Any Snipe tips?

caffeinesoul

Hello there!

I'm interested in getting people's feedback on the Snipe ability. I currently have it morphed to Focus Aim and I primarily use it as an opener from stealth. However, I find the spell a little clunky and its viability in PvE/PvP seems to depend largely on the space you're fighting in.

In boss fights, I try to keep my distance, but with mobile bosses/bosses in cluttered rooms, the spell will often be out-ranged or LoS'd (line of sight will be broken) and I end up wasting 3 seconds or so trying to keep up my focused aim debuff on the target. In PvP the spell is somewhat useful for picking off players from keep walls but with all the gap-closers and enhanced mobility spells, it's rare that I'll get a chance to use Snipe outside of openers.

I'm not sure if it's worth putting it on the hot-bar at all, if it's only good for opening in most situations - at least, that's how I feel, perhaps I'm doing something wrong? Any tips?

I was thinking that it might be better if the minimum range or cast time was reduced, but the damage of the attack scaled with distance (the further the target, the more damage done, with base damage being lower than it currently is, but scaling to hit harder than it currently does near max range).

Opinions?

MoMoOG

Its a very meh skill. I'd only consider putting it on my bar for pvp or questing and only for the purpose of initial burst. Even if you had the ability to stand in one spot and spam it on a boss encounter for the entire fight (which is never) the dps is still not that amazing. However, it is a very spirit efficient ability.

omalley92eb17_ESO

With Snipe I always use as an opener from stealth with Reapers Mark. So not only do I get a huge damage buff from the sneak attack but also ignore 75% of the enemies armour and spell resistance. Currently at level 38 my snipe hits between 840-1000 and usually one shots the mobs in my current area.

Plus when the target is dead, which is one more light attack if the snipe didn't one shot, Reapers Mark gives me more weapon power meaning I can kill other mobs faster or make an even more powerful Snipe. It's my fave skill atm.

AngersRevenge

I use as an opener. It can 1 shot a normal mob of equal level if you hit them with a sneak attack. If it doesn't 1 shot them then it only takes 1 or 2 light attacks to finish them.

For PvP it's fun to defend a keep with it. Sit on the keep walls and pour a rain of arrows on the people below. Most won't realize they are in range and how much damage a sneak attack snipe can really do.

Lenthas

The very bow skill line is intended as the range mentally challanged brother of the staff for non magicka stacking users.

While mages (all who use magicka as a source of damage), have their staff skills pretty damn well built to the point of the same skill doing 3 different things depending on the weapon type on top of their class skills.

Bow is left with ... range that can be ignored since every class has some sort of class specific movement enhancement if not outright gap closer, and the rest can access the weapon gap closers. scatter shot is a joke and the only viable morph is magnum shot which still feels like nothing.

Bow is simply a support tool, if you try to mainly use a bow, it will work, not saying it won't, but in pvp you are gimping yourself and in pve you're better off having melee as main dps and change to bow when on heavy movement fights.

I don't know, but bow feels pretty damn weak, the aoe it offers isn't shining or even remotely compared to the staff, and as you said the only skill that saves the line is snipe, being able to shoot from quite far, but becomes useless once in combat due to its long cast time, which is realistic, but it does make it feel like a waste on a limited skill bar.

I've tried countless times to make my bow main weapon, and it does work, but I soon find that going melee or staff just does better results.

Its a support tree to make stamina based characters be able to do something while going melee is suicide.

omalley92eb17_ESO

Lenthas wrote: »

The very bow skill line is intended as the range mentally challanged brother of the staff for non magicka stacking users.

While mages (all who use magicka as a source of damage), have their staff skills pretty damn well built to the point of the same skill doing 3 different things depending on the weapon type on top of their class skills.

Bow is left with ... range that can be ignored since every class has some sort of class specific movement enhancement if not outright gap closer, and the rest can access the weapon gap closers. scatter shot is a joke and the only viable morph is magnum shot which still feels like nothing.

Bow is simply a support tool, if you try to mainly use a bow, it will work, not saying it won't, but in pvp you are gimping yourself and in pve you're better off having melee as main dps and change to bow when on heavy movement fights.

I don't know, but bow feels pretty damn weak, the aoe it offers isn't shining or even remotely compared to the staff, and as you said the only skill that saves the line is snipe, being able to shoot from quite far, but becomes useless once in combat due to its long cast time, which is realistic, but it does make it feel like a waste on a limited skill bar.

I've tried countless times to make my bow main weapon, and it does work, but I soon find that going melee or staff just does better results.

Its a support tree to make stamina based characters be able to do something while going melee is suicide.

Couldn't disagree more

Knootewoot

Currently i am lvl 36 and only have 2 bows equipped. Haven't had any difficulty yet because most mobs can't even hit me.

1 bow i have poison_arrow/volley_fire/scattershot_knockback/assassins_blade/shadow
1 bow i have poison_arrow/snipe/arrow spray_bombard/assassins_blade/shadow

Don't know whether to morph snipe in lethal or focussed aim.

Currently i snipe one mob. Then arrow spray them so they are snared and stunned. I swap bow and put some arrow barrage wioth flames just in front of them. Then i poison arrow them until one gets close. i knockback and then shadow. Then some stealth attack with poisonarrow until stamina is gone then i shadow again and assassin blade them. sometimes i swap back top other bow for snare/stun. I can solo up to 4 mobs my same level.

Don't know how it will be on veteran levels but ill find out. got 35 skillpoints left.

I only put all in bow and its passives and medium armor passives. One in shadow and the passives and one in assassins blade. (and some in alchemy and foodcooking.

I can always switch to one-handed shield as i keep the best weapon and shield i find for my level.

caffeinesoul

Thanks for the responses so far!

omalley92eb17_ESO wrote: »

With Snipe I always use as an opener from stealth with Reapers Mark. So not only do I get a huge damage buff from the sneak attack but also ignore 75% of the enemies armour and spell resistance. Currently at level 38 my snipe hits between 840-1000 and usually one shots the mobs in my current area.

Plus when the target is dead, which is one more light attack if the snipe didn't one shot, Reapers Mark gives me more weapon power meaning I can kill other mobs faster or make an even more powerful Snipe. It's my fave skill atm.

That sounds pretty good, though I'm not spec'd in to Assassination on my Nightblade. I'm a little bit hesitant about having 2 spells on my hotbar for an opener, because I'm not sure how useful that combo will be against geared veterans (sounds amazing for PvE though). I'll try it out, I've been meaning to level Assassination so I can get the haste spell for use with Expert Hunter in PvE.

AngersRevenge wrote: »

I use as an opener. It can 1 shot a normal mob of equal level if you hit them with a sneak attack. If it doesn't 1 shot them then it only takes 1 or 2 light attacks to finish them.

For PvP it's fun to defend a keep with it. Sit on the keep walls and pour a rain of arrows on the people below. Most won't realize they are in range and how much damage a sneak attack snipe can really do.

Yeah, it's a good spell for defending keeps. I'll probably leave it off my hotbar for now, and just swap it in with something when I decide to pick people off from the walls. I think that will be the overall solution for making my hotbar as efficient as possible, though I would like to always have that ability accessible. Maybe I'm just too used to WoW's much larger hotbar system. >_<

Lenthas wrote: »

Bow is simply a support tool, if you try to mainly use a bow, it will work, not saying it won't, but in pvp you are gimping yourself and in pve you're better off having melee as main dps and change to bow when on heavy movement fights.

I felt like this when I made this thread, but I think I disagree a little, now that I've used the bow more. I find that being able to keep Focused Aim debuff up on targets in PvE is more an issue with team co-ordination (having the tank/melee help keep the target within range) than it is with the environments. I've gone from bow/bow to bow/2h axe as well, as I want to unlock the momentum spell for better bow AoE damage (with bombard, I like the stun and it's good for kiting adds/players around when the rest of my team's preoccupied >_>) + it will also be good for stacking with Haste and Expert Hunter when bursting down groups of mobs in PvE. I think the bow has a lot of potential and I just have to find what works best with the abilities in the bow skill-line.

Not sure I like having to level 2 handed weps to 38 to get Momentum however. From the tooltip, it sounds like an ability that's useful for all weapons but staffs. I guess mastering everything is part of making your character as powerful as it can be. I hope there are enough skill-points available in the game. ._.

Redblade1525

I use the bow as my primary weapon, but with the build that I am using for pvp I don't bother with snipe at all. To be honest I prefer a heavy attack from sneak as an opener, (after putting piercing mark on them of course). I then use one of two combos. Magnum shot->heavy attack-> venom arrow OR Shadowy disquise->heavy attack->venom arrow. By putting piercing mark on them first and flowing through these combos it is difficult to lose a 1v1 unless you mess up pretty badly. As a level 30 i've taken out level 4 vets without taking damage with this combo because if you time it right they never get to attack you because you are either invisible or they are stunned for the entire fight.

Reavan

Using bow for my ranged in PVP.
Snipe is a great ability and if you go up the back you can get some serious burst damage on people.

With Reapers Mark it does 1100 damage for me atm in PVP which is very good.

caffeinesoul

Redblade1525 wrote: »

I use the bow as my primary weapon, but with the build that I am using for pvp I don't bother with snipe at all. To be honest I prefer a heavy attack from sneak as an opener, (after putting piercing mark on them of course). I then use one of two combos. Magnum shot->heavy attack-> venom arrow OR Shadowy disquise->heavy attack->venom arrow. By putting piercing mark on them first and flowing through these combos it is difficult to lose a 1v1 unless you mess up pretty badly. As a level 30 i've taken out level 4 vets without taking damage with this combo because if you time it right they never get to attack you because you are either invisible or they are stunned for the entire fight.

That sounds good and I might try doing that as well, though when I engage in 1v1 there's nearly always someone else hiding nearby and I get owned.

Reavan wrote: »

Using bow for my ranged in PVP.
Snipe is a great ability and if you go up the back you can get some serious burst damage on people.

With Reapers Mark it does 1100 damage for me atm in PVP which is very good.

Ohai @Reavan! I guess I really need to get Reaper's Mark. Ta'!

- Venodrin

twistedmonk

Also, does Scatter shot seemed bugged? It's supposed to disorient the target for 5 seconds.

Currently it does not work as the tooltip suggests. It does the knockback but no disorient from what I could tell.

Disorient* - Long disable (cannot move/perform action); cannot move/perform any action, but taking any damage will remove it. Example: Scatter Shot in Bow.

caffeinesoul

twistedmonk wrote: »

Also, does Scatter shot seemed bugged? It's supposed to disorient the target for 5 seconds.

Currently it does not work as the tooltip suggests. It does the knockback but no disorient from what I could tell.

Disorient* - Long disable (cannot move/perform action); cannot move/perform any action, but taking any damage will remove it. Example: Scatter Shot in Bow.

It works for me (some mobs are immune - bosses etc), make sure you/another person hasn't put a damage over time debuff on the target.

Reavan

caffeinesoul wrote: »

Redblade1525 wrote: »

I use the bow as my primary weapon, but with the build that I am using for pvp I don't bother with snipe at all. To be honest I prefer a heavy attack from sneak as an opener, (after putting piercing mark on them of course). I then use one of two combos. Magnum shot->heavy attack-> venom arrow OR Shadowy disquise->heavy attack->venom arrow. By putting piercing mark on them first and flowing through these combos it is difficult to lose a 1v1 unless you mess up pretty badly. As a level 30 i've taken out level 4 vets without taking damage with this combo because if you time it right they never get to attack you because you are either invisible or they are stunned for the entire fight.

That sounds good and I might try doing that as well, though when I engage in 1v1 there's nearly always someone else hiding nearby and I get owned.

Reavan wrote: »

Using bow for my ranged in PVP.
Snipe is a great ability and if you go up the back you can get some serious burst damage on people.

With Reapers Mark it does 1100 damage for me atm in PVP which is very good.

Ohai @Reavan! I guess I really need to get Reaper's Mark. Ta'!

- Venodrin

Veno add me Ig!
@Reavx

Deccion

Here is my experience with it on the two classes that I play;

With Templar/Tank:

I tried both morphs of Snipe and I found Lethal Arrow to be of the best benefit, simply because I could see the results. If Focused Aim helped, it is in way that does not really translate into a visible number, so it is hard to assess. If you insist on using Snipe, I recommend Lethal Arrow.

I ultimately went of away from Snipe, because the cast time really relegates it to an opener only. I went back to using Venom Arrow. I prefer an ability that I can use when I want, not just one situation. I feel that overall, I get way more DPS out of Venom, than Snipe. With Radiant Aura, I have the stamina to spam Venom Arrow any time I want.


With Nightblade:

With my NB, Snipe is a fixture. The boosted damage firing from stealth really lets the Snipe ability shine. Which is where it probably belongs anyway. My NB is a bow first fighter, so stamina is a concern. I don't not use Venom Arrow on my NB, preferring to use stamina in other ways.


My .02. Hope it helps

Cinna

I've gone from bow/bow to bow/2h axe as well, as I want to unlock the momentum spell for better bow AoE damage (with bombard,

I'm afraid Momentum does not carry over to another weapon type. See: more on another thread.

LunaRae

I was using dual wield 100% in PvP recently as a VR12 NB but I've switched to bow to test it out.

I'm currently sitting on

• 2200 base stamina (enchants and stamina points), full 7 piece med armor
• 173 base weapon damage, with weapon enchant crushing glyph -600 armor and weapon crit at 53.3%
• Hunding rage 5 piece and night mother 3 piece (so 19-21% weapon ability damage and crits reduce armor by 20%
• Focus Aim (Snipe) base damage at 763, does not include hunding bonus in ability sheet (tested by equip/dequip to see # difference)

Right now my two bow abilities for PvP are venom arrow and focus aim. Like some have already mentioned Snipe / Focus Aim / Lethal Arrow are not a spammable ability. It's an opener, and outside of that sees rare use. I think the ability needs some work but it's been slowly improving (cast time from 3 > 2, med armor weapon stam consumption down, etc..). The best thing going for weapon abilities ATM is most folks are running light armor and have retardedly high spell resist. This is a tiny opening for weapon ability builds to shine as most people don't expect to take damage from weapon abilities.

I don't have recorded video (yet) of some in-game PvP action where I'm running around with friends ganking but my numbers are 1500 crit from a true sneak (opener) on focus aim, 1300 on regular weapon crits in combat. Venom arrow crits for 600 in combat, never use it to open. Light attacks around 500 for crit in combat. I do use piercing mark from NB but I usually only see a 100-200 dmg increase depending on target, I mostly use it to keep my focus on target and also see pesky invis nightblades (like myself).

I'm definitely not saying OMG weapon builds too OP - but I think people can have SOME fun trying stuff out. I'm definitely a glass cannon - in 1v1 I can only win if I get the first hit off from sneak (where my big damage hits instantly followed with a volley of light/venom arrows before they can do much) in group scenarios I toggle my weapon bars and use shadowy disguise to disengage people who try to kill me. I like fights to focus on my DK/Templars while I stay far away and utilize my weapon dmg and ranged abilities. I target down healer > dk > sorc > nb.

I picked Focus Aim because I like having the longer range when defending keeps with small amounts of people. I get +5 range from assault tree passive and +5 range from focus aim which lets me get into different positions people don't expect to get shot from. 50 range on my focus aim, 43 meters on arrow barrage, etc... it's too dangerous to sit on keep walls and try to get a shot or two off, being able to stay further back is nice.

Also, based on your response check out the patch note changes to snipe specifically, reduce min range and cast time (both points you mention).

With two bars available I think you can find a spot for snipe if you like to gank/attack from a distance. Lethal arrow is what most people use but I'm running focus aim and enjoying it quite a bit.

Victus

Oooo I didn't remember the Assault passive range increase, will have to look into that as well.

Edit: necro thread! lol