Sniper 7.0 guide - Deadly Bullets

Introduction

Kardel Sharpeye the Sniper is a ranged agility Carry who excels at dealing heavy damage at an incredible range. His third ability, Take Aim, allows him to deal high DPS at a safe distance, and avoiding damage as he is relatively frail. He also excels at harassing enemies due to his second ability, Headshot, which gives him a chance to do extra damage and a brief slow, and his first ability, Shrapnel, which slows and deals damage over time in an area. While he can be a nuisance to lane against, he is also extremely squishy early-game and requires supports to lane effectively. He scales into the late game, dealing a remarkable amount of DPS while sitting outside of harm's reach, almost permaslowing heroes with his headshot. Though he is a rather frail hero, his potential in the hands of a good player and team is high.

Since Sniper is extremely squishy positioning is the key for getting a good K/D/A ratio. It is important to increase damage and attack speed early on to dominate the game. This build focuses on increasing DPS early on and relying on warding by your lane support to prevent ganks.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

1. Can stay at a safe distance while dealing damage in team fights.
2. Assassinate can pick off fleeing enemies
3. Great at pushing lanes with Desolator.


Cons:

1. Extremely squishy.
2. No inherent escape mechanism.
3. Relies on support heroes to escape ganks.

Skills

Shrapnel

This is mainly a harassing skill to interrupt enemies' farm as well as to provide vision to scout key areas nearby. It can also be used to slow down enemies while chasing / running away. We will get 1 level on this skill in the beginning and max it out last since we do not benefit much from higher levels of Shrapnel in the early game.

Headshot

This is the skill that makes Sniper's auto-attacks most effective. We will max out this skill along with Take Aim after getting 1 level on Shrapnel. It is a good slow and has a 40 % chance of 15/40/65/90 damage. So we do benefit from multiple levels on this skill early on.

Take Aim

This is the skill that allows Sniper to mantain a good distance from enemies during combats. Since Sniper has very low survivability it is essential to max out this skill early. At max level it allows Sniper to even out-range tower damage and easily push the lanes. With Desolator and max Take Aim Sniper can easily take down enemy towers.
Assassinate

This skill allows Sniper to take down fleeing enemies from an insane range. With Aganim's it becomes a ground targeted spells and allows you to take down multiple fleeing enemies with low health in one shot for a possible Triple/Ultra Kill.!

Item Guide

Early Game:

Tango : Basic early game healing item.

Wraith Band : For better stats and damage to help with last hits.

Phase boots : Good speed burst to make up for the poor movement speed and also to stack up on damage early on.

Ring of aquila: Natural extension for wraith band to help with pushing the lanes with the aura.

Mid game:

Desolator: Great item for taking down towers and to reduce armor of tanky enemies in team fights. It is no longer a Unique Attack Modifier in DOTA 2 7.0 .

Maelstrom: Excellent item for increasing DPS and also helps in efficient farming. Can be upgraded to Mjollnir in the late game for the great active as well as attack speed.

Aganim's Scepter: To boost the attributes as well as to make his Ultimate Assassinate a ground targeted spell which is more effective.

Late game

Daedalus: For getting maximum damage and a chance of 230% critical strike from sniper's bullets!

Eye of Skadi : Great slow and also provides some survivability. Since in Dota 7.0 Eye of Skadi is no longer a Unique Attack Modifier it can be stacked with Desolator.

Friends / Foes

Friends

Sven
Omniknight
Mirana
Punga
Drow (For the aura)

Pudge (A surprise meat hook ans you are dead)
Huskar
Faceless Void
Riki (If your support is useless and does not ward)
Lion