Sniper Elite V2 – Tips for Beginners [Guide]

If you’re not one of those gamers who grew up owning noobs with the Arctic Warfare Magnum in CounterStrike, then maybe you won’t have that good of a time with Sniper Elite V2. Despite that, the game’s learning curve is not that steep at all, despite the name. Perhaps you’ll even become leet after playing through all the difficulty levels. This guide should help you get started with the game.

The biggest difference between those two games is that Sniper Elite V2 is way more realistic. That means certain things like bullet drop and wind deflection affect the ballistics of your shots, as well as your character’s heartrate and breathing. In this game, picking your shots is definitely required, so you can’t go gung-ho and bunny hop in front of enemies like in CS.

Locations

Generally, you would want to be behind something. However, you may not actually be covered even when you think you are since the enemy can be higher up than you or would be flanking you while you’re busy with whatever is below. Distance is always your best friend since you can tag them with your binoculars before you go forward. When you pick your spot, make sure that it has a whole lot of cover with walls high enough for you to hide in.

If you’ve been spotted, then you’ll see a ghost of yourself after you hide, showing where you were last seen. Use that ghost as a guide on where to not hide and

Tagging Enemies

Your binoculars can be your best friend in this game. Tagging enemies is one of the most useful mechanics in the game since you can avoid any unfortunate incidences in advance like snipers and enemies near your flank. When you point your binoculars directly at an enemy, an arrow comes up, so you can exploit the feature and sweep your vision to find baddies that you’d otherwise miss if you just go straight to shooting.

Leading

In sniper speak, leading is shooting in front of a moving target to compensate for the interval between when the bullet is fired and when it reaches the intended target. This can be quite challenging since you have various things to consider first like bullet drop, wind, the direction your target is going, how far away he is from you, and how fast he’s going.

Leading does take some practice to master, but it will help you hit better once you get used to it. Just think of it as firing a faster rocket launcher in other FPS games.

Using Focus Mode

Speaking of leading, that and most of your sniping in general can improve in accuracy by using focus mode. Entering it slows down time and gives you a red indicator that shows where your shot will land at the intended target. The meter that limits focus mode is basically the sniper’s heart rate. Various things can determine whether focus mode is available or not at a given situation.

If you recently ran a good bit of distance, then your heart rate will be high and you won’t be able to use it at all for a pretty long time. If you have been using it too much, then your heart rate will also increase. Make sure that the sniper is relaxed in order to make use of focus mode.

Melee Stealth Kills

This is not exactly an easy way to kill your enemies, but it will conserve your ammo and take them down most silently. Getting up close and personal is best against enemies who are on their own.

Conserve SMG Ammo

There will be times when you will be flanked unexpectedly or you get spotted without warning. That is when you whip out the submachine gun and spray them down. The only drawback is that SMG ammo is very hard to come by, so you have to save your ammo and only use that weapon when only absolutely necessary. In fact, make it a rule for yourself that you’re not supposed to have to use it anyway since you’re a sniper, so you have to take them out from a distance as much as possible. If any enemy gets close, then you will need more practice.

Silenced Pistol

If you don’t think that you can close the gap and kill an enemy silently with melee, then you still have your silenced pistol, the Welrod. While it has limited range, a big crosshair that you can’t really be sure with, and you have to cock it after every shot, it’s a good stealth weapon that kills instantly when you get a headshot. However, you really have to score a headshot to get the kill or the dude will just be pissed at you and will alert his friends. It takes three shots that are not to the head to kill, so be careful.

Take Advantage of Noise

There are some areas where noise periodically comes up, overpowering other sounds in the vicinity. You can determine that it covers up other noises when you see the sound indicator on the top right of the screen. When you time it right, you can kill enemies with your rifle without alerting everyone else. Just don’t get too eager to the point where you shoot when the noise is gone for that moment, in which case you’ll have a problem in your hands.