- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
This is an excelent guide for beginners. The most important point is to practice in order to increase your acurancy. In order to have a chance playing against real people on a lan (or on Xbox live when halo 2 comes out), or on a system link tunneled game (XBC) you will definitly need one-shot-kills with your sniper rifle.
The assuslt on the control room practice location is a good one, but there are others: In two betrayals, near the end there is a very good place to snipe, just before you get to the last generator you will to get a banshee. the banshee is guarded by many covenant and flood who are fighting. make sure you play on legendary, get to this location with a sniper rifle and get to the hill furthest from your enemies. Unless you get one-shot kills, you will run out of sniper ammo before you run out of elites to kill. This is my favorite spot because the elites will never be standing still, only running back and forth, making themselves very hard to hit.
Once you think you are a little good, get into some real multiplayer. Hikaru missed some details about vehicles, so allow me. If your target is in a vehicle, this can be hard. Be aware that sniper rifles cannot shoot through the warthogs' windshield, but can make short work of any driver from a side view. Its best to wait for the driver to hit something that slows him down for a split second, then take him out only if you have a clear shot at his head. If you miss, he will follow the contrail back to you in a hurry. The gunner is always vunerable, but it is usualy best to eliminate the driver first, then the gunner is dead meat. The best part about warthogs is that they make good bait! keep an eye on an empty hog, and some foolish enemy will get in, as they climb on board, be sure to blow thier head off.
Stationary vehicles always make a good lure for snipers. whenever someone is climbing onto the vehicle for the first time, they are easy kills. these vehicles also make good cover, but dont use them for too long, because an empty vehicle always drwas attention (posibly from other snipers! ). The best thing to do with an empty vehicle might be to get in and drive it to a place that has very little other cover. This will allow you to use it as cover, and it will also lure other player there where you can finnish them off.
The tank is without a doubt the easiest target for an experienced sniper. Tanks are slow, and the only part of the pilot you can see is thier head, making it a little easier to shoot (in my opinion). This can take practice, since tank movement can be a little bit unpredictable.
The Ghost can be the hardest target because it is so damn fast. On the other hand, the driver is much more exposed, so if they hit something (a rock, a wall, a tree) then they become easy targets.
Dodging other snipers is tough. Generaly if they missed thier first shot though they are likely to miss thier next one. One of the best strategies might just be to shoot at them, even if you dont get a headshot, a body shot will cause them to loose thier zoom and give you another split second to dive for cover.
Never stop moving! I cant stress this enough. you dont have to move fast, just dont stay in the same place! Not only do other people hate campers, it makes you an easier target. Even when you are staying in one location for a while, to give your teamates cover while they attack the enemies, move around a bit. This movement will save your life from other snipers.
As mentioned by Hikaru staying perfectly still is good for staying off the motion trackers of your oponents, but remember, those motion trackers can only sense nearby motion. Only stay completely still if there is enemy motion on your tracker and you dont want them to know about you. It is also posible to move very sowly and the motion tracker wont pick it up.
One last thing: If you are feeling like being a realy nasty sniper, try to memorize the spawn location of your enemy team. In a game with more then 10 people, this will let you kill them as fast as they can respawn. In a game with limited deaths or respawn time growth this will realy piss off you oponents. Dont do this if you dont want people to hate your guts.