Pick and snipe targets from a distance, thin their numbers, and spread managed democracy.
In Helldivers 2, the diverse roles in a four-person squad give various options to complete an objective and emerge victorious. While each faction requires a unique strategy, loadout, and playstyle to adapt for aggressive assault, the sniper playstyle has merits against bugs and bots.
Players running with the sniper build must always be singled out from the squad. This playstyle demands that you spot high-value threats, eliminate armored foes from a distance, and always be a team player. This guide lists all the elements you should know if you want to run with the best sniper build in the game.
The Best Stratagems For The Sniper Build
Using weapons to complete objectives and spread managed democracy will only get you so far. You must rely on some powerful stratagems to get you out of tough situations and turn the tide in your favor. For this, we have the following recommendations you should absolutely run with while using the sniper build in the game.
APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle
The APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle is the best sniper rifle that can potentially destroy medium—to heavy-armored foes. This gun performs excellently against Automatons but not so much against Terminids.
You can still easily eliminate most Terminid enemy types—such as Warriors, Brood Commanders, Stalkers, and Bile Spewers—from a distance using the APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle. However, defeating the Chargers and killing Bile Titans using a sniper rifle build will become strenuous.
If you play with a full squad against the Automatons, it will be your responsibility to eliminate Hulks and Tanks, the high-value threats, as soon as possible. You can approach any situation in one of the two ways: stealth or guns blazing.
If your squad has already alerted a group, use the APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle from the front and target weak spots. For example, two shots at the red eye of a Hulk will blow it up, and one headshot from the APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle on a Devastator will disable this unit.
On the other hand, stealth is a much better approach if you approach a POI a little earlier than your teammates. First, find higher ground and attack targets from a distance, especially medium—to heavy-armored ones. Enemies will be alerted, but they will not know your whereabouts.
LIFT-850 Jump Pack
The Jump Pack is useful for two situations while running the sniper build. You can use it to reach higher platforms, giving you an overview of the entire area. Then, you can start sniping targets from a distance or call down.
The second use of the Jump Pack is that you can get out of a difficult spot quickly. For example, if a teammate has called Eagle Airstrike near you, you can use the Jump Pack to run away from the spot and avoid getting caught in the explosion.
Eagle Airstrike
Whenever you encounter enemy reinforcements while completing a main mission objective or exploring side objective POI, you must rely on an Eagle Airstrike to thin enemy numbers. This utility is by far the best offensive stratagem for destroying several bots in a single use.
Once the dust has settled, if you spot a few enemies still standing, especially if they are medium—or heavy-armored foes, use the APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle to eliminate them. This sniper rifle has 50m, 100, and 200m scope range options, so pick the one according to the target's range and always shoot while crouching or going prone.
Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods
The versatility of the Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods knows no bounds. It has the potential to one-shot the Tanks, Hulks, Tower Cannons, and even Automaton Fabricators. While most of these high-value threats can be neutralized using the Anti-Materiel Rifle, the main weapon of this sniper build, sometimes you need to rely on offensive Eagle stratagems to reduce enemy presence quicker.
The sniper build is mainly useful for eliminating one target at a time. However, there will be situations when multiple threats are present. For this, using the Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods will give better results than attacking several targets using the Anti-Materiel Rifle.
For example, if you find a Tank and a Hulk on a side objective POI , use the Eagle 110MM Rocket Pods on the Tank and snipe the Hulk from a distance. Strategies like this will benefit the entire team, eventually increasing their survivability.
The Best Weapon Choices
The Anti-Materiel Rifle is the go-to support weapon that must be used as the primary gun. While the ammo count of this gun is decent enough to destroy medium and heavy armored vehicles before running out, you need viable primary and secondary weapons to eliminate foot soldiers or light armored threats.
LAS-16 Sickle
The LAS-16 Sickle is by far the perfect weapon for the sniper build. This gun fires continuous energy rounds with practically no recoil. Since this is an energy weapon in the game, you never have to worry about running out of bullets or finding more ammunition. All you need to do is manage the heat mechanic of the LAS-16 Sickle and not let it overheat.
Even if the weapon overheats, you have six heat sinks to replace. Consider each heat sink as a magazine, except you only replace a heatsink if the gun overheats. Otherwise, you can keep shooting the Sickle gun from the start to the end of the mission.
Besides the unlimited ammo, the LAS-16 Sickle can also be used as a sniper weapon in the game. With zero recoil and three scope options, 25m, 50m, and 100m, you can eliminate light armor enemies from a distance using this gun.
We recommend you use the LAS-16 Sickle on Berserkers instead of the Anti-Materiel Rifle, as they are much easier to hit using this weapon than the sniper rifle. You can also snipe the shielded and rocket Devastator's head using the Sickle . However, you cannot one-shot these foes and will need to focus fire for a few seconds before the head is destroyed.
GP-31 Grenade Pistol
The GP-31 Grenade Pistol is by far the best secondary weapon in the game. It was released in the Democractic Detonation Warbond. This gun offers 600 explosive damage, which is even higher than most throwable grenades in the game.
With a wide variety of grenades and only one slot to pick a type, you really miss the diversity several grenade types can offer. Luckily, with the Grenade Pistol, you can pick up any other non-explosive grenade and unleash chaos.
The best case use of the Grenade Pistol, besides doing AoE damage, is to destroy the Automaton Fabricators. If you face a Bot Fabricator, aim for its vent and fire this weapon; it will blow up the building immediately.
Grenade: G-3 Smoke
With the Grenade Pistol dealing explosive damage to the enemies, equipping the G-3 Smoke is the best throwable option left in the sniper build. The smoke grenade is especially useful while playing against the bot's faction. The smoke obscures the line of sight, and the enemy's ranged weapon accuracy gets significantly reduced.
Sniper Build Playstyle
Even if you pick the loadout we recommend in this guide, you need to play the sniper build with a certain playstyle.
First, always try to find higher ground and attack enemies using the Anti-Materiel Rifle, Sickle, or throwing offensive stratagems at them. The higher ground gives you a vantage point to see all enemies and only target the heavy ones.
The Jump Pack will help you reach new heights that are otherwise impossible without it.
Never rush to attack an objective alone. While the sniper build can be played solo, its true worth lies in the teamplay. That is because one or two team rushers in the squad will divert all the enemies' attention from you, giving you enough room to target bigger threats from a distance while not being targeted.