Sniper vs Railgun

I just got my first legendary item.. turns out it's a railgun. I also use sniper regulary.

Anyway. Why is Railgun a 2 slot item? 22 seconds cooldown, Very weak close range, can't shoot over waves, very hard to lead shots. Also, 22 SECONDS???

Compared to a legendary sniper, who has a very short cooldown, has 1500 damage crits (same damage as the railgun), can shoot over waves, easy to lead shots and is a 1 slot item?

Is sniper overpowered or is railgun really weak?

 

Dont know about the sniper ( since i never used it ) but rail gun is the most powerfull gun in the game in terms of damage its for those ships that have more red slots like shooter and its more common in the nightmare and ace league then the other leagues.but ya it has a drawback that is cooldown and close range damage . But who cares about cooldown time when u are a shooter.and yes its range is infinite so due to its range and damage its given 2 slot points and u mentioned that it has same damage as railgun i cant agree on that as its only when u get a critical hit but when u dont get a critical hit its like someone threw a stone on your enemy ship its damage is low i mean very low but on the other hand railgun gives u a lot of damage with 100 % certainity if u hits your enemy.

 

You can argue sniper and railgun have the same range since you're never going tohit beyond snipers range with railgun.
And you can fire 2 shots with sniper while only 1 shot with railgun. 500 damage is not very low (tier 1 legendary sniper) you claim railgun does absurd damage compared to sniper, when sniper does 1/3 damage with each shot, and can fire twice while you can shoot railgun only once. Not to mention the crit chance and the easier aiming and leading shots AND railgun dosen't go over waves.

 

Even in short-mid range, Railgun will hit harder than a non-crit Sniper shot. It's a secure high damage shot once you learn how to lead shots with it. Sniper is a bit op, and that's the reason the comparison would favour Sniper a bit, but Railgun is a great weapon and you should find a way to fit it in your gameplay.

Ps: sniper nerf is coming. Hope it balances it instead of making it useless.

 

Lets say the Railgun damage in mid to short range is 70%, out of 1500, it will deal 1000 damage. The sniper will hit 500, shoot it again it deals a 1000, it has exactly half the cooldown the Railgun has. If the sniper crits it's not even compareable

EDIT: keep in mind Railgun is 2 slot and sniper is 1 slot

 

1. The Sniper A will crit around 1 of 3 shots, unless it's over T4 epic.
2. To make your math count, you will have to hit 2 times, instead of 1. The targets aren't static, so you'll need to have it in line of sight and lead the shot twice instead of once...
3. Since Railgun is not the only weapon you'll have equipped on your boat, you will still shooting at enemies while the railgun cd is over, so there's no point in the "2 Sniper Shots v. 1 Railgun Shot" comparison...

 

I’d say it’s a bit of both. Sniper is a bit too good for what it is. Railgun has impressive damage, but its DPS is pretty low, and when you also factor in the difficulty of lining up a shot, at the correct range, when it’s also cooled down... it probably has one of the lowest practical DPS outputs in the game.

 

After seeing how brutal frost nerf was expect the worst

 

Consider a situation where only 1 player from both the teams are left with around 1000 health both. one has sniper one has railgun he is at a distance from which he can shoot 70 % damage per shot . The damage that they can do is mentioned above by alpha. Now both have sniper and railgun loaded who would have a good chance of winning ? Its undoubtly the one with the railgun. So sometimes its better to have a rail gun.

 

Considering The current state of sniper,it is Lot better and versatile compared to railgun.Railgun starts to be good at T4 and is a challange to sniper at T5 max.But having said that,sniper is something you miss very less on the other hand you will miss a railgun even with slightest hindrance in wave or movement of enemy ship(even with the lead shots).

Projectile speed of sniper with curve:--Can get upto 48
Projectile speed of railgun without curve:--
40(remains same)
So sniper is far more accurate..

This is how they work in game,For the facts like damage reduction,Reload time,Dps,Etc you better Look out in game.Damage reduction upto 70% at close is Utter bull s***.

And also railgun feels useless in crash n burn.

If your sniper has >30% crit chance go for it or maybe use both.


One best perk of a railgun :--- You can break any tesla shield currently(no leggy T5 sheild that i have seen)at any distance With a T5 railgun(Damage around 1700 With epic perks)

I could go on and on,But i dont want anyone to unread it just by looking at size

 

You barely get good 3-4 shots of a Railgun in a hectic match,Sniper is like all shots on target if you lead correctly.

 

Even in that hypothetical situation, which has been contrived to perfectly suit the railgun, it’ll still probably miss, and then the sniper will win for sure while the other player has to wait 22 seconds for their gun to cool down.

I saw it happen in a game. We had a railgun fixer on our team, and he was the last player left against a shooter. Our fixer had a decent amount of health, and the shooter was practically dead, 1 hit with a common cannon would have finished him off.

But of course the fixer couldn’t shoot, and had to take damage while he waited for the railgun to recharge (because it’s never charged when you need it), when he finally got to take his shot, he missed. And that was it, 1hp shooter wins the game.

 

Railgun isn’t a bad choice on fixer, because It allows you to get all your damage out efficiently in one big hit, so you can spend more time focusing on your green and yellow actions.

I think it’s inevitable that people will compare them, especially when you see sniper doing comparable damage with half the cooldown. It draws the balance into question.

 

The is as good as a thread can get,The weapons are two slot not because of thier damage,But to prevent them from spamming and restricting them for some boats.(Imagine a enforcer with triple railgun)

Sniper vs railgun is perfect comparison,and the person using dual sniper is abosultely more successful than railgun and sniper.
Ever tried using railgun?,may you should.

Sniper is no way a mini railgun lol,That sentence is more stupid than this thread.
High projectile speed,Low cooldown,Unbelieveable accuracy,damage doesnt reduce when close combat

How is that thing a mini Railgun to you.

And mind well! No thread is stupid.Everyone creates thread because they plan to use weapon in one or the other way,Want to know which has more efficacy.

Why bother to comment if the thread is stupid!

 

Sniper is more accurate, twice as fast, and no range penalty, so even though the crits are random, the damage is actually more consistent.

I grabbed some screen shots from a recent game where a speeder was running sniper and railgun together (both t4 rare).

Spoiler

Sniper


Railgun


Sniper


Railgun


Sniper


Railgun

That’s all the railgun hits, but I left out all the sniper hits below 1k (including more crits against low hp ships). (Edit: like the one that killed me )

As you can see, the sniper outperformed the railgun on crits alone (which were the more powerful hits, and there were just as many), and there is another ~3k of other damage missing, which was all sniper.

 

@Alpha . i m. Not saying Railgun sucks,But you will have to be patient to learn it ways whereas sniper is insta friendly.Also there is a chance good sniper to be nerfed.So keep the railgun in pocket(currently at 3.4k)

I use them both[if my sniper had good crit chance,i would ditch railgun without second thoughts]