The Sniper Omnibus.

Introduction.

Why, you ask?Because Sniper has the most ******ed model ever.Not to mention his lines feel like something a full blown crack-***** would say.

Anyways,Sniper is an okay-okay hero who is played in a not very okay-okay way.In this guide, i will open some new horizons to this easy hero.

Kardel Sharpeye, the Sniper.

[{Sniper]] is a hero infamous for...being ******ed and hitting on girls from far-far away.

He is a tier 2-3 carry who deals high amounts of DPS from a long distance.He also has a very long distance,high-damage nuke on a low cooldown.He is a hero who specializes in ending lives from far far away.

Sniper has a very good scalability factor,meaning that he becomes more powerful as the game progresses.

Pro And Cons

Pros:

• Very high damage output.
• Can be invincible with correct positioning.
• Insane amounts of harass with Headshot
• Absolutely crushes Squishy heroes.
  

Cons:

• Very very squishy.
• Countered by gap-closers and any form of hard CC (hex,stun)
• A hard carry with no farming ability.
• No solid disable.

Skills.

is your sub-par nuke and slowing skill.It doesn't do much to be honest.It used to in the olden days when it affected towers, but now it just a skill to trouble other people and can also be used as a deterrent for the enemy to use a particular path (you are not going down a path laden with 3 continuous Shrapnel are you?).One more very useful use of Shrapnel is farming stacked neutral camps.This is a guaranteed way of boosting your farm as you are basically farming with the efficiency of a Naga Siren 5 minutes into the game which is why we take one point in shrapnel at level 5 even in the hard carry build,you put all your Shrapnel charges onto a heavily stacked camp and rotate into the camp to finish up any stragglers.


Cast Range: 1800
Effect Radius: 450
Damage per Second: 12/24/36/48
Move Speed Slow: 15%/20%/25%/30%
Shrapnel Duration: 10
Number of Charges: 3
Charge Restore Time: 40
Mana Cost:50

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is sniper's unique passive which gives him the ability to deal bonus damage and slow the attack-speed as well as the movement speed of the target for 0.5 seconds.Not a very impressive attack-damage steroid, giving only 6/16/26/36 damage when taken on an average.But it's the movement speed and attack speed slow that stands out,Almost making heroes useless of its duration in the early game.Even 50 minutes into the game,100 attack speed slow is nothing to scoff at.

Proc Chance: 40%
Damage: 15/40/65/90
Move Speed Slow: 100%
Attack Speed Slow: 100
Slow Duration: 0.5

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is a very good skill.Increases his total attack range to 650/750/850/950..Please note that level 3 and 4 of this skill enable Sniper to hit towers from out of its range.Also makes Blink Dagger an amazing item for him as,with the right kind of positioning, Sniper becomes a very difficult hero to catch hold of and he can still deal a ****-load of damage.

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] is Sniper's signature nuke dealing a lot of damage.Seriously.A level two Lina ultimate on a 10 second cooldown is nothing to laugh at.Makes Sniper a deadly nuker which you cannot see.Grants true sight. Counterable by blink (please note that the target has to blink after the projectile is launched,not before).

Cast Range: 2000/2500/3000
Damage: 355/505/655
Cooldown:20/15/10
mana Cost:175/275/375]

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Item Progression-Generic Sniper.

you know,the boring pub build.

Starting items

is a very potent healing potion,helpful if you are facing opposition but want to sustain in lane to seep exp and gold.

.Another heal if you are facing very heavy opposition.

X3

.Because they give good all-round stats and build into a Magic Wand.

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Mid Game Items

is an item that Sniper makes as it provides Sniper with an escape and some attack speed,both of which Sniper needs.But the problem with this item is that It is easily countered.Purchasing a Dust of Appearance completely counters it, effectively negating it's movement speed buff and revealing you.

is another classic [[sniper]-esque item.Gives you a lot of attack speed and a lot of movement speed.The downside is,you take 30% extra damage from all sources.meaning,that an average nuke dealing 300 damage before reductions will deal 300 * 25% (magic resistance)=225 + 225*30% = 297 damage.That is almost like dealing pure damage!

This is an item that gives amazing returns per gold (only 14 gold per unit attack speed) but is extremely self punishing if not used with care.Only consider in certain match ups.

.I don't like this item very much to be honest.Don't mistake me, this item is AMAZING.Also affects buildings,which is a good addition to Sniper's formidable tower-mowing power.Did you know that this item can give you as much as 30& boost in damage in the early game?amazing right? Did you also know that after 10 minutes, this bonus damage drops down to 15%? You didn't right? Below this, i will give some maths about how Desolator's damage reduces.

• If the target has 7 armor which gives 29.6%, desolator will reduce that to 0,implying a damage amplification of 29.6%.
  
• If the target has 14 armor which gives 45.7%, desolator will reduce that to 7,Implying a damage amplification of 16.6.

This goes on and on.The sad fact is that Desolator just does not do enough for the cost at all stages in the game.

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Late Game

The Items are the same as other builds.

Gameplay-Generic Sniper

The Gameplay is similar to how one would play a hard carry Sniper (explained 2 chapters below)

The only difference here is that you have to play more passively due to the unreliable nature of your escape.

Item Progression-Hard Lane Semi-Farmer

Sometimes when against dual melee lanes, it is good to have a Sniper offlane simply due to the insane amount of harassment he can mete out.

Starting Items

is a very good early game pickup on Sniper because he needs stats and cannot make efficient use of Magic Wand as it is expensive and Sniper's farming rate is pathetic in the early game, meaning every thing needs to be calculated.

for when things get ugly.(psst:if things get ugly,you are not living through it anyways but....)

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Early Game

is the choice of boots for Sniper as he needs the attack speed to maximize his damage and attack speed slow from Headshot.Also gives good stats for tread-switching (something which is very important on a fragile hero like Sniper.

is also a good option on Sniper if you are planning on going the hard lane and there is a low-ranged support.It enables him to simultaneously farm the lane and the jungle to somewhat compensate for a difficult lane.

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Core Items

is a backup escape for when you have very mobile heroes in the opposite team.

is core on sniper.It gives him a very useful escape as well as positioning tool, something which is essential while playing a Sniper anywhere above 2.5K MMR.

is an amazing item on Sniper as he can safely harras and poke enemy heroes using this item and it also increases his attack speed by a tonne, while making his tissue-like hits hurt a lot more than before.Do not underestimate this item.It will destroy you.It is not fun when suddenly Sniper has 55 extra damage, hits 35% faster and burns 25 mana each hit.

is a classic Sniper item.Gives you attack speed and a conditional nuke.This item destroys agility heroes.Why?as you know,even in the mid game,most agility heroes have armor in the upper echelons of 15, while their physical damage does not scale in the same ratio. Maelstrom deals magical damage, meaning that armor does not affect it, making it very effective against low HP agility carries.Also a formidable pushing tool, it makes you a pushing machine.

is Sniper's choice of lifesteal,not because of the "very good lifesteal",but because of the scalability of the item.It can be transformed into one of the best late-game items in the game, Satanic.Also gives you bonus damage, armor and health regen, all of which Sniper needs.

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Late Game

is downright the best item for Sniper as it enables him to deal ****-loads of damage from his normal hits, Headshot procs and huge lightning storms :D

gives 81 damage and an average of 35% increase in attack damage from the critical.It is the best item for increase in damage other than the Divine Rapier.

is like an aegis.If you get low,just pop Satanic and proceed to regenerate yourself to full health.Also gives 25% normal lifesteal which is awesome,coupled up with a monstrous str gain,making you tanky as ****.

is very good against evasion,not as good otherwise.

a good pickup when not against Monkey King Bar holders.Gives 60 attack damage and 60 attack speed along with 35% evasion.fun.

is the natural replacement for Diffusal Blade past 50 minutes, when the mana burn does not matter much anymore, and the strongest carries get in the gear for some carnage.Amazing all-round stats and a slow which goes through Black King Bar.

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Situational

is good only when rushed.Disregard otherwise.

gives you some damage and a decent boost to health.Consider only when they have nukers with gap closers or some pesky ***** like Phantom Assassin.

consider only when you can get it before 6-7 minutes.Disregard otherwise.

Gameplay-Hard Lane Semi-Farmer

Early Game

As with every hard lane hero, you must stay back during the early stages of the game simply because you have no survivability.No,seriously,you can't do **** for the first 5 minutes of the game.All you can do is sit at the tower and farm creeps.Also,ask your support to stack camps for you.If you are solo-ing hard lane, you can use Shrapnel to stack and farm camps.
Here is how you stack creeps using Shrapnel!
>keep checking the timer.
>time hits 51.
>use Shrapnel.
>rinse and repeat.
>???
>profit!

Farm a fast Blink Dagger to be safe from ganks.

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Mid Game

As a #3 player on your team,you have to focus on achieving goals, rather than completing your farm.I personally suggest making a quick Maelstrom after blink and start pushing the hell out of lanes.You also get bonus tower hit time due to your insane attack range :D

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Late Game

In the late game, a hard lane Sniper tends to fall off due to his lack of farm.But you can still be relevant due to your ability to deal 600 magic damage every 10 seconds and your pushing as well as tower destroying powers.

Item progression-Hard carry.

Early game

is a good pickup on Sniper because of the extra 18 damage and a good boost to all stats.Also gives some sort of sustain for spamming Shrapnel in the jungle.

can be considered more seriously as,even without it, Sniper doesn't do much in the early game.
is a backup escape for when you have very mobile heroes in the opposite team.
All other items are the same.It's just that you get them faster when in the safe lane.

Gameplay-Hard Carry.

Early Game

As a hard carry,your primary objective in the early game is to farm,your secondary objective being to farm and your tertiary objective being to not die,..and farm.Yeah, its that important.Why?because Sniper can't farm for ****.His farming rate sucks.He wants farm,but can't do it.

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Mid Game

Using Shrapnel to quickly decimate 3-4 stacked hard camps is advisable to farm a bit faster.At this point,we reach a dilemma,we have to make a choice.we know that Sniper's farm speed is ****.And that the only way he can farm faster is via Shrapnel.So,if you can afford it,skip one point in Headshot and add it in Shrapnel.Now this might seem ridiculous,but the damage output from Shrapnel nearly doubles itself at each skill point.Meaning,that if a level 1 Shrapnel does 128 damage over 10 seconds, a level 2 Shrapnel will deal 256 damage over its duration.[/b]This will drastically improve your farm rate.

CAUTION:USING SHRAPNEL TO FARM JUNGLE IS NOT EASY.[/h1]

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Late Game

This is the point in the game where Sniper truly shines.A 6-slotted Sniper is like a 6-slotted Faceless Void, you DON'T want to mess with one.With crits reaching the upper values of a 1000 with no way of reaching you, you are a formidable force on the battlefield.when coupled with a Eye of Skadi you never know where Sniper may pop up from and start pummeling you to death.

In short,if anyone without an in-built blink, meeting Sniper is sure death.You siege towers like its nobody's business, you are a monster in team-fights and a master at being a general piece of ****.In fact, you are the biggest piece of **** in the game 60 minutes into it(barring Nature's Prophet of course.Respect the gods man,respect the gods)

Item Progression-lane dominator

General Item Progression

for the stats and early damage.

to spam the hell out of your Shrapnel

absolutely destroys enemy laners when used in conjunction with the additional range from Take Aim and damage from Headshot.Also, you can keep this on the enemy forever and it costs no mana.Its like a auto-win button for your lane.

so that you can do committed harass and not worry about being caught out of position.

Other items are made as needed.

Gamepay-Lane Dominator

Lane Objectives

when playing against laners who are weaker than you early on like anti mage and Spectre, building an early Medallion of Courage makes you impossible to deal with.You can bring such situations as calling the mid-laner to gank you,10 minutes into the game.You are just,That annoying and dangerous.It costs no mana, and can be kept on forever (the cooldown and duration are same),making you a very dangerous laner.

You have to play in a very passive-agressive way.Deny creeps,make the equilibrium shift in your favor and unleash hell.One key factor to dominating your lane is denying creeps.If you can deny 2 out of 4 creeps in your lane, you have succeeded in pulling your lane so far in, even the supports won't dare come near you.

Its like a Desolator, just better.

Use Soul Ring to spam the **** out of Shrapnel if they are trying to seep exp from far away.

Basically your objective as a lane dominator is to starve the enemy out, and if done correctly, you are damn good at it.

Item progression-Support

you do either this:

You start with a Healing Salve, Animal Courier and observer wards
for this guide i have made a support special gold distribution!

first 10 minutes: you will get a total of 1000 gold from periodic gold and 625 starting.
Allocation:at the beginning.
Animal Courier=120 gold
Observer Ward =150 gold
Healing Salve =110 gold
Total =380 gold
Remaining gold =1245 gold
First 10 minutes
sentry wards =200 gold
Flying Courier=220 gold
Brown boots =450 gold
Bottle =700 gold
Total =1570


Congratulations you are now a support!

OR

Starting items

because you are the support.

observer wards because you are the support.And it lets you land perfect Shrapnel.

for when your carry needs them.((psst:do you know that all the Tangoes combined, heal more than a Healing Salve?

Core items

yeah,you are not carry anymore so no early game items.

you are not going to be dealing much damage, so why not make some for the early game harass and escape(like Windranger)?

is because you are gonna spam the hell out of...whatever skills you have.

is because Blink Dagger is greedy as hell and, supporting with a hero who has minimal(not zero) utility, Force Staff is a good addition to your items.

should be purchased before purchasing any one of the above.

Extension Items

euls scepter of divinity is very good because of the movement speed and the pseudo disable from the cyclone.This is your first extension items.

gives you awesome all-round stats and is not that difficult to make (easy build-up).Also,MOAR MOVE-SPEED.

.because you are squishy as hell.Also gives good stats.

Super late Game Items

is the ultimate item.'Nuff said.

gives you a good slow and a reliable disarm along with a significant boost to health via strength and evasion.A very good pickup on support Sniper.

explained in the chapters above.

Gameplay-Support.

Early Game

As a support, your primary concern must be that your carry gets his farm.As a hero with insane range,you can absolutely destroy enemy supports.Yeah, I said supports.Why?Just think about it,if you harass the carry, he will pop a Healing Salve.Harass him some more,he goes back to base.Now consider what happens if it is a support.You harass him, he pops a Healing Salve,harass him some more,he exhausts his Tangoes.Harass him some more, he will retreat back in lane,regenerate and come back in lane.See the pattern?supports are always reluctant to leave lane.Carries,on the other hand are not.

Why?Because every minute the support stays out of the lane,he/she is missing out on experience which is hard to come by anyways.On the other hand,a carry is always(almost) getting all the last hits and the chunk of experience he gets from it,so he is relatively unaffected by a small disappearance from lane.

How does this even relate to what I have told you to do?In the mid game,playing against a team with very very low level supports is advantageous for our team since you can get them low on health pretty quickly with a simple Assassinate,while your team swoops in and finishes the job.

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Mid Game

This is the time where Sniper's nuking potential starts to grow.With a very low cooldown high damage nuke,you are a great addition to any gank,and are relatively very safe from counter-initiation.This also enables you to lay down essential cover fire in the form of Shrapnel to protect your retreating allies, while slowing people down with your hits.

After getting a few int items up,you become a reliable battery for your team with a Bottle and a Mekansm.

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Late Game

At this point of time, quite honestly, you are barely something more than the late game item that you picked and a low cool-down high damage nuke.Stay back at all costs.you ain't a carry,you are just a poor #5 support.Stay back and at least deal some magical damage.

Item Progression-Nuker.

Early game

When playing Sniper as a nuker,you start with the same basic items Wraith Band and a set of Tangoes to sustain your lane and give you some damage to last hit.

After getting your Ring of Aquila,your items change.

Core items

is core on a nuking Sniper as this type of sniper is pretty mana-hungry by nature,so much that Soul Ring alone can't fulfill his needs which is why we opt for Arcane Boots.

Euls scepter of divinity is a very good item on Sniper because he adds a disable to his arsenal while increasing his mana,mana regeneration and movement speed.

gives Sniper a much needed boost to his health along with a lot of intelligence.Also, the slow has a ridiculous range of 1200,meaning that Sniper can use it to slow people from far away and give your friends a chance to catch up with the target,while you channel Assassinate.

soul ring size-100 sustains Sniper's pitiful mana pool for when he needs mana in an emergency situation.

The late game items are the same as those in the support section, so I won't be explaining them again.

Gameplay-Nuker.

As a nuker,you are focussed on dealing as much damage as you can before you are nuked down.This is not the case with Sniper as he pretty much stays out of the fight and uses his superior range to zone out enemies with Shrapnel.

You have to see that after you have used Assassinate,you position yourself in a way so as to have an easy escape and start hitting people (as a nuker would;like a tissue) until your nuke comes off cooldown again.

Rinse and repeat.

Friends and Foes.

Foes

is a very good counter to Sniper because of his insane burst at level 6. Spiked Carapace hurts man :c

has a blink, a slow-***-nuke, A nuke on a low cooldown, A pure damage nuke that goes through Black King Bar.Just run away dude.

will nuke you down.Without notice.Do not engage.

eats you.Literally.His combo at level 7 is enough to take you down single handedly.Also you cannot harass him as you will feel more damage than deal.

is a hero made to counter you.Extremely mobile, insane nuking potential, king of skill jukes.You can literally do nothing in front of a competitive Storm Spirit.

****s your positioning up so hard its funny.Also has a stun into silence combo to make you useless in teamfights. Also a nasty nuker.

is your worst nightmare (after Storm Spirit.)He has a slow, an insane gap closer (also deals damage by the way,LOT of it), and a combination of 3 nukes and natural resistance to your hits.

Friends

is a good laning partner for you as he gives you the much needed attack and movement speed, nukes like a Lina and also has a reliable stun and a slow.

is a fun hero to play with.She stuns, you hit.She swaps, you hit.She hits one hero, you hit another.You are dying, she swaps enemy away.You need damage, she gives you damage.

is a good ally due to the insane attack speed and damage from Alacrity,when coupled up with a well-timed Cold Snap is essentially a free kill.Also uses Assassinate vision for landing sunstrike.Like a boss.

Video Time!

Purge plays Sniper! Play Video

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Dendi Plays Sniperino! Play Video

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Allstars play! Play Video

Conclusion.

Sniper is ******ed.

but a fun hero to play.

I hope that this guide is to everyone's liking.Please feel free to give suggestions and keep the arguements going!
If you really liked my guide, please check out my other guides

• Now you see me....Now you don't! A comprehensive guide on Riki
• ..And he Just keeps going!A comprehensive guide on Faceless void
• Summer is Always Fun with Morphling!A comprehensive guide on Morphling
• My name is Cancer...Cancer Lancer.A comprehensive guide on Phantom Lancer
• Beep Bloop Bleep A guide to Io
  Till the next guide,Keep pwning!