW airfield region (while the fields west of stary might be significantly larger, they are significantly more dangerous. so i guess the looting place is up to you.)

Edited August 14, 2012 by generalsam122

[Mayuyu 411]

Really nice videos, I like them all!

Great post too, I will take in your tips, thank you!

[Meleemaker 54]

Pretty good sniping tips. I already knew most of them...but one or two I didnt know. Easily adds a few kills to your killcount though. Great write up and a lot of good videos.

Just wanting to point this out very badly...first rule, wait for a perfect shot. You said it was an example of waiting so you didnt screw anything up....you only "waited" because you misclicked and accidently switched weapons ;)But it was still a good shot and a great couple kills. Kudos to the kids for not logging the second you painted the walls with his buddies brains.

[generalsam122 18]

Pretty good sniping tips. I already knew most of them...but one or two I didnt know. Easily adds a few kills to your killcount though. Great write up and a lot of good videos.

Just wanting to point this out very badly...first rule, wait for a perfect shot. You said it was an example of waiting so you didnt screw anything up....you only "waited" because you misclicked and accidently switched weapons ;)But it was still a good shot and a great couple kills. Kudos to the kids for not logging the second you painted the walls with his buddies brains.

thanks man, but you're right. At the time i was just rushing for the kill. But because i did mess up, i ended up getting a more solid shot off at the guy. Since then, i've always waited for my kills. Honestly, I don't know how many times i've tried killing while still scrolling. Annoys the hell out of me lol.

[MrYoubs 4]

You are a sir, great post, great vids, got yourself a subscriber on YT.

One question; i have been playing dayz like a week or so in total and have mastered elektro/chern with a lee enfield to a degree, where can i find myself a sniper? also getting a decent vehicle quickly - is that difficult without running the entire map? finding a toolkit is a bitch as well.

Cheers again

[Acegamer2013 0]

Good tips and love the vids good job

[callmesarge 79]

Aquiline a sniper rifle can be done by:

- visiting barns for a hunting rifle (low risk, low reward)

- visiting deer stand a lot (low risk, low reward)

- visiting military loot sites like ballota, Stary, NEAF, NWAF etc (high risk, high reward)

- hunting crashed choppers (low risk, high reward, time consuming though)

- hunting enemy camps (low risk, high reward, time consuming though)

- hunting electro hills for snipers (high risk, high reward)

Which option is best for you depends on your play style and resources, and what you want. I personally dedicated a lot of time to chopper hunting to aquire my M107, but it was worth it.

[generalsam122 18]

You are a sir, great post, great vids, got yourself a subscriber on YT.

One question; i have been playing dayz like a week or so in total and have mastered elektro/chern with a lee enfield to a degree, where can i find myself a sniper? also getting a decent vehicle quickly - is that difficult without running the entire map? finding a toolkit is a bitch as well.

Cheers again

honestly, being a sniper is all about safety. It's about reaping resources from other people that have made risks to get said resources. The best way of getting a sniper is either by hunting through barns or getting a metric shit-ton of food and scouring the old fields for crashed helicopters (helis usually drop the good snipers).

There is another way of getting a sniper but it isn't very successful and you might get killed in the process. Hang around common sniper locations like the hills surrounding cherno and elektro and try to find a sniper with some serious tunnel vision. Remember, don't just run up on him when you see him, wait that shit out and camp his body for a while after you kill him because there is a chance he has a friend nearby and that other survivors heard the shot. Patience is king my friend.

[Johnny AK 1]

Oh man, Subbed! Love your videos!

[generalsam122 18]

Aquiline a sniper rifle can be done by:

- visiting barns for a hunting rifle (low risk, low reward)

- visiting deer stand a lot (low risk, low reward)

- visiting military loot sites like ballota, Stary, NEAF, NWAF etc (high risk, high reward)

- hunting crashed choppers (low risk, high reward, time consuming though)

- hunting enemy camps (low risk, high reward, time consuming though)

- hunting electro hills for snipers (high risk, high reward)

Which option is best for you depends on your play style and resources, and what you want. I personally dedicated a lot of time to chopper hunting to aquire my M107, but it was worth it.

All of those are actually awesome tips. Especially the elektro hill one. Cherno also has a similar hill to the north of it that might be tricky to get to unnoticed, but once you're there it is also a great place to hunt for snipers preying on novices. I also spend quite a bit of time in between gorka and novy looking for choppers. I find it easier to spot on there because the landscape is sloped and it helps spotting when approaching from gorka.

[Plaguetongue 47]

- it is better to have a bush behind you than being on the side of it, grass dont work as long range camo

- when sniping a helo crash, dont stay at the treeline, stay inside the forest at a spot where u can see the helo

- always retreat and change position after killing someone, his friends might be around

- try get ur hands on a ghillie suit

[HeHeHe 38]

I gotta give a +1 for a well thought out sniper-bandit guide. Even i found a few of these useful.

[Professional N00b 347]

If you can't do it in one shot then don't do it.

A motto I've come to live by as a solo sniper. Seems to have served me well so far.

[mark.j 3]

Hey generalsam, sweet tips and videos, you got yourself a new sub. I had figured out some of these tricks of the trade on my own (the hard way, sometimes) but I definitely learned some new stuff. Patience and situation awareness are probably the highest up there on the list.

Checked out your "nighttime grocery" video and if you don't already know this quick fix to your graphical artifacts issues I'll share something that works for me. Hold down the "Shift" key and the "-" minus key at the same time and then release the keys, type "flush", then hit "Enter". It will give you a black screen and it will reload your screen for two seconds, and it should (temporarily, unfortunately) fix the graphical artifacts.

This has only been a quick fix for me, I'd appreciate if anyone else knew a way to solve this permanently, it seems this happens in cherno, berezino, and with barbed wire/entrenchments.

[callmesarge 79]

Hey Sam,

I have dedicated a lot of time to seeking the 1000m kill. Is this something you could cover in a video?

So far I only have a probable. Think I got the hit, but the guy DC'd.

[Slark 0]

Tried tip no. 7 today and immediately found an L85A2 AWS as well as a Bizon PP-19 SD, both with three clips! :D

[Brutalpanties 1]

Sweet! Pretty much basic's but will work around..