Let's talk sniper rifles...

1st you need to L2Headshot something other than Collector Captains

I snipe when I run out of Shotgun amps.

So, all the time.

I like most of them, though the N7 Valiant is my favourite. I was fortunate to unlock it very early, before I was ready for even Silver, and I've never tired of it. It just feels right. The one-shot snipers have a definite appeal, but I find the Valiant to be a more practical choice for sheer ease of use. Below is some stuff that pertains to playing QFI with Valiant, though it largely applies to SI as well.  None of it will be news to most folks here, but perhaps new players might find it helpful:

You have three shots in the clip and a very quick reload, so you don't need to worry too much about missed shots. You can play a rapid, mobile game.

For infantry, stun with Sabotage and then try for a headshot. You can two-shot Marauders (one shot for the shields, then one kill shot). While waiting for Tactical Cloak (and therefore Sabotage) to cool down, take some pot shots without stunning. For big armour that's easy to hit, alternate cloaked and uncloaked cycles, and chuck some grenades as well. If you cloak immediately before shooting, you can get the damage boost on all three shots.

Take the thermal scope and drill ammo for a/ wallhax and b/ ease of shooting Hunters. Don't worry if you struggle to hit infantry without stunning them, you can still wallhax the big armour.

Quickscoping is awkward.  I find that it goes wrong more often than it works.  For that reason, I prefer to keep my distance rather than trying to "snipe" at close range.  The Valiant is not a shotgun.  That said, I do try to quickscope Husks when they rush me. Alternatively, Husks are so weak that there's also the option of simply accepting the hipfire penalty.

The Acolyte is a useful sidearm for taking down Banshee barriers and dealing with bosh'tet Phantoms.

Sniping on PS3 is crap. You have 3 Marauders lined up for a perfect tripleshot? Nope, have a swarmer instead.

To be fair though, I like many of the snipers with my favorite being Claymore With no shotgun amps to my name and nearly out of sniper rail amps, yeah, I like them ok. Widow, BW, Mantis and Valiant are my favorites. On PSTriple you need to take an extra second or 2 to line up headshots but it's doable.

Why not Black Widow? It is black and can shoot thrice without reloading.

My favourite one is, of course the almighty :


I'd love to bee a good kishock user. It's such a beast. It often bests the black widow and javelin on power heavy kits (and on some other kits too) , but in my opinion it's the hardest weapon to use, even on host.

Here is a plat duo of my friend FM and Techno Turian that showcases well the amount of nonsense that the kishock can deliver

All my infiltrators are snipers (except QFI because meh and Shadow because sword). I prefer the heavy snipers. The pew pew snipers are for children. The Valiant is borderline although it always messes me up transitioning to or from BW.

Viper should have been a real Viper instead of a bb gun.

the Black Widow is my go to sniper rifle.

Question, when you do take a SR into battle, what alternate weapon do you take (if any)?

Me, I tend to take a shotty along as well, like the Reegar or GPS

When I snipe, it used to be strictly infiltrators. Now, I'll Krysae instead of Venom, or Valiant Drell Adept (one of my favorite non infiltrator sniper setups) or SE Mantis...there's a few others, but I try to mix it up nowadays. Can't always Javelin/Black Widow/Widow anymore, I get bored.

With the BW (especially with Phasic III)?