Some of the important information about the sniper rifles in game is not available until you buy and use them for a bit. Things like whether bodyshots will kill, or if there is a suppressor option, or what the different scopes are. This guide was made so that you don’t have to guess.
General Information
Scopes
All scopes can zero to any 100m increment between 0m and the maximum zeroing range, so if the max zero is 600m, the scope can be zeroed for 0m, 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, and 600m.
As you can see, the Extreme Long Range Scope is strictly better than any of the others, and in most cases, it’s not much more expensive than the other options. Because of this, I will only note the magnification and max zero of the short range and extreme long range scopes for each rifle.
Some rifles claim to have a ‘special’ scope, which as far as I can tell means it has a wider magnification range for that option than usual. The Extreme Long Range scope is still the best in all cases.
Light Sniper Rifles
JIC 7.62
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – AP, Luring, EMP
This is one of the starter rifles. You buy it as part of the tutorial, and the intel token is given to you automatically. Also the suppressor is cheap and also bought during the tutorial, and the Extreme Long Range Scope is free. It’s not a bad rifle. It can certainly get you through that second contract, and it has good special ammo options.
Riihimaki M10
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – AP, EMP, Explosive
LSSR MYSH 2
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – Tagging, Luring, A.G.I.L.E.
This rifle is interesting for a variety of reasons. First, it is the only suppressed rifle in the base game that can use tagging bullets. Second, it is integrally suppressed, so you don’t have to buy a suppressor for it. Third, it is semi-auto. This makes it work especially well with the backup sight. Its starting scope also has an unusually wide zoom range. You do have to complete a bounty to get the intel tokens to buy it though.
DLC Weapon – Marcus Tactical 8
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – AP, Tagging, Luring
Despite the pro/con list in-game saying this weapon is loud, it is not. With a suppressor, enemies don’t notice anything unless you are very close. I would need to do more testing, but I think I’ve been shooting about 20m away from enemies and they don’t get suspicious. The inclusion of AP rounds makes this weapon able to take on any enemy, and can blow up an APC in two shots to its weak points, which are revealed in mask mode once you get the Combat Engineer development skill.
Medium Sniper Rifles
Medium snipers also have access to an upgraded barrel that you can purchase. This improves stability, recoil, mobility, and also damage.
!! VERY IMPORTANT !!
These rifles (except for the integrally suppressed one) have two suppressors. They cost the same amount, but are specific to either the standard barrel or the improved barrel. If you buy the suppressor for the standard barrel, you will have to buy it again for the improved barrel.
Tai Hu SR3
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – EMP, Explosive, A.G.I.L.E.
Improved barrel costs 20.5k Credits
Defender 888
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – AP, Luring, A.G.I.L.E
Improved barrel costs TBD Credits
This weapon is really nice to use. It’s kind of a do-it-all rifle since it has a suppressor, AP ammo to make sure heavy soldiers go down, Luring ammo for splitting up groups of enemies, and A.G.I.L.E. rounds for when you want to absolutely make sure you hit your target.
MSSR 10
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – AP, Luring, EMP
Improved barrel costs 40.9k Credits
Heavy Sniper Rifles
For the long shot contracts, once you get the the sniper hides, these are the best weapons for those contracts. Even without access to a suppressor, nobody will hear you when you’re 1000m+ away. A bit unrealistic, but still fun. Bodyshots are less consistent at these ranges, but with some patience, you should be able to land headshots on anyone you need to kill.
The special slot item is a bipod, which passively increases your stability, reducing sway. You do not have to deploy the bipod for it to work.
UK-50
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – Luring, EMP, Explosive
This is the gun you start with, and what a gun to start with it is. You get the ELRS for free, and that gives you the highest zoom scope in the game right at the start. It can kill anything with one shot, except vehicles, but for those you can hit them with an EMP round and the squishy crewmen jump out for you. The firerate and magazine size aren’t great, but it is a starter gun after all.
Ron B107
Magazine Capacity
Price
Special Ammo – AP, Tagging, Luring, EMP, Explosive, A.G.I.L.E
This weapon is unparalleled when it comes to the long shot contracts. You have complete flexibility for what special ammo you bring, plenty of zoom, and it fires semi-auto. Since you can’t use a suppressor, you may as well use the muzzle brake to cut down on the recoil and make follow-up shots even easier.
Special Ammo
Description of special ammo types:
AP – Pierces obstacles and bodyarmor. Makes doublekills much more consistent.
Tagging – Tags enemies within 25m of the impact point. Useful for spotting enemies in buildings.
Luring – Lures one enemy within 15m of the impact point. Even if multiple enemies can hear the lure, only one will investigate.
EMP – Disables vehicles and electronics in an area without making a huge amount of noise. Nearby impacts will still alert enemies, so it can’t be used todisable the antenna arrays without killing the guards next to them.
Explosive – Deals damage in a 2.5m radius of the impact point. Also alerts everyone else. Might be useful for killing vehicles though.
A.G.I.L.E. – Ignores wind and gravity. Also has a considerably higher muzzle velocity. I will admit to shamelessly using these on some of the long shot contracts.
Each rifle has a different selection of special ammo that it can use. This set of tables shows which rifle can use which ammo, separated by class.
Light Rifles
Medium Rifles
Heavy Rifles
Final notes
Other weapons I haven’t gotten around to using, so they don’t have a notes section. I will probably get around to those at some point.
Overall, I like the sniper rifles in this game. They feel powerful and satisfying to use. However, the inability for standard ammo to penetrate cover at all was a surprise to me after playing the first game, as with the medium snipers being unable to bodyshot all the regular enemies. That said, once I knew these things, the game was still fun.
I hope this guide helps people make good choices for which weapons to use. Good luck and good hunting.
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