Can someone clearify how bullet drops works for snipers?

Bullet drop, I have come to understand out of numerous encounters have three variables. these are:
1. (probably the most obvious) is range. With the M77-b (x12 magnification scope) you have the first dot below at around 150m, the second at 250m, and in between the second and third dot you have a range for 300m (any walking player beyond 300-310m is beyond your rendering range so the other dots are practically useless; unless you aim for a dude on a flash where the vehicle rendering limit is at 500m or so)
2. your vertical distance to the ground level of the target, and or the vertical distance from the target to your ground level. when you are higher up and are aiming down at your target the ranges found on the first variable are either going to be deducted or increased; for example if your target is at 150m you should be able to hit him if you both are on level ground, but lets say you are on a hill maybe 10-20m up above. the usual first dot for the range of 150m should be minimized somewhat, at this scenario you should aim the first dot slightly below your targets head (I suggest you take an exploratory shot first). In another set of circumstances your target is 10-20m above you (same range as the first) I would measure the shot to be taken by slightly adjusting the first dot so that in rests slightly above the head.(again this variable is one of the most difficult to measure as the difference of only 1-3m could pull your shot off, at this point I would recommend taking exploratory shots to measure the striking point of your shot)
3. speed of your round. This is self-explanatory, the faster your round travels the less bullet drop and vertical distance you have to account for.

My tip:
about a good 15min at the local VR to help fine tune your range finding skills, and if these variables discourage you from pursuing your infiltrator dreams just put this into your mind:

"atleast we don't have to account for wind speed" XD

hoped this helped.

How bullet drop works for snipers:

from my experience, this is how Vanu Paralax SR works: you aim for the head, and you hit it.

only if the head is close to render distance, aim 1 mm higher. that's it.

other than that, Frankie is right - aim for the head (at least with Paralax)

If you're using the top tier sniper rifle, you rarely need to aim higher than the first mil dot unless you're running supressor.

Hot tip: Spot your target and use the minimap to gauge the distance.

This would only be true if bullets didn't slow down over time as they travel. Does velocity decrease over time in Planetside 2 or are all weapons constant velocity?

Constant afaik. This aint no mil-sim.


Also, I like Frankies dayz videos, but guys a BR40 and barely plays PS. "Prominent".... Ha!

I don't believe thats true. I haven't seen that effect at all in-game. I snipe as TR or VS more often than NC. Is this a NC trait?.

I refuse to call my sniper rifle bolt action. It don't work that way.
Slap-battery-action. That's where the future is folks.

Also, the amount of visible bullet drop gets influenced by the vertical FOV slider in your GFX options.
If you max it out you will experience far less drop.

given that all bolt actions are the same across factions no, it's universal.


there is a reason why he clearly aims below the head.

Up to 100m you can aim at the head, it will be a headshot.
100-200m you need at least one notch up, and so forth.

Buy the most expensive bolt action and if you aim for the head and don't hit you are too far away. Pretty boring and simple but that's how it works.

Here's how it works:
U liek "BANG!"
Ur enemie liek "Ow! Not in the face"
And he runs behind cover.

When you shoot down from a high angle, the bullet will actually rise a bit, almost as if it gains velocity due to gravity. If you are doing the same at even elevations, it will drop. If you shoot up at a high angle it drops even more. The amount changes depending on range and which rifle you use. Unfortunately, you can't really test this out in the VR since you cannot get those elevation extremes, but if you shoot in the SE canyons on Indar, you will especially notice it.

if you shoot downwards and the bullet rises a bit its not because gravity compounds with muzzle velocity, it's because bullet doesn't fly 'straight'. It's impossible for downward oriented gravity vector to cause upward movement. The only thing gravity can do is to bend the trajectory down, never up. That means there is an inherent non-zero V vector pointed upwards that gravity overpowers with time. Obviously the bend is hardest when the gravity is perpendicular to the bullet path and weakest when gravity and muzzle velocity are aligned.

Ok, that makes more sense. I hardly find myself sniping top-down unless its farming or something as would anyone else. I will note the majority of his shots were at the chin and not below the head and the parallax bullet drop, quite literally, is virtually nonexistent.

Bullet rises because of the recoil? Sounds about right to me. The physics in this game obviously won't be perfect so I'm not going to compare it to real life physics in extreme detail. So far from my experience, you're either aiming at the head if you're close enough or aiming upwards when at distance.

Heh, actually I could see this being the case. I'm definitely not going to argue actual physics either. In PS2, where a MBT can be flipped by a harrasser, can shoot upwards into the air at 200kph, can kill friendly infantry by tapping them, but can't run over an enemy to save your life, can shoot through rocks because the shots come from the "camera" not the barrel... Real physics don't really apply.

I can only observe what happens in the game. I've never missed a shot high when on a level plain, only when i'm shooting downward. Whether that's because the recoil effect is added prior to the bullet leaving, or due to some weird interaction with the gravity settings I don't know. I do know that a lot of things in this game don't follow the laws of physics precisely.

most of these things are caused by cheap computational-wise simplifications. Preservation of momentum is tricky compared to simple ballistics with air drag excluded. It's nothing more than a simple quadratic equation where only velocity vector and gravity matter. Child's play.

not that it matters much, but RL sniper rifles pretty much work like the ones in the game, otherwise hitting the point in the crosshair would not be possible at any distance. Barrel and scope can't be parallel, that's why zeroing the rifle works.

Bullets are constant velocity, some rocket weapons do change speed over time (Phoenix launcher)

All the bolt actions have bullet drop. Only the VS semi autos have no bullet drop (at least no bullet drop you will notice).

Regarding the actual bullet drop, if you get the 12x scope, it has notches on it. A good way to get the correct notch to use, is to shoot and object near an enemy before actually firing at the enemy. You can then judge roughly where the bullet is going to go. This should only be done in zerg warfare however, as you will draw attention if you are solo. You can also learn to judge it automatically after practicing.

So OP, no, dont just aim at the head. It all depends on the distance.