20 replies to this topic

[Ihlrath]

What's a good way to counter the current sniper meta? It seems difficult to close ground without getting your mech ripped in half by the time you do it.

[GuardDogg]

Stealth, light or a medium and if you are willing to lose an Assault, be very patient. But everyone has found their own ways. Telling team to pull the snipers from their location, by holding low. But that will take team work and everyone to work together. Not easy.

I have found my own way to get boaters/snipers, on each map. We all know where they are located. Takes a lot to do these, specially alone (lone-wolf, or pugging). Very rare these tactics do the job.
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Edited by GuardDogg, 28 November 2021 - 07:18 PM.

[justcallme A S H]

Ihlrath, on 28 November 2021 - 05:42 PM, said:

What's a good way to counter the current sniper meta? It seems difficult to close ground without getting your mech ripped in half by the time you do it.

What sniper meta?

The current gameplay means all playstyles are viable.

Most maps have plenty of cover and options to approach/reach engagements while taking minimal to no damage. If you find you are getting shredded you're not using said cover correctly or smartly. Every match I play I players skylining/walking out in the open for absolutely no reason. Don't do it, won't get shot.

If you are in a brawler it isn't about rushing to the fight, it is about waiting intelligently for your 'time to smash'.

If you know there is a long range mech or two (and that's usually all it is) watching a corner then don't go around said corner.

[Ihlrath]

I was kind of asking for advice on how to counter/deal with it not a 'lul git gud' response but... thanks... I guess?

[justcallme A S H]

I suggest you read it again if all you saw was "git gud" or actually be open to advice if you're going to ask for it.

[Ihlrath]

Okay so then I guess I should pick brains more then. I generally play faster mechs, medium/light usually with ECM. I try to stick to cover unless covering ground to back someone up or if its needed etc. I tend to average between 300 and 500 damage a game, sometimes less sometimes more. My PSR is junk no matter what I do so I feel like I'm doing something wrong or could be doing something more I guess?

I just can't seem to figure out how to escape the getting clocked by the gauss/erppc snipers especially in maps like Caustic. Is that just sort of how the cookie crumbles or are there specific ways to sneak/get to them?

Edited by Ihlrath, 28 November 2021 - 08:24 PM.

[YueFei]

Ihlrath, on 28 November 2021 - 08:22 PM, said:

Okay so then I guess I should pick brains more then. I generally play faster mechs, medium/light usually with ECM. I try to stick to cover unless covering ground to back someone up or if its needed etc. I tend to average between 300 and 500 damage a game, sometimes less sometimes more. My PSR is junk no matter what I do so I feel like I'm doing something wrong or could be doing something more I guess?

I just can't seem to figure out how to escape the getting clocked by the gauss/erppc snipers especially in maps like Caustic. Is that just sort of how the cookie crumbles or are there specific ways to sneak/get to them?

Watch your own team and see which lanes your own long-range / mid-range guys are covering. Try to use the lanes they control as avenues for your own approach. Even if your own guys aren't dominating their trades, at the very least the pressure they apply will force the enemy to be more conservative in their positioning. For example, instead of fearing nothing and standing on the front-side of hills completely exposed at long range, they'll have to tuck in behind hills and buildings for cover, and because of that they'll have to give up LOS on certain areas of the map, areas that you can use as covered routes to approach.

Just put yourself into a sniper's shoes for a moment. Imagine you are the sniper. If you knew for a fact that there were no enemies with long-range or mid-range weapons that could threaten you, you could just stand fully exposed on some high ground where you can see most of the map, and see down into low-ground or canyons as well. What prevents you from doing so is that there are enemies with their own long-range / mid-range weapons, so instead you need to tuck back a bit, and when you do that, you can't see and shoot into as much of the map anymore... now you have blindspots. And now those blindspots are areas where enemy brawlers could be moving through as they come for your cookies.

I recommend you also try playing as a sniper. You'll get a feel for your own strengths/weaknesses as a sniper. And by doing this, when you're in a brawler you'll have a better idea of how to exploit a sniper's weaknesses.

Edited by YueFei, 28 November 2021 - 11:24 PM.

[Ravni]

It's hard to provide specific advice without specific examples: for example, maybe you were piloting an SPL Flea and got sniped by a Gauss/ERLL Dire Wolf while you were trying to charge up the F6 hill alone from the south Theta lowground?

Ash provided good general advice: patience is really important for brawlers, especially light ones.

If you are learning to play light brawling mechs, I'd suggest you first try to stay behind cover, moving around constantly within about 1 grid square from the bulk of your heavier teammates. Expose yourself briefly to scout & warn your team of enemy movement and be nearby to protect the backs of your own snipers/assaults from enemy flankers. Try not to peak or jump in the same spot twice in quick succession if you spot enemies.

Wait for an opening where you can hit enemies who have overextended against your team, or go flank yourself to take out a distracted enemy sniper who you know is alone and isolated far from their team.

Try to move erratically: long straight lines at constant movement speed make you much easier to track. Be very patient if you think or know an enemy sniper is watching your position: don't be averse to pausing behind cover for 20-30 seconds to let something else divert the attention of the sniper so you can close in cleanly.

[Davegt27]

what I do--

most often I identify the sniper (call out)

then I rotate away from the sniper and work on the other mechs

but that is not the only way
snipers are often locked into one location so if your team is shooting them from multiple directions that will also take care of snipers

light mechs can also become very good anti sniper mechs

so it boils down to early game
call out the sniper and have the team rotate away from the sniper and have the team work on Mechs that are in range

late game hopefully the sniper has been weakened some and you can take care of them

you can also call for lights to suppress the snipers
if you have the range you can also suppress the sniper

dropping strikes also helps

the number one thing is don't just stand there and get blasted to death

the map guy during a pod cast said something about wanting to make all styles viable
(some times trying to make all play styles viable means none are viable)

I would prefer team play be the number one goal but I guess we just need to adapt

HTHs

Edited by Davegt27, 29 November 2021 - 10:58 AM.

[Tarl Cabot]

Caustic Use of Heat Vision. The crosshairs are over the Jenner in the testing grounds, and without use of max zoom, just the 2x default.

Far out mechs are dark against the lighter landscape then around 340m the mechs blend into the landscape and finally under 325m they are white against the landscape.

And as long as they arent being hit, most will stick to that location but once they start taking some damage most will move about. Taking a few fast lights/meds over the ridges is one way to counter and distract them, while being prepared to move away, ie, kite any that try to follow. If it is a fast light like a flea or locust, sweep the legs!! Wouldnt hurt to carry a narc and/or tag to light them up.

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 29 November 2021 - 08:03 AM.

[Hobbles v]

I would agree that sniper dominate in general because they can fight almost anywhere. Most other playstyles are still good and viable however.

Except the following:
Solo lrm mechs. Always have been bad, worse nowadays with high prevalence of ecm and a more ranged meta

Assault and heavy brawlers. Too slow, good up close but struggle on half the maps to get in range.

If you want to counter snipers without being a sniper yourself do one of these.

Run midrange vomit. Swap the large pulse lasers with erll so you can threaten snipers at range while you close to ERML range to wreck them with superior damage alphas.

Run fast punchy mechs and close.

Fast pop tarts. Make it hard to get good erll burns on you and be in cover again before gauss rifles charge up to shoot you.

[CFC Conky]

Ravni, on 28 November 2021 - 11:39 PM, said:

...

Try to move erratically: long straight lines at constant movement speed make you much easier to track.
...

Some very good advice right here.

I would also suggest that when crossing open terrain you twist your torso back and forth, mixing up the direction and amount of twist in order to spread laser damage if you get hit by a ERLL sniper. It may also make it harder for a PPFLD sniper to hit you in the torsos.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

Edited by CFC Conky, 29 November 2021 - 10:22 AM.

[GoodTry]

Honestly the best thing to do is often to flag the sniper for your team and then ignore them and find a way to fight outside of their sight lines.

When a heavy or assault is way out in the jungle, sure, it may have great sight lines to one area of the map, but it's completely screwed and useless if the fight happens elsewhere. So just fight somewhere else, and you can enjoy the enemy team being down a key mech.

Trying to "dodge" is a losing battle because that interferes with your effectiveness against the other players on the team.

Trying to go out and kill the sniper is often a losing proposition because you'll spend half the prime time of the match just scooting around the map trying to get close, then killing the sniper and coming all of the way back. It's typically a bad idea unless they are fairly close (in which case they aren't really a "sniper").

Shooting back is also great if you can. Just a few shots, even at less than optimal range, is often enough to interfere with a sniper's effectiveness. But I'm assuming that shooting back is generally not an option in the mechs you run, because otherwise you wouldn't be asking the question.

[ScrapIron Prime]

Another thing to do is to spend some time in testing grounds, learning the various maps. Since you focus on playing lights and mediums, you should be looking at places NOT to stand, and alternate ways to get around the map. With movement rates over 80kph, you have options, you can take a longer path and not miss the fight.

[Saved By The Bell]

Many snipers in enemy team, all shooting from various places.
Many novice in my team, all are afraid to move.

In this case its catastrophic defeat.

[RickySpanish]

It's basically map awareness that allows you to get around without being shot. Map awareness and patience. I suggest you record your games if you don't already. You could even just stream to twitch if your internet connection allows it - you will save hdd space that way. The point of recording matches is watching them at your leisure, which will allow you to better analyze player movement and spot where players like to shoot from. You could check your player map stats to see what maps you have a poor win/loss ratio on, and focus on those in particular.

[Bassault]

It can be hard because your team may take a stupid spot and refuse to move up, then you're forced to stand around with your **** in your hand, or go out alone and risk dying alone. But generally you need to know the map, try to travel between buildings or between mountains/hills, or travel on the lower side of hills to hide your advance. Don't rotate too far right, especially if you're in a vertical map like Viridian or Rubellite, you will get sniped because people always predict right-side pushes and set up sniping nests. Also watch your brainless teammates run into snipers so you can avoid their fate and identify sniper positions. Unfortunately you can't deal with snipers immediately, you usually need another sniper to flush them out or you have to wait until the end of the game to mop them up.

[PocketYoda]

Ihlrath, on 28 November 2021 - 05:42 PM, said:

What's a good way to counter the current sniper meta? It seems difficult to close ground without getting your mech ripped in half by the time you do it.

I hate to say but LRMs can waste sniping mechs.. I dislike LRMs but when used right they do have their uses.

[justcallme A S H]

MechaGnome, on 01 December 2021 - 04:39 AM, said:

I hate to say but LRMs can waste sniping mechs.. I dislike LRMs but when used right they do have their uses.

A Sniper - If sniping, is going to be outside 1000m. That means LRMs are useless.

[Aidan Crenshaw]

justcallme A S H, on 01 December 2021 - 04:56 AM, said:

A Sniper - If sniping, is going to be outside 1000m. That means LRMs are useless.

The "Incoming Missile"-Warning might drive them back into cover and supress them a bit. At best.