If you’re a fan of sniper games, you probably prefer more authentic sniper experiences than most gamers. Sniper Elite 5’s authentic sniping difficulty provides something challenging, but not TOO challenging. In fact, veterans of the Sniper Elite series can most likely skip this guide, as the changes are fairly intuitive if you’re familiar with the game.
With a detailed ballistics system, sniping in authentic difficulty is a rewarding experience. Let’s break it down for those of you who want to learn what the fuss is all about.
SE5 Authentic Sniping: Elevation
The first factor you’ve got to plan for is estimating how much the bullet will drop as it travels.
Depending on the muzzle velocity of your rifle and the round you’re firing, the drop of your bullet could be fairly minor. While authentic sniping difficulty doesn’t give you a magic crosshair that shows up when you hold your breath, it DOES give you an indicator at the side of your scope showing exactly how much the bullet will drop based on the range to your target.
Here’s the important part: This isn’t based on what you are aiming your crosshair at, but is actually a direct estimation of where the bullet will land based on the factors impacting it’s drop (and wind, which we’ll talk about later). This elevation marker acts exactly like the breath-holding crosshair on easier difficulties, but won’t show you if you’re going to impact the target you want, just where the bullet will land.
As you adjust your elevation on your scope for the range to your target, this marker will rise, reducing the amount of “holdover” you have to deal with to hit your target.
Quick tip: If your target is closer to the next elevation increment on your scope, it may be easier to over-adjust the elevation (so you aim a little lower, rather than a lot higher).
Finally, keep in mind that your bullet travels in a parabolic arc. If you’re using a low muzzle velocity rifle & round, and are shooting at a target 400m or further away, just because you can see them doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to hit them. The bullet will arc up a significant amount, and there is an (albeit) slim chance the bullet will impact something on it’s way to the target. Keep this in mind, and consider carrying match ammo for just such occasions (match ammo has highly increased muzzle velocity, which means the bullet has less drop).
SE5 Authentic Sniping: Compensating for wind
Wind is the next factor you’ve got to compensate for at Authentic difficulty in Sniper Elite 5.
Unlike elevation, Sniper Elite 5 doesn’t provide windage adjustments: You literally just have the wind indicator at the top of your scope reticle denoting how much you need to adjust for.
Thankfully, adjusting for wind is just like adjusting for elevation, and it’s usually much more minimal: You just have to hold over to where the windage marker aligns with where you want to hit.
Like when compensating for elevation, having a higher muzzle velocity means you have to compensate less for windage. Just keep in mind that the amount wind will impact your shots depends on what direction you’re aiming: A wind blowing parallel to your rifle impacts you less than a wind blowing perpendicular to it.
Finally, like elevation, the further away the target the more you’ll have to compensate for the wind.
That’s it! You now know all you need to know in order to snipe in Authentic difficulty Sniper Elite 5.