Best Sniper Rifle (All DLC)

[Sofia]

So, I'm level 69 right now, and have been building sicne 50 to start working towards being a sniper ontop of my primary build (charismatic gunslinger, irrelevant to this) I've got all the ninja, sneak, and mister sandman perks, all im lacking is rifleman and a few other key perks, and im not working on rifleman, so I figure it's finally time to actually getting around to building my gun.

I know hunting rifle is the vanilla best choice for pure damage and sniping, but I've never played any of the dlc yet, despite having them. Do they add any new rifles that take the cake for best sniper?

I won't be using it close range, so fire rate is totally irrelevant ,which is why I say hunting rifle beats out combat rifle.

[cannonf0dder]

I personally prefer an Instigating lever action rifle, lever actions were added with Far Harbour.
But the Handmade rifle from Nuka world is also a very strong weapon

[Sofia]

Originally posted by cannonf0dder:

I personally prefer an Instigating lever action rifle, lever actions were added with Far Harbour.
But the Handmade rifle from Nuka world is also a very strong weapon

I'll max out all three and see which I prefer.

[Shellbie]

I know is kind of old, but the Gauss rifles are quite strong.

[Sofia]

or maybe i won't use a lever action. I have no ammo somehow, and none of my vendors are selling ti.

[cannonf0dder]

yeah i think the lever action and it's ammo are exclusive to Far harbour vendors\lootables, unless you get a mod to add it to vanilla game

[conatushawk]

Originally posted by Ketlyn:

or maybe i won't use a lever action. I have no ammo somehow, and none of my vendors are selling ti.

I believe it is the same problem with the handmade rifle. Ammo is only available in Nuka world. (unless you add mods)

[Yhwach]

Lever Action for non-energy
Gauss Rifle for totality

[Martian Patriot]

Honestly I think the laser rifle is the best choice, mostly because its light weight and its ammo is cheap, easy to find and weightless in survival. If you prefer pure alpha damage I guess the .50 hunting rifle. Gauss Rifle, lever-action and handmade rifle all use expensive and hard to find ammo so for me they aren't good options.

[Solomon Hawk]

.50 cal Long range Recon Scoped Plasma Infused Sniper Rifle is deadly for a rifle. Few things outclass it and one of those is a Long Range Recon scoped Maxed *KneeCapper Gauss rilfe.

[Martian Patriot]

Originally posted by Tempest Stormcaller:

.50 cal Long range Recon Scoped Plasma Infused Sniper Rifle is deadly for a rifle. Few things outclass it and one of those is a Long Range Recon scoped Maxed *KneeCapper Gauss rilfe.

If it has the explosive shot legendary effect and you have all levels of explosive expert that will pretty much be the most you can get out of the hunting rifle

[Nite69]

Overseers Guardian converted to a Sniper with .308 ammo

Or the Handmade Rifle converted to a sniper.

Reba II is also good, 50% more damage to mirelurks which is handy to have along the coast line on the main map and in Far Harbor

[DouglasGrave]

The gauss rifle is the ultimate sniper weapon in terms of performance, with good range, damage, and mod options (notably the inclusion of a suppressor for sneak attacks); its main drawback is its expensive ammunition, and even there it pays off against enemies that would require multiple shots from a weaker weapon.

It's heavy and has a high AP cost per shot, but those are both common in effective sniper weapons. You don't go sniping with a pipe pistol.

Originally posted by Tempest Stormcaller:

.50 cal Long range Recon Scoped Plasma Infused Sniper Rifle is deadly for a rifle. Few things outclass it and one of those is a Long Range Recon scoped Maxed *KneeCapper Gauss rilfe.

Kneecapper is kind of contrary to the idea of sniping, where you want individual high-damage shots that are better served by Instigating.

Since it doesn't trigger automatically, kneecapper is better on weapons that hit more frequently. Plasma infused is similar, since the benefit is applied on every shot, making it more powerful the more times a weapon hits, unlike sniping where you want to pick targets off with the minimum number of shots.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Nirk the Man-Thing Stab-Cutter:

Originally posted by Tempest Stormcaller:

.50 cal Long range Recon Scoped Plasma Infused Sniper Rifle is deadly for a rifle. Few things outclass it and one of those is a Long Range Recon scoped Maxed *KneeCapper Gauss rilfe.

If it has the explosive shot legendary effect and you have all levels of explosive expert that will pretty much be the most you can get out of the hunting rifle

I'd usually go with the powerful calibrated receiver for the hunting rifle. The .50 mod gives it better damage, but doesn't give the same advantage on critical hits. It's the same thing with Instigating; overall, the multiplication of damage beats the increase in base damage.

[Sofia]

I should probably point out I don't use VATS. I realize with the right perks it does way more damage, but the part of sniping that appears to me is the scoping, and VATS is just easy mode for lazy people. in my opinion.

I maxed out a hunting rifle with an explosive mod, i have all the sneak attack, and silenced weapon perks, my rifleman is at 2 atm, leveling it as I can, and it seems to be doing incredibly low damage, taking five or six headshots against humanoids to kill them.

[Shahadem]

There is no good dedicated sniper rifle. The best option is a Gauss Rifle. If you mod your game then the Sniper Rifle is the best sniper rifle because the mod buffs the Sniper Rifle's damage to be what it should have been from the beginning.