Scoping in on enemies in Remnant 2 is a dangerous game, which is why it’s important to make every shot worthwhile if you’re considering a Sniper build.
The Sniper is not a class in Remnant 2, and is instead a playstyle. There are a handful of weapons with the Scope trait that let you snipe enemies in first-person. This removes your peripheral vision, but allows you to more easily hit Weakspots.
What is a Sniper build in Remnant 2?—explained
A Sniper build uses one of three weapons—the Huntmaster M1, Widowmaker, or Starkiller—to deal massive Weakspot damage to targets. We take advantage of a variety of perks, from boosting Ranged Damage to distracting foes with summons.
Best archetypes for Snipers
Archetypes to make the Sniper build worthwhile are the Hunter and Handler. The Hunter archetype is our primary choice, as it provides very high Weakspot damage for ranged weapons, allowing us to get massive damage numbers with each shot.
All of the Hunter’s skills are worth considering, but we find Hunter’s Shroud to be the strongest of the three. Shrouded lets you escape from dangerous situations while boosting your Ranged Damage by 50 percent, letting you dome someone for a huge amount of damage before repositioning. The Mark of this ability is the worst of your three options, but that’s honestly fine.
The Handler might not seem as optimal as the Gunslinger, but it’s actually critical for the build. The Dog is excellent at holding down enemies, tripping them by default. Guard Dog both improves your Damage Reduction while also letting you activate it to generate a bunch of threat. This isn’t a foolproof way to get enemies off of you, but it usually allows you to get one or two Weakspot hits without as many problems.
Invader is an honorable mention for a secondary Archetype, as it gives you additional ways to summon clones that generate threat. We think it’s too skill-reliant to be useful, though, unlike the Dog, which is almost always effective.
Engineer offers an interesting take on the Sniper, using the level 10 Impact Cannon to deal massive damage with each headshot. This is Skill Damage and doesn’t really work that well with other Sniper Rifles, though, so we’ll ignore it for now.
Best traits for Snipers
There are no exceptionally strong traits for Ranged Damage, so your trait pool is a great place to get defensive options. Some winners include:
- Vigor (Core) for more health.
- Barkskin (Quiz from Yaesha—The Far Woods or Forbidden Grove) for Damage Reduction.
- Siphoner (N’Erud Dormant Facility Quarantine event) for Lifesteal.
- Swiftness (Explorer) for more movement speed.
There are a few gun-focused traits to grab, too, like Footwork for movement while aiming and Handling to prevent recoil for your snipers. Your other points can go into bonus Experience, Skill Cooldown, or Mod Power generation, depending on what works best for your build at a given time. Thankfully, it’s not too hard to respec in Remnant 2 thanks to Orbs of Undoing that lets you choose your traits all over again.
Best long gun for Snipers
Of the three scoped Sniper Rifles in the game, the Starkiller is the strongest option in Remnant 2. Of your three primary choices, the Huntmaster M1, Widowmaker, and Starkiller, the Huntmaster M1 is outclassed by the Widowmaker, and the Widowmaker’s one-shot reload makes Starkiller so much more enticing.
Starkiller’s innate mod is also very powerful for mobbing. By grouping creatures together, you can get collaterals and kill many adds at the same time. The only real problem with the Starkiller is its middling 110 percent Weakspot damage, but that’s honestly not a huge deal. Feel free to rock the Widowmaker as well for bosses that don’t spawn adds, but we find rapid-fire Sniper Rifles have better support in Remnant 2.
The Widowmaker’s best Mod is Bore, your reward for killing the Abomination on N’Erud. This mod lets you deal improved Weakspot damage, which is just perfect for you. Mutators of choice include Battery and Ghost Shell, both of which focus on dealing Weakspot damage. We prefer Battery overall, though both are functional.
Best handgun for Snipers
Your Sniper’s handgun should help you deal with swarms of enemies, something that Widowmaker and even Starkiller can have trouble doing at times. Enigma is the best option for this, spreading a series of electrical bolts that apply Overloaded and stagger weaker enemies very effectively.
Nebula, a reward for slaying Tal Ratha without being eaten, is similarly effective, though its AI is too unreliable at targeting big threats instead of a random flier in Timbuctoo. Nebula is a much better fallback option, however, since it is significantly easier to hit Weakspots on.
In terms of Mutator, we found the most success with Refunder, as it lets Enigma’s rapid-fire shots refill the reserve ammo of Starkiller or Widowmaker.
Best melee weapon for Snipers
This build requires you to sacrifice a lot of Melee Damage, so you might as well use the Abyssal Hook, the best defensive melee weapon in Remnant 2. The Abyssal Hook comes stock with 80 percent bonus stagger with the potential to get even more. This lets you fight your way out of a terrible situation when a dodge roll won’t suffice.
For this purpose, Shield Breaker works just fine as a Mutator, giving you a relatively beefy shield with multiple swings.
Best amulet for Snipers
The best amulet for Snipers in Remnant 2 is Core Booster, an amulet hidden beneath N’Erud’s Ascension Spire that boosts your Weakspot Damage by 50 percent after you kill a creature. This is an excellent way to reward yourself for surviving an add phase by kicking the boss’s teeth in, dealing massive chunks of health with each successful snipe.
Core Booster is great, but some bosses have exceptionally rare add phases that make it difficult to use. In that case, we recommend Range Finder, a N’Erud item which deals gains up to 30 percent Ranged Damage and six meters of Range for each kill you get. These stacks are on a timer that refreshes on Ranged Weakspot hits, allowing you to sustain 30 percent damage after you kill your first group of mobs.
Best rings for Snipers
Sniper Rings focus on Ranged Damage, Aiming utility, and maybe a touch of defense. As such, we recommend the following options:
- Ring of the Vain (Random Losomn Drop) allows you to move 35 percent faster while aiming, making you faster while looking down your sights than not if you’ve maxed Footwork.
- Stone of Expanse (Random N’Erud Drop) gives you 12 percent Ranged Damage while reducing your other damage by six percent. Your puppy is going to be less effective as a damage dealer, but it’ll be just fine as a tank.
- Zania’s Malice (Root Earth—Ashen Wasteland) gives you stacking weakspot damage, which works especially well with Starkiller.
- Black Cat Band (Sold from Reggie) lets you avoid dying once per two minutes, potentially saving a run from an otherwise devastating mistake.
This build is quite defensive in nature. If you’re finding you can easily survive without Black Cat Band, you can replace it with Ring of Flawed Beauty for 25 percent Ranged Weakspot Damage. Though, you lose 15 percent damage if you don’t hit a Weakspot, so it’s not all rainbows and sunshine.
Best relic for Snipers
There aren’t any powerful Relics for Ranged Damage, so your Relic will almost always be defensive. We liked the Decayed Heart for its ability to potentially recover enough health to survive a hit after taking a hit, and also because you can still use it without missing health. This will let you recharge your Hunter Skill duration during invulnerability periods or if you’ve just had a bad streak of misses.
Alternatively, you can go for Lifeless Heart for its hugely reduced healing but much better Relic Capacity, giving you a lot of chances to regenerate Skill Duration. The Constrained Heart gives you some Bulwark while you slowly heal, which can be helpful during busy fights.
As for Relic Fragments, simply pick up Ranged Critical Chance, Ranged Critical Damage, and Ranged Weakspot Damage.
Best armor for Snipers
We recommend heavy armor for Snipers, which is your Encumbrance when lime green. This is usually above 50 Weight and below 80 Weight. The Scope is great for hard-targeting Weakpoints and terrible for letting you know when a Root monster is about to harvest your kidneys. Having the armor to tank an extra hit is always a good idea.
