Yet another Sniper Discussion.

This is a bit different than the others we've had. I'm not going to go on about how Sniper is a trashy pub hero who needs a rework to be viable. Because I want to talk about how he is not;

Sniper is now a hero with a place in high level game-play. The change to Shrapnel to make it a charge based ability was such an amazing buff. It gives Sniper one of the strongest level 1 team-fights. It also gives him incredible in lane harrass in combination with the slow attached to Headshot (Because if the enemy steps forwards to last hit, you usually get Shrapnel and 2/3 right clicks or more depending on how many procs you get). This in turn with a Bottle becoming mandatory allows him to be a very strong laner pre and post 6. (Post six because Assassinate is obnoxious due to it bas.)

Shrapnel's charge system is also benificial in early team-fights, because maxing it gives you a massive AOE 30% move-slow and damage tick. Which is again very impactful.

All in all this has improved his early and mid game potential, and given that his mid to late-game has always been fairly strong, he's become a much more rounded hero. He's now a very good pushing carry, despite Shrapnel no longer damaging builds, because he is an amazing slow sieger.

Now of course he is still squishy. with slow movement speed, and very gankable. And yes, if you shut him down early, he drops off and becomes pretty useless. Likewise, he is very counter-pickable. But, that is true of a lot of heroes, who are awful if they get behind. It's not a trait that makes Sniper awful anymore.

I'll also be the first to admit, that Sniper is still a situational hero, and is very meta dependant, but right now, the meta does benefit him.

Anyhow, I want to discuss what DOTAfire thinks about the hero in light of all the changes.

I recently watched a V.Pro vs. Secret Game where one of them had Sniper and he was doing amazing. Im surprised tho that they didn't get a heavy nuker like Lina. He is easily countered so he is best used in situations where the enemies have squishy melee carries (ex. Anti-Mage).

Recently played a bot game with Sniper. Got over 1000 XP per minute. :P

Dotabuff or it didn't happen.

He'll always be a niche pick; usually last picked so as to not be countered. His whole goal is to stand back and kill people from range. So if the other team can't close the difference then he'll have an amazing time.

The buff to his Shrapnel makes him decently playable, as you can actually control a lane now, as well as apply a large AOE slow.

I think a tiny buff to Sniper that would make me want to play him is make Assassinate Un-disjointable. After all, it is an ultimate.

I disagree with your statement about Assassinate. The reason that it should be disjointable is that Sniper has one of the best auto hit ult ranges in the game.

Assassinate lvl 1 has a 2000 range
Assassinate lvl 2 has a 2500 range
Assassinate lvl 3 has a 3000 range

No other hero has such a range with their ultimate.

I like it being disjointable. If I had to just slowly watch the countdown until it hits me with nothing I could do about it I'd be pretty sad haha. Giving the player options to make a play always makes the game fun IMO.

There are better nukers. there are better snowballers. There are harder and more reliable carries. Sniper isn't trash, hardly any hero in this game is trash (well maybe Alchemist, but that's it). However there are just better heroes in the pool IMO.
It's not that what he does is bad, it's just, other heroes do it better so I see no point in picking him, ever.

The only think Sniper does and other carries don't is to have 950 attack range. That's it! Shrapnel is a good nuke, but as I said, there are better nuker carries.

There are not many ranged carries in this game, but as a comparison, why should I ever pick Sniper when I can pick Medusa or Clinkz? What does Sniper do that Dusa or Clinkz don't? That's my question.

About competitive games, I think he's not counterpicked enough. Even when second picked I see no counters popping up (WTF).

In pubs however he always gets counterpicked even if it's not voluntarily with all those Slark and Storm Spirit pickers out there (shame on you). Even Troll Warlord reks him as soon as he gets his blink. No way I'm ever picking him in the current "let's pick all mobility heroes and go 5 man Blink Dagger" pub meta (at least that's what I'm seeing).

He's got better low level team-fight than both of those (And has better team-fight than Clinkz period). He's a better laner than both of those. ( Medusa is less likely to die, but Sniper is more likely to get a kill, and is a better harrasser. He also wins more mid match-ups than either of those). He's a better sieger than both of them, because he can harrass heroes from 2000+ range with a nuke with a laughably short cooldown. He also outranges towers, and has an ability to give him vision, so he's incredibly strong at slow seiging the enemy base. He also comes online before Medusa, and relies less on snowballing than Clinkz.

His nuke isn't the same as other heroes nukes, because it has a long cast time, but much higher range. It's a long range harrassment tool instead, which fits with his sieging ability. (I mean, being able to take a third to a half of a supports HP pool out every 10 seconds is pretty crazy). r Can other carries do that?

So really, Sniper does enough stuff that other carries don't to give him a place nowadays.

You are right, if you want a nuker, you turn to someone like mid Lina. If you want a snowballer, you turn to like a Slark, or Storm Spirit. But Sniper is a hybrid who provides better pushing than those heroes. Which is great in the game currently; because all in push got nerfed, but you still need to have pushing abilities. (I know you'll say if you want a pushing carry, pick something like Lycan, but Lycan is worse at low levels, and is less of a 5 man hero). But he still does all these things pretty well.

I understand that Sniper isn't better at any one given thing than other heroes. (Except maybe as a harrassing carry), but he has a combination of traits that just work well in the current meta-game, and with his buffed laning make him a pretty solid hero nowadays.