Advanced Sniper
| Advanced Sniper | |
|---|---|
  Havoc (GDI) and Sakura (Nod) | |
| Character | |
| Faction |
 Global Defense Initiative Brotherhood of Nod |
| Role | Anti-personnel infantry |
| Health | 100 |
| Armor |
200 (Recruit) 225 (Veteran) 250 (Elite) 275 (Heroic) |
| Armor type | Kevlar |
| Speed | 90 |
| Cost | $1000 |
| Requires |
Barracks Hand of Nod |
| Loadout | |
| Primary weapon | Ramjet Rifle |
| Sidearm | Carbine |
| Explosives | Timed C4 x1 |
| Grenades | Smoke Grenade x1 |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Internal name |
Rx_FamilyInfo_GDI_Havoc Rx_FamilyInfo_Nod_Sakura |
| Jargon | Sak (Sakura) |
Advanced Snipers are improved version of Snipers, boasting higher damage. Havoc is the Global Defense Initiative's advanced sniper, whereas Sakura is the Brotherhood of Nod's advanced sniper.
Biography
Havoc
Born and grown up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Havoc joined the United States Marine Corps at a young age. He quickly became recognized for his rough and tough attitude and bloated ego, which made him unpopular with his superiors. His service was unconventional but effective, and it made him a public relations nightmare for the Marine Corps.
He was recruited by the GDI because of his proficiency with weapons and impressive war record. He was assigned to GDI's elite Dead 6 commando unit. Eventually, Havoc, due to the drawn-out anti-Nod campaign in northern Egypt, was dismissed from the unit and began operating solo, using his special forces training to fight Nod his own way, although still nominally under GDI control.
Appearance
GDI
Havoc wears military boots, trousers, gloves, kneepads, elbowpads, and a sleeveless leather jacket on top of a shirt with the GDI logo on it. He has short brown hair and a scar on his left cheek.
Nod
Sakura wears military boots, trousers, gloves with bandage wraps around her arms, a sleeveless leather jacket with a symbol on the back, and a tank top under it. She has short black hair, tattoos on both of her arms, and the same symbol found on her jacket is also tattooed on the upper part of her front body.
Function
Advanced Snipers retain all the abilities of Snipers; they are employed to assassinate infantry from covered positions at long distances. They can intercept infantries going through an infantry path or provide support by killing Engineers repairing the opponent Vehicles while remaining out from the battlefield. Advanced Snipers do basically no damage against heavy armored Vehicles and Buildings. They also carry a smoke grenade to cover their retreats or obfuscate automated defenses' view.
In addition, Advanced Snipers can damage light armored vehicles to some extent with their Ramjet Rifles.
Strategy
Usage
Advanced Snipers require a great degree of precision, reflexes, aiming skill, and a steady hand to play effectively with. It is not advisable to purchase an Advanced Sniper if the player does not possess efficient sniping skills, mostly because the rate of fire of an Advanced Sniper is low and it can shoot only four rounds before needing to reload. In addition, mouse sensitivity can be adjusted via a slider in the Settings window should an Advanced Sniper feel the necessity to do so.
Advanced Snipers have the longest range among all infantries, along with a Ramjet Rifle that possess two zoom levels and switch to nightvision (N is the default button) to allow greater precision when aiming. Anything they see in the target marker they can hit.
An Advanced Sniper should always go for a headshot, since it guarantees a one-hit kill; still, hitting other parts of the body will do considerable damage, usually enough to take all the armor value and half of the health value of an infantry.
While aiming towards infantries that are moving around, Advanced Snipers should observe if they move in a specific pattern and then predict their movements and shoot at the appropriate spot: for example, against one player who is running forward straightly, an Advanced Sniper can easily predict their next position and aim a little further of their current position to perform the headshot. Note that bullets from the Ramjet Rifle are instantaneous and immediately strike the targeted spot after firing, as they do not have travel time.
The Advanced Sniper should prioritize high ground or places with cover nearby when sniping; the former will allow a greater view over the battlefield and the latter will allow him to jump behind cover if he/she is spotted. Advanced Snipers should also frequently switch sniping locations so that he/she is not immediately spotted by enemy snipers looking for him/her; this is further emphasized by Ramjet Rifles giving away his/her position, since it leaves a faint but straight blue line trace after firing the round.
An Advanced Sniper should not linger around corners, since he/she can be easily ambushed from the sides. While Advanced Snipers can assist in controlling infantry paths, they should at least be accompanied by teammates to prevent ambushes from behind, especially when the path behind them is not safe.
Advanced Snipers can retaliate when confronting infantries in close proximity, if they are skilled and fast enough to aim at short ranges, yet they are still at disadvantage as the assailant can get out from the Advanced Sniper's view fast by circling around him/her and keep hitting him/her with automatic weapons while he/she has to aim or reload; also, the reduced movement speed will not help in fleeing from an assailant. Another viable option for Advanced Snipers would be switching to their side Carbines when engaging the assailant in close quarters, therefore compensating for the lack of rate of fire to a some extent.
When aiming at the enemy, it is advisable to keep moving around to avoid being shot by enemy snipers that might have spotted the Advanced Sniper, as players might try to close in and attach Timed C4 on the Advanced Sniper when he/she is engrossed in aiming; this is mostly done by some Stealth Black Hands in good humor; others would just try to ambush the Advanced Sniper from behind. Veteran snipers will only need to stand still for a small amount of time to precisely aim their shots, while other veterans are able to aim steadily even while moving around.
Having the back facing an obstacle is also a viable option to reduce the chances of getting ambushed. Another option would be to snipe near the presence allied vehicles, so that in case of ambushes, the Advanced Sniper can jump into the allied vehicle to stay safe; however, he/she could be struck in the crossfire between vehicles.
Due to possessing Ramjet Rifles, Advanced Snipers are also able to moderately damage light armored vehicles from long distances. Taking potshots at approaching Orcas/Apaches from afar will usually coerce them to fall back into cover, due to the low health and high cost of the vehicle.
Advanced Snipers that need to fall back may use the Smoke Grenade to conceal their position from enemy snipers.
Counters
Advanced Snipers are at disadvantage if players get close to them; infantries such as Officer, Patch, Mobius, and Mendoza are preferred for their high rate of fire when confronting an Advanced Sniper in close quarters. Although they carry Carbines as side weapons, those usually fall short against most primary automatic weapons. When approaching the Advanced Sniper or repairing allied vehicles, strafe and jump around with alternating movement so to not follow a predictable pattern to raise the chances of avoiding a headshot; even so, veteran Advanced Snipers might still be able to snipe your head even when you are moving around. Generally speaking, you want to keep moving all the times (except when you are inside an allied building or a vehicle), as you might get shot when you least expect it.
The best moment to ambush an Advanced Sniper is when he/she has not spotted you or when he/she is engrossed in aiming at someone else. Stealth Black Hands can also easily ambush lone Advanced Snipers due to their stealth capabilities.
Maintain your composure and stay focused, especially if an Advanced Sniper has killed you plenty of times. Lowering your guard and going berserk in trying to pursue vengeance will probably end up in you being slain by him/her once more.
Against Advanced Snipers at long distances, another sniper will be able to counter him/her; the efficacy of the counter will depend mostly on the difference of aiming skills and reflexes between the snipers.
Heavy armored vehicles are safe from an Advanced Sniper; light armored Vehicles will take moderate damage from his/her shots; since the chances to hit an Advanced Sniper from distance are slim, even with Mobile Rocket Launcher Systems or Mobile Artilleries, is best to seek cover or advance with Engineers behind; or purposely have the Advanced Sniper pick on your light armored vehicle to distract him/her so that allied snipers can take care of him/her.
