Table of Contents Show
A description of the various sections within Sniper Fury and hints and useful things to know when playing.
Tips and Tricks for Beginners
Section #1
Guide to Sniper Fury.
The rights of the author are asserted. No part of this guide may be reproduced, translated or posted online without the express consent of the author.
Cerberusiv June 2020. (I go by the name “Killing Machine in this game – from the title of a Judas Priest album).
Comments and corrections welcome to
Version 1.0. Current as of June 2020. Note that this game is frequently updated so parts of this guide may not reflect the latest version of the game.
This guide is primarily intended for those less experienced in the game and does not attempt to cover everything. There are parts of the game that I simply don’t have time to play properly. So there won’t be anything written by me in this guide covering the Arena, Outposts (in My Base), Domination in Clans or developing a clan with several members and nothing on Drone operations either. If anyone would like to write up a section on any of these areas, I would be happy to include it with an appropriate credit.
What it’s all about
You play the role of a sniper. You are not able to move around, you stay put and simply shoot any enemies in front of you. The game has several different ways you can progress. As you gain experience your character rises in level.
This guide is written drawing on my personal experience of the game. Where I describe what I have done or what equipment, etc I have acquired, that is not intended as any form of bragging. All such instances are factually correct and are intended to convey to newer players an idea of what sort of things they should be looking towards. Any strategies or tactics I have outlined have worked for me. If they do not work for you it may be that we have totally different approaches or that the game has been changed since I wrote that section of this guide. I certainly do not consider myself an expert, more a slightly above average player and am still learning almost every time I play.
Like any game, enjoy it. If you are not enjoying it then stop playing. I have taken extended breaks of several months from this game and it was still there when I felt like going back. Above all, please do not spend money you cannot afford on this or any other game. Stay safe.
Part #1
Opening screen
Top left – Free stuff. Always take these. Yes, it is a PITA to sit through endless repeats of the same ads for Gameloft games but you can collect quite a lot of useful things. You don’t actually have to watch as the ads will run in the background if you want to use another program. Usually sitting through 7 ads will get you 25 rubies, a battle pack and a random pick the first time you start up each day. It is 3 1/2 minutes of your life you won’t get back but will help you in the game.
Below that Deputies. Nothing for you to actively manage. If you get one, try and maximise the benefits.
Below again VIP. Does what it says.
Top toolbar, left to right – Accesses sub menu showing where you can bring up your collection of weapons and various other information. Pay attention to the shield icon as this shows the outcomes of attacks on your base by other players. This where you launch revenge attacks on people who raid your base (picking your targets carefully can be quite lucrative in getting gold).
The picture of your sniper gives you access to change costumes. This is useful in several ways. There is an icon to the right of the picture of your character that allows you to create up to 6 different suit and weapon combinations and switch easily between them. Judging by what I encounter in PvP matches, most people don’t use complete suits. That may be because they don’t have all the pieces or because they are trying to maximise particular stats or just what they like the look of. Wearing a complete suit paired with a weapon with matching affinity gets you a special attack. Examples include being able to launch a swarm of missiles or a pulse of fire or turn one enemy to your side. Well worthwhile. I use all 6 slots but mostly one for my main gear/weapon choice and one optimised for attacks on bosses in Clan Events..
Lvl is your current level based on experience. Clicking on this takes you to a screen with a lot of information. The most important thing here is your inventory. Clicking on this takes you to everything you have acquired. Most of these icons show you what you currently have. The weapon upgrades page (the telescopic sight) is where you can combine lesser upgrades to make higher ones. So if you require a blue muzzle to complete an upgrade you can create one by merging 12 green muzzles and spending gold.
Shop is, not surprisingly, the place where you buy stuff. Also where you open combat packs gained through missions (rather confusingly identical combat packs earned in PvP are opened there, not in the shop and packs obtained during events are opened in that area). You don’t need to actually buy much and nothing that requires you to part with real money. Watching the free ads and completing silver battle passe gets you rubies. Gold shows how much you currently have, likewise cash, contraband (the purple glove icon) and rubies.
None of these currencies can be converted to another. All are used to pay for specific types of transaction. Gold, cash and contraband are used in the shop. Gold is required to send squadmates on missions. Rubies are used to hurry things along (don’t waste them on this) and buy weapons.. Gold and cash are used at various steps in upgrading weapons. You will also acquire a few diamonds. Don’t worry about these, they are used to promote squadmates at higher levels. As you have to be of a high enough level yourself (lvl 60 to upgrade two lvl 5 squadmates to a lvl 6) this won’t be anytime soon if you are just starting out.
The extreme right button takes you to the various packages you can purchase in game with real cash. Purchases are mostly rubies but cash as well. Generally don’t bother, there are better ways (ie ways that don’t involve handing over your money) to get what you will need.
Right hand side – Below the toolbar is Arena. The only thing I have learned so far is that it is an excellent way of getting killed without even seeing your opponent.
Battle pass. Comes as silver and gold. You have to pay real money in game to access the gold but it usually offers excellent rewards. Without that you only get access to the silver (3 rewards per stage, gold gets you another 3 for a total of 6 in each chapter). 10 stages which require different challenges to be completed. At each stage you have to complete a number of the challenges, but not all (you decide which ones you are going for). Do that and you get the rewards for that stage. The next stage then unlocks at a predetemined time and you can play it. If you have paid for the gold pass completing stage 10 within the overall time limit usually gets you an exotic weapon as well as the other rewards along the way.
Events are the other direct way to get exotic weapons. An event usually consists of 10 chapters, each containing 5 missions. You get the prize weapon on loan. As you complete each mission the next one unlocks. There is a countdown before the next chapter unlocks. Throughout the event you will need to upgrade the loan weapon. Upgrade parts are found in the supreme packs which are awarded at the rate of one for each completed mission.
You can only hold three whilst waiting for them to unlock so be prepared to come back frequently to move an event forward. If you complete the event within the time limit you get the weapon in its current state of upgrade and any won but unclaimed supreme packs and unused upgrade parts are usually carried forward to the next event. If you have not fully upgraded the weapon you will be able to do so with ordinary upgrade parts (plus gold) after the event (upgrade as much as possible while the event is running as it is usually easier). Play as often as you can as.
Section #2
Weapons
Weapons can be divided into R (for Regional) weapons, needed for missions, and exotics, mainly used for PvP battles and which cannot be used in missions. The weapons you will always need are a sniper rifle and an assault rifle as R weapons and an exotic for PvP. Later RPGs become available in addition to the rifles.
R weapons are labelled with a region number or range of numbers. They will not get you through the region above their R number so you will need to continually replace them.
For the first 5 regions you can buy the weapons you need for cash or rubies. Keep it simple and use cash, you will need those rubies later. Buy as far ahead as you can afford. The R5 weapons look expensive to buy and upgrade but will handle everything you will encounter up to R5 and partway into R6 if fully upgraded. By not buying intermediate weapons you should save cash overall. . At least try to buy a couple of regions ahead, not for every region.
You may also come across offers allowing you to purchase weapons that cover a range of region numbers for rubies. These can be very useful, particularly as they will handle PvP in the lower leagues (Bronze at least but you will need an Exotic weapon to get very far in Silver).
Above R5, R weapons can still be bought for rubies but not for cash. They can also be obtained by collecting a specified number of blueprints.
Blueprint weapons can be R type, in which case you are simply given the weapon once you have enough blueprints, or exotics. When you have enough blueprints to get an exotic you generally get a prototype. To use it you pay gold to clone it. The clone lasts for a number of uses and then has to be replaced with a new clone.
PvP
Enemy squadmates come in various flavours with ranks from 1 up to 10. Many have particular abilities which are worth checking carefully. Once you commit to a PvP attack wait until you get a good look where the different enemies are positioned before you start.
Useful things to know are that activating a spotter (1) in either room shows invisible enemies and enables you to track targets when blinded by lights. It also shows the true target if the opponent has a double. Spotter and piercing bullet (2) boosts activated in the first room carry over into the second room. In the first room use of slow time (3) neutralises the effect of suppressors on you so allowing you to shoot normally. Check the benefits of weapons and costumes to ensure you are getting the most from them. Many costumes, when all the pieces are worn, have abilities which can be very powerful (press F to activate) particularly in PvP. Costumes and weapons may interact to enhance their powers and it is usually worth making this active so match your gear carefully.
Choice of weapon is crucial. You want a powerful weapon in terms of its damage rating, which means you will eventually need an exotic. A R type weapon may be sufficient for the Bronze leagues but above that you will require an exotic to eliminate all opposition in the allowed time.
To give some idea of what you will typically face against more experienced and powerful opponents at the time of writing (early June 2020), my default PvP setup is the full Ho Ho Howdy suit and the Lawmaker Mk3 Exotic Handgun. The Lawmaker is rated at 70000k (I juzt purchased a pair of R weapons, an assault rifle and a sniper, both cover the range R14-17 and both have a damage rating of 1875k) and the suit gives an affinity bonus of a salvo of homing missiles (resets after 60s or immediately on killing an enemy).
The combination also gives a boost to exotic weapons of 40%, raising the Lawmaker’s normal 50000k rating to 70000k. The Lawmaker also has the ability to shoot through cover. That is a big advantage as the opposition gets harder. Then, although 70000k sounds a lot, the exotic available for completing the season 25 gold battle pass is rated at 308m (more than 4 times as much). 100m and 120m damage exotics are now featuring regulsarly in PvP. The range of boosts and abilities from wearing a complete suit with a matched weapon is very powerful (once you have managed to obtain the items).
Before committing to a PvP fight consider the opposition carefully Using an appropriate PvP boost can make all the difference. If you are facing 4 drones they are easy to destroy but it will take time, so an EMP boost that takes them out before you start can be very helpful. God boosts are the equivalent of unicorns armed with Hellfire missiles – very rare but if you can use one you will be able to take down almost anything. Hoard them for when you really, really need them. Once you have selected any boosts you wish to use and identified the types of enemies you will face and where they will be, start. Take out drones first. They close in after a short time and will then kill you.
Keep an eye out for protectors and elites. Protectors often pick drones to support, forcing you to take out the protector, then the drone and it is easy to get killed if you are not fast enough. Elites are a priority as they too can kill you quickly. Snipers and RPG’s, take a little longer. RPG’s will not kill you with their first two shots but the third is always lethal. Suppressors slow you down and need to be taken out. If you have a slow time (press 3), use it and it will neutralise the effects of suppressors, but be sure to kill them before the slow time expires.
Take out spawn ASAP, particularly blue skulls (which function as drones) and green orbs (which resurrect the enemy). Spheres with green highlights heal enemies while those with blue will temporarily blind you. Earthquake rumblers throw off your aim, except when targeting them. Locators (press 1) will reveal invisible enemies. Assassins teleport around the room before closing in. Try and pick them off whenever they materialise. Assaults are not particularly dangerous and can safely be left until last.
Enemy squadmates currently range up to 10’s. The Lawmaker will reliably one shot up to 6’s with a headshot but starts to struggle much above that. Some time ago an event allowed those playing at that time to acquire the Lawmaker, the Ho Ho Howdy suit and a set of 5 squadmates all rated as 10’s. You will run into that, or something similar, fairly regularly. There are several ways to tackle that strength of opponent, but you will need the appropriate boost card. If you have a god card it is pretty easy.
Otherwise the Lawmaker will allow you to shoot any drones, take out up to 3 enemy squadmates with a missile salvo (try and get all the suppressors if you can), then try and take out a protector or anything else to reset the missiles which can then be used to finish off whatever is left. You will almost certainly need to use a slow time to make the kill to reset the missiles without being taken out by an assassin. Useful boost cards are gas grenades if some of the enemy squadmates are not immune, boosters to the damage your weapon causes and, for the second room, one to take out enemy turrets.
Section 2 (cont)
Assuming you kill all opposition in room 1, you get to room 2. Here you face your opponents character, fortunately being controlled by a not very dangerous computer rather than a very deadly human player. Advantage to you. If your opponent has a full range of defences, there will also be a drone, an Aegis barrier, a jammer turret, lights and a decoy double of your opponent. The Lawmaker/suit combination makes this easy. Shoot the Aegis barrier (as it protects everything else).
Once it goes down, press F and lunch a salvo of homing missiles which will destroy everything else. If you don’t have the missiles or an equivalent it gets harder. You still need to take out the Aegis barrier first. Then go for the jammer turret. The Aegis barrier keeps reforming so you have to keep taking it out (the PvP boost that neutralises turrets takes it out completely, as well as the jammer turret). Whenever you have a clear shot you need to kill your enemy and the drone to win.
PvP rewards include battlepacks, gold and trophies. More trophies will eventually promote you to the next league up. The initial level battlepacks are probably best merged so 4 first level gets you 1 of the next level up and 6 of those gets you 1 third level. It is probably easiest to open second or third level battlepacks as the number of fights required to get enough packs to access a fourth or fifth level pack is huge.
Revenge attacks on anyone who has successfully attacked your base are satisfying when successful (particularly if you manage to steal more gold from them than they got from you). Work through the list of successful attacks on you. This is an opportunity to pick your opponents without having to pay to skip those who look difficult.
Special ops
Squadmates have two uses in addition to defending your base. They can be sent on special ops in regions where you have completed the missions. This gains you rewards and them XP. Squadmates can be promoted once they gain sufficient XP for the next level. Be aware that it requires 2 identical squadmates, both at the maximum XP for their current level, to carry out a promotion. The two used for a promotion are replace by a single squadmate at the next level. The second use is acquiring dog tags, again through ops, in clan events. Dog tags are required to attack bosses in clan events.
When assigning squadmates to missions click on Special ops for a region. Select available missions and you will be offered up to 3 possible missions. You will eventually accumulate dozens of squadmates of varying types and managing them becomes impossibly time consuming so focus on the higher rated ones. If there are any with rare abilities, such as neutralising vehicles or radar, focus your efforts with squad XP cards on etting them promoted.
Dog tags can be acquired in Clan events. You need dogtags to be able to attack enemy bosses. Region special ops increase in the minimum level that a squadmate must be at to participate as you move through the regions. As the level of squadmates required increases so does the cost of sending them. Try and match squadmates to the individual missions to cancel the negative influences. Squadmates with higher levels than that required have a greater chance of success.
It can be worth using better squadmates than required as it can significantly improve your chances of success rather than failure and your squadmates being wounded or captured (although you can heal or recover them). Once you have enough squadmates to have several missions running at the same time and all 9 dogtag missions in Clans as well you should be acquiring enough drones and other items to be able to use them freely to get the success rate for all your missions to 100%.
Defending your base
Not all types of squadmate can be deployed in the various slots so your choices are limited by that and by what you have available. Try to use the most experienced squadmates you can as the more experience they have, the more gold they will collect for you. As you progress up the leagues opponents become more powerful and the proportion of attacks on your base that succeed tends to rise. There is only so much that you can do about this. Most important is to keep your base upgraded to your current level.
The higher level a base, the more powerful the drones and other defences you deploy are. As you acquire more experienced squadmates do review which ones you deploy to defend your base. Assault squadmates are rarely lethal in PvP and it is generally better to deploy other types. Assassins and suppressors fill the same slots and are much more effective. At least one suppressor and a protector works well in either delaying the opponent eliminating your defences within the timer or getting an elite or assassin close enough to kill them.
The amount of gold that the squadmates protecting your base bring in depends on their levels. To maximise this income, fill all five slots with the highest ranking squadmates you have (balancing this with using those that will be most effective).
Successful attacks on your base drain gold from you. The less gold you have, the less they can steal so whenever you leave the game spend as much of your gold as possible. If you are in a clan you may wish to use any residual gold up by making a contribution to one of the buildings.
Clan wars and bosses
Collect dog tags at every opportunity, even after you have defeated the current boss, as you will need them for the next one. When at war, attack as soon as the planning stage is over and the shooting can start. If you destroy the enemy core before they destroy yours then you win – dso make sure you are ready to attack the instant you can.
Challenges
Various challenges are usually available. Warlord challenges involve completing a number of tasks before the timer expires. Success is usually rewarded by 15 minutes of unlimited energy and triple experience. This is the time to use up all the raid cards you have available as you get triple experience for them. Go to your current region, select contracts and click on one of the raid options. Keep using up the cards until they are all gone (you will get plenty more through doing missions).
Other challenges are fairly obvious. Those that require kills or headshots whilst carrying out missions are best done during the unlimited energy period after completing a round of Warlord challenges. That will not get you to the top of the leaderboard on its own but the point is to maximise the energy you can use to carry ot the maximum number of missions you can attempt.
Spending actual money in-game
The good news is that you absolutely do not need to do so. Obviously the game is set up, as are so many, so that if you do then you will progress faster and have to grind less. Simply buying rubies is not necessarily the best return. Purchasing the daily payout of rubies usually gets you more for your money than just buying a similar total number of rubies. Purchasing the gold battle pass is generally very good. At the time of writing upgrading the current battlepass to gold gave the opportunity to win 1050 rubies for a quarter of the cost of purchasing 800 (not including a further 1000 rubies from the silver awards for completing the battlepass). Don’t bother buying anything other than rubies with your hard earned real money, everything else you need for now is easily acquired through normal play.
Was this useful to you?
If you are new to the game then hopefully this will give you a head start on understanding what is going on. If you have been playing for a while and pick up something from it you did not know then that is good. Comments and input are welcome. If anyone has anything to add on the Arena or on drone missions in particular that would be really helpful as I just don’t have the time to spend getting into those areas.