Outside of single shot weapon-focused loadouts, (ex: Crossbow, Railgun, M99, Compound Bow) Sniper is far inferior to Marksman as the extra damage at the cost makes your large takedowns far slower compared to Marksman's fire speed increase.
Additionally, you'll be slower to kill trash and medium Zeds if you took Sniper compared to Marksman. (try it, M14 with Sniper vs Marksman) Use Marksman, always.*

*There is one however, one exception to this rule of "always take Marksman lol," and that is with the FN FAL ACOG, as the increased fire rate and recoil under Marksman could be considered a detriment as it makes the weapon far harder to control.
At least with Sniper if you stand still, the single bullet damage damage is on par with a Tier 4 M14 and has slightly faster takedowns (with still some recoil control needed for full auto,) and even if you're moving and not benefiting from Sniper, the recoil is far easier to control with Sniper, which is the main issue with the FN FAL on Sharpshooter, Commandos need not worry with your 50% recoil reduction.

Ballistic Shock is borderline useless, meanwhile Stability increases DPS with increased reload speed time and damage output compared Ballistic Shock having none of the buffs. The main people use Ballistic Shock is because of outdated information and/or using the Crossbow for consistent stuns. Also, the damn Crossbow is the most overrated thing on Sharpshooter ever.

OK are you serious? The perk which rewards and is all about getting headshots. I wonder which is better. You cannot go up to me with a straight face and tell me that Tactical Reload is better than Rack 'em Up, unless you're talking about the M99 considering how slow the reload is.

Yes, I am aware of what overcapping is and how it works, but I want to compare the skills 1 to 1 (plus I played on settings that disabled overcapping for a long time.)
For Deadeye's case, the recoil reduction is not noticeable unless you are spamming with no regard to landing shots or using the FAL on full auto, and in the first case, click slower and land your shots. The increased damage under the ADS effect is also not really worth it as you have to spend seconds ADSing when you could just be clicking instead and doing the takedown.
For Always Prepared, having an extra freeze and more ammo is far more worth it. One more freeze for whatever bad situation occurs, and more ammo so you can keep firing rather than having to get a spare/run out of ammo/switch to another weapon.

Ranger is OP AF. You can literally stun with a 9mm if you get a headshot. Even on settings with "balanced" Ranger, being able to stun Scrakes with 2-3 headshots during Zed Time (by M14, 1-2 with SPX) and medium Zeds with 1 headshot is more versatile than the damage. Unless you're running the Railgun or have no regard to stunning stuff.

Winchester 1894: Nice for early waves, but it's more of what you kill mediums with (Sirens, Husks, Bloats) or as a thing to waste ammo to save ammo on your other weapon (such as M14 or Railgun) It is actually possible to do a solo scrake takedown with 10 headshots (RLLXX)

SPX 464 Centerfire: Used completely wrong on Sharpshooter for what I notice in even "high-level CD play." This thing is not your primary weapon for large takedowns. It is best used as your secondary to use during Zed Time because you ran out of ammo on your M14 and the larges that your GS is somehow unable to kill must die.

Crossbow: Can stun, has pierce, high damage, and theoretically infinite ammo. Why is it not better than say an SPX? You rely on Ballistic Shock to have reliable stuns which means giving up Stability. Basically trolling yourself with less damage and slower reloads. Decent early game weapon as a stopgate to an M14 and even a secondary once you get the M14. It's a mediocre weapon that gets overrated by the general community.

M14 EBR: Is highly reliable in every situation as a Sharpshooter. Whether a group of trash or a few larges. The M14 EBR does it all, worst case scenario, you get a triple Fleshpound spawn and have to freeze that to keep the lane. Add a +1 upgrade to that damn thing, you'll thank me later.

HRG Beluga Beat and Headhunter: Stop trolling.

Mosin Nagant: Can be a decent secondary with high damage, but the slow fire rate prevents it from being any better than meh. Feels clunky for large Zed takedowns and not good against trash, and no the funny bayonet doesn't do much apart from save you HP from Fleshpound derages, best use would be if you know you'll be kiting, or you want to use the funny meme gun.

HV Storm Cannon: Actually a good weapon once you get used to the projectile and has SPX-levels of damage. The only reason why this is more mid is because of the bad habits it promotes by basically killing everything around the one Zed you headshot, and a godawful sound bug that has EMP sounds lingering where the player using it shot it from.

Railgun: The absolute highest single-target DPS in the entire game if you reload cancel every shot on larges and land your followup ones. Only considered weak against hordes of trash but the penetration and large killing potential is lol inducing.

FN FAL ACOG: Super meh on Sharpshooter, it's a worse M14 with only one situation that it's better at, and that's point-blank takedowns. Unlike Commando where it's the best weapon, FN FAL is just meh here. Unless somehow you learned the recoil, then in that case it could be better.

Compound Bow, M99 AMR: Outclassed and pretty much uselessly overpriced. Compound Bow is outclassed by basically anything, and M99 has super slow reload and is inferior to the Railgun.

1858 Revolver: You don't go out of your way to buy this. You only use this because you found it on the ground and want to use the ammo to save the ammo for your better weapons. Additionally if you have a Gunslinger with you go throw this to him so he can save ammo.

Spitfire: The optimal usage completely goes against the core ideology of Sharpshooter, which is click as many heads as possible. Fine on Firebug, worthless on Sharpshooter and Gunslinger. In the same category as the HRGs, stop trolling.

.500 Magnum Revolver: OK as a secondary to back up your M14 to damage larges during Zed Time, other than that it's just to be le funny cowboy.

Corruptor Carbine: Surprising amount of utility, you have to be able to time the seed on a trash zed you'll shoot in Zed Time to gas the other trash zeds near to make large takedowns for your Gunslinger a bit easier. Has high damage so if you get even one headshot off on say a large, the Gunslinger needs far less ammo to do finish the takedown. It can heal your buddy too. But overall pretty bad to use outside of Zed Time considering it's fire rate and inefficiency against trash unless you become a master of timing the seed (even then just switch to your M14 and start clicking.)

9mm Pistol: This is your wave 1 primary, not your Winchester. Kills trash, Bloats, and Sirens pretty decently alike.

Dual 9mm Pistols: You empty your 9mm on wave 1 to buy the Dual 9mm on Wave 2, why? Because if you do, not only do you fill the gun, but you also get increased fire rate so you kill stuff a bit quicker. Pretty good early-game investment until you can get full loadout.

HRG 93R Pistol and Dual HRG 93R Pistols: Played more with these. Actually pretty decent for Sharpshooter for just wasting ammo onto trash and medium Zeds for easy headshot farming. Also very cheap ammo.

Freeze Grenade: The single best grenade in the entire game. Try to save this to make single large takedowns easier if it applies on Wave 1, or for groups of larges so you don't get pushed.

The second rule of Sharpshooter Club is, you can start larges even if you aren't using the Railgun. You have slightly higher DPS than an equally skilled Gunslinger using unupgraded Desert Eagles until Zed time. Start the larges, kill them one-by-one, and you might not even need to freeze, even for multi-large situations.

The third rule of Sharpshooter Club is, NEVER ignore mediums. Have SIrens and Husks on the top of your "to-kill list." Sirens have the ability to absolutely ruin any grenades thrown, and this includes your precious Freeze Grenades. And Husks can screw with your aim with the knockback of the fireball. Bloats you better not let them be a threat. Also kill trash around or in front of larges.

The fourth rule of Sharpshooter Club is use your freezes on groups of larges if it means you won't be getting pushed. You have 6 of them, probably a GS laning with you. Start shooting heads and generate Zed Time, kill the large pack and get some breathing room. Sometimes it'll be freezing a double scrake or FP, sometimes you'll freeze 8+ larges, somethings you'll freeze a quad FP. You have to be able to judge the situation to see if you and your buddy can kill the larges without getting majorly pushed/take lots of damage. This will come with time and experience, so I would personally say start freezing triple FPs and quad Scrakes until you get more comfortable killing those sorts of spawns.

Intermediate Playstyle - Aggression If you notice with all my VODs I start larges and try to kill them as fast as possible. Playing aggressive compared to playing passively decreases the stress that you contribute enough with your lane partner. That doesn't mean be an idiot and ignore trash, but rather create space for your lane by dealing with the problem now rather than a bit later.

Advanced Tech - Rotates: Your lane will straight up have almost nothing or close to such. In higher level play, what do you do? A, slack off? B, do nothing? C, check the other lane, get a few headshots, help with some large takedowns.
Of course choose C, did you not check who this guide is targeted for? Getting those headshots could save a lane from getting pushed compared to being able to hold. Even if it's a miniscule amount compared to the other players dedicated to holding that lane, it's still better than doing nothing, not even shooting trash off of them.
The rotates on Sharpshooter are on a spectrum and can vary from just needing to peek some other lane for a couple of seconds and shooting, to full on leaving your lane and shooting in another lane for a few seconds. An example of a map that have a Sharpshooter rotating constantly is Nuked in the middle lane where the Sharpshooter has to watch middle spawns and right lane Gunslinger's.

Additional note, Gunslingers can rotate too (primarily by using the SPX) but usually Sharpshooters are sent to do that job. Really depends on the situation, say like the other lane has 5 FPs in Zed Time and you have like nothing except for trash Zeds that a Commando is going to extend off of. Go help them, go kill those FPs, Husks, Sirens, and Scrakes (GS priority order basically in Zed Time). I'm personally not a Gunslinger main and have a friend who's more qualified making his own guide, I'll link it when he's done.



Obviously the tier list isn't an absolute, as the 10 trash Zeds near you that'll interfere with your shots should be dealt with before you ever decide to start a Scrake. But take it as a general guideline.

Universally: Freeze groups of larges, get mediums if possible, and be sure to have swift but safe takedowns.

With a Commando and Gunslinger (Commando Lane): Be a bit mindful of trash. Sure, if you rapid fire trash you'll generate Zed time, but what does the Commando have to extend off of? Just be more mindful of how you click the heads of trash or else no extends and some people might give you the side eye.

With a Gunslinger (Double DPS lane): Start the larges, kill what trash is around the larges so the takedown is clean and smooth. Letting your Gunslinger have that piece of mind that some crawler won't nibble on his ankles or some stalker won't be doing a kung-fu combo on him makes it better for both parties involved to hold the lane.

With a Gunslinger and second Sharpshooter (Triple DPS lane): Same as above, but if possible, figure out who freezes first between the two Sharpshooters. Also probably going to be the hardest type of lane possible in general, behind Commando trio lanes.

WIth a Gunslinger, Commando, and Second Sharpshooter (Quad Commando Lane): These lanes EXTREMELY rare in CD but they exist and are arguably some of the hardest lanes to hold (why else would there be 12 freezes committed to a lane.) Combine what I said for Triple DPS Lane and Commando Lane.

Lockdown (Commando Lane Trio)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRHj_GWZrlU

HellsCrypt (Triple DPS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbI3AlXBl-I

Dust (Double DPS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZH88vCg6jA

Dust 2 (Quad Commando Lane)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqoJMbAJPiE

You don't. You freaking don't. Unless you two are completely organized to not screw with each other as a Railgun Sharpshooter, you freaking don't.

WIth this skillset. The "Marksman loadouts." Personal bias here but these are my favorite ones to play. Lots of action and little to no downtime. (except for Zed Time)

Tier 4 M14 and Tier 4 SPX/Tier 4 Winchester/Tier 3 Crossbow/Mosin Nagant/Corruptor Carbine: Oh boy, why did I have so many alternative options for secondaries? Because you are primarily using the Tier 4 M14 for everything, including large takedowns. The best secondary weapons to bring alongside a Tier 4 M14 would be the from best to worst;
SPX, Corruptor Carbine, Winchester 1894, Crossbow, then Mosin Nagant. You use the secondary weapon because you ran out of ammo on your M14 and it's Zed Time so you need to burst the larges down on your screen before it ends.

HV Storm Cannon and M14/Tier 4 SPX/Tier 3 Crossbow/Mosin Nagant/Corruptor Carbine: The HV Storm Cannon can be argued to be one of the best Sharpshooter weapons once you learn how to use it correctly, the EMP is a stupidly good effect to inflict on Zeds with a couple of headshots and it's basically a mag-fed SPX.

M14 and FAL: I would be shanked if I didn't bring this up. The only advantage that this loadout provides is ammo economy and arguably(?) quicker CQC takedowns. Other than that it's worse than biting the bullet and spending the money to upgrade the M14.

Alternatively, for the loadouts provided above apart from M14+FAL, you can drop the upgrade/restrict your secondary choice further by getting a Medic Pistol to heal your teammate.

The "Sniper loadouts." Go all left, I'm more of a Marksman Sharpshooter so I'm less versed on Sniper loadouts compared to people that actively main Sniper Sharpshooter.

Railgun + Crossbow/Tier 3 SPX/T3 Winchester/Dual 9mm + .500 Magnum: You know what to do with a high damage weapon like the Railgun. No seriously, you play video games, you know what Railguns and other high damage Sniper Rifle type weapons do. Now it's up to you to figure out what secondary you want to have a degree of defense against trash horses. In my opinion, the Dual 9mm + Magnum is your best choice for self-defense, but play with whatever was provided.

M99 AMR + Dual 9mm/.500 Magnum/HMTech-201 SMG: I was roasting the M99 AMR earlier, but it's usable. It's only just an inferior Railgun at the end of the day (due to it's attrocious reload speed, even with reload canceling) which still means it can heavily damage large Zeds. But cannot sustain as much damage output as a Railgun.

FAL + Tier 4 SPX/Tier 4 Winchester/Tier 3 Crossbow/Mosin Nagant/Corrupter Carbine
Sniper FAL is actually not that bad, but it kinda relies on using Deadeye to make the recoil not aids when using full auto. So less overall ammo and freezes if you go that route, but if you want to play unconventional Sharpshooter loadouts without trolling, this is probably your best option.

Winchester 1894 + freeze combo time bois!
You spawned in with your squad and a large Zed spawned wave 1, what the hell do you do?
If you have a Gunslinger that you are semi-coordinated with, the Scrake can die easily without a freeze as long as both of you are constantly headshotting it with your Tier 1 weapons. Same goes with Fleshpounds but it's fairly harder in comparison to due to one having a headtracing animation and covering his head while he charges rather than just charge you in a straight line. If possible, try to have the Gunslinger use his nail bomb on the Scrake while you save your freeze for the Fleshpound. Nails can stun, remember that.

Some CD servers spawn with in with all grenades, some with only one grenade, and some use the default behavior of spawning in with 2. Depending on the spawncycle and CD ruleset this can drastically change how you approach larges during Wave 1. I personally play on CD: Chokepoints so I spawn in with one freeze I save on the Fleshpound on Wave 1. However, most places such as HoE++, Huwhyte HoE+, etc don't change nade spawn behavior so you have 2 freezes.

Shots to Kill:
10 headshots on a Scrake (Possible to do without freeze/nail solo)
14 headshots on a Fleshpound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZOuErKcpFE

Practice, practice, practice. Yes, your teachers in school, your parents, and basically everyone else who you ever interacted with in life tells you practice makes perfect. So how does one practice and improve their Sharpshooter when not playing matches? Don't burn yourself on this though and overdo it, the more you overdo it, the worse you get and the most you tilt at yourself.

Method 1a: basic_heavy using M14 only
Example video provided by myself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EdDXfaCcas
Method 1b: machine_solo using M14 only
Example video provided by myself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6nIsg1KuOc
There are some things to keep in mind for how a solo should be accomplished these days if you want to improve your Sharpshooter gameplay. Both practices are pure M14 gameplay at it's finest at killing trash efficiently while being able to make sure you can kill larges. (machine_solo is a little different with a focus on killing heavier spawns with less trash clearing.)
I personally would say consistently beating basic_heavy on 32mm on Vanilla Zeds with the rules listed below is the first goal for a Sharpshooter to accomplish, even better if you can beat it consistently. 40mm is if you want to pursue CD further along the line. For machine_solo, 20mm should be your first goal to conquer, and 24mm is if you want to pursue CD further.

-Final wave, solomode/uberammo on Controlled Difficulty
-6 Wave Size Fakes
-6 Player HP Large and Trash Zeds
-No Heal (syringe), second weapon (no using 9mm or SPX), side room, and freeze grenades

Don't worry about Harder and Nightcore Zeds if you aren't really planning on getting into modified Zed settings. Vanilla is fine for almost everyone to practice. Except for mentally ill people such as myself that MUST do Nightcore Zeds. My personal training is 32mm on Nightcore Zeds with a goal of being able to beat 40mm consistently eventually.

The entire purpose of completing these solos is to be able to play faster, safer, and smarter against primarily two different sorts of hordes. Improvements can be measured by higher Zeds per second, health/armor left, and accuracy stats.

Method 2: Record your games, check what works and what does not work for you holding a lane. What could of gone better? Could I have froze there? What should I have shot there? Use your past mistakes to learn for the future. As much as people love to dwell on the past, that ain't ever changing, so learn to avoid the mistakes in the present and the future.

Method 3: Solomode Duos
Now obviously you don't have to bump it up to a gorillion Zeds on mig_v3 Nightcore, you don't really need to, play a cycle that you and your GS buddy find a beatable challenge. Mostly done on servers running CD: Chokepoints (which also comes with CustomWeapons), but allegedly Tamari has his own practice servers. I personally hate the guy as he steals code and false bans people, but the option is there if you want to practice duos without playing CustomWeapons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq0HV2vgefY&list=PLjkYGrpIhj6c37MdwEIPhh9VqiLJEjZwV

Method 4: Take a damn break every once in a while, go drink water, breathe fresh air, have a laugh.

Aya is a cute tengu reporter.

Less Cancerous KF2 Settings:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2953214496

If I do ever get bothered to, I might have videos of me demonstrating examples of what I'm talking about. Well, see you guys later and have a good day.

Change #1: Added in Sniper FAL and Wave 1 Large Takedowns
Change #2: Added some more stuff
Change #3: More bs, I might consider abandoning this guide and leave it "as-is."
Change #4: Adjusted some wording, might work on this more, not sure.
Change #5: Added some more stuff. A GS guide by my friend might be in the works.