Sniper

Has Sniper's comeback to the meta accidentally brought Spirit Breaker into the meta? Well I don't know about accidentally, Icefrog is just a genius.

Also, is Sniper best played as a mid or a safelane carry? And what is the best skill build/item build for those positions. Like in mid, do you max Shrapnel, Take Aim, or Headshot, first - they are all very good for lane dominance.

take aim first but always get 1-2 points in shrapnel head shot at 6 but i feel he is better in safe lane.

he does better with farm rather then levels

and sb needs a change to his BAT to be brought back. atm he is ****ing horrible unless played as a roaming support transitioning into late game semi.

Depends.

Are you playing at the level where the mid lane is left completely undisturbed and unganked and is a 1 vs 1 matchup until 15 minutes? Go mid. Sniper is really good in 1 v 1 matchups.

Are you playing at the level where people buy Smoke of Deceit and camp the mid lane constantly for the first 15 minutes of the game with heroes like Mirana, Earthshaker or something? Don't go mid, beause Sniper is the worst mid in the game if he gets roamed on. In that case go safe lane and don't even consider going mid unless you're in a stack with decent support players.



One value point in Headshot, two value points in Take Aim, and max Shrapnel at 7 or 8.

4/1/2/1 at level 8 is essentially the best way to do it, skilling order depends on what you're up against.

Early Headshot is useless honestly. Maxing Shrapnel is always better. The slow from headshot is good but you don't need the damage.

And of course Spirit Breaker is a roaming support...has he ever been anything else? :)
Problem right now is that he drops off a bit too hard, since he has pretty bad carry potential and very limited utility.

You usually get Shrapnel at level 1 to win runes, then I think have 1-1-1 by level three, going into 4-1-2-1 by level 8 as Hamster said.

As for lane; if you have co-ordinated supports, and someone somewhat defensive, then go mid. Like Sniper with something like a babysitting Earthshaker nearby is reeeally strong. thanks to Shrapnel your ability to get kills with a support like that is little crazy. Likewise he's also good mid if you have lanes that prevent supports from really rotating.

I don't personally like him safelane since it means you can't take advantage of his suprisingly good early game potential if you are just against an offlaner.

And yeah, Sniper is one of the reasons Spirit Breaker has come back into the meta. That and the Charge of Darkness buff. He's still be god-awful without that, whereas now he's actually pretty good.

offlane dual with a zoning out offlaner like a dark seer( i am still experimenting).

what happens is that sniper takes the last hit on creeps as they are in LH HP level due to Ion Shell. he capitalizes on his range as the lane would be pushed to enemy tower. Although you need a jungle side ward for this.

He can also lane with beastmaster, while he stacks ancients.



Of course, all this is completely situational.

4 Shrapnel
1 Headshot
2 Take Aim
1 Assassinate

By level 8 for sure. Shrapnel in its current form is extremely strong, and considering most Sniper play used to see the 1-4-4-1 build by level 10, it has come a long way as a skill.

I personally think it'll get nerfed or tweaked.

I can see situations where you might max Take Aim first in the offlane, just so you can stay as far back as possible, but you'll still end up getting dived easier without Shrapnel maxed.

As always, thanks - you guys have been really helpful with all my questions. One more Q - is Sniper still considered a "nub" hero? Because there is definitely a difference between sniper players who spam all three shrapnels on one spot and those who use it to cancel blinks and get vision. Also positioning and map awareness are key on this hero, does anyone have a quick mini guide on that stuff 'cuz that's probably my weakest point tbh.

He'll always have that stigma, but Sniparz has much more engaging play now and is a lot more interesting than right clicking.

Actually i see a buff to shrapnel charges., while a nerf to replenish time.

You mean increase the number of charges he starts with, or that he can end with overall?

Since, these make a big difference; Starting with 3 Charges is arguably the best thing about the skill, because it almost always means you win one of the 100 100 runes, since you just don't try and fight into 3 charges at level 1.

Dropping it to something like 2/3/4/5 charges, whilst keeping the replish time as is seems fine to me. It makes him slightly weaker in level 1 engagements, and weakens his very early laning. Since that's when the hero is strongest in lane imo, since at levels 1-3 he basically harrasses his opponent like mad. Giving him less charges early on makes him a slightly less obnoxious laner. Enough to hopefully turn him from a first phase pick/ban to a second phase one.

Well that and the imminent Fissure nerf should achieve that.