Dear sweet god, this thing singlehandedly makes NC snipers into monsters. I ended up dying almost exclusively to tanks during a long meatgrinder in amerish, beat an SMG infiltraitor at melee range, outsniped snipers, shot someone off a flash, dropped a MAX with a well timed headshot, got multiple engineers off their turrets, and generally raised hell.... unlike my performance with most every other gun in the game. I never see NC snipers using it though, why is that anyway?
Welcome to the club, brother! People don't use it because they think that 200m apparently isn't safe enough to snipe from, the muzzle velocity is too low and that the bolt speed isn't noticeable. The potential in an Infiltrator lies in its killing speed from longer ranges thus being safe as well, whilst making it even safer by being able to minimalize his presence in enemy LoS. What I consider safe is the range where shooting doesn't make you appear on the minimap anymore (aka >40m). The bolt speed, no sway, and low magnification scopes of the SAS-R/TSAR-42/Ghost all feed into the faster killing speed potential. Therefore, the SAS-R/TSAR-42/Ghost are superior imo, although the others fill a nice niche "just in case" I suppose.
I do better at medium range with my regular RAMS .50 with a 12x scope, because I don't need to hold my breath and with that magnification dragshots are trivial. It's only completely useless in CQC but that's what teammates are for. I've found that with a 4x TSAR-42, at medium range, it takes just a fraction of a second too long to accurately aim for the head, which at that range can spell disaster.
My personal preference is to use those BASRs silenced and for 100m kills Max. The lower zooms are nice to use in enclosed areas and the no-sway helps getting pot shots, but higher scopes can offer better awareness to scout a place, IMO... Still, the close range BASRs are really good rifles
So what, a killsteal? But seriously it is a clone of the TSAR and Ghost. I like it for the right situation, but it's nothing incredible.
Tsar-42, SAS-R, and the vanu one have always had the highest potential to be the best guns in my opinion, the problem I run into is that the scope mechanics seem to work way different on these guns than on a long range sniper rifle (i.e. mouse sensitivity too high)
And when we getting quick bolt or w/e that is? Might be good for tunnel vision, but also good for follow up shots. I hate having to unscope and rescope...
You don't know there are close range BASR with small scopes and faster bolt action than the regular ones? SAS-R is the one for NC.
So I just tried some weapon I've never tried before and sweet mother of jeebus I am a veritable expert with that weapon.
I don't play my infilrator that often, but when I do try to snipe, these low-zoom BA have been my favorite. The no-sway buff made them amazing, so long as you don't mind getting in somewhat close to the enemy. I have given up on using a silencer on them, though, as the velocity drop is just something I've had too much trouble correcting for. Still make great weapons for hit-and-run flanking during a big fight, though. Though I must admit, I have been infatuated with the scout rifles since their recent improvements. While not as damaging, I find I do better with the semi-auto scouts working a flank now. No more insta-kills, but a lot easier to correct for missed shots and hectic fire zones. Maybe I'm just not as patient as I should be...
Actually, that does happen in this game. When a weapon has mechanics that raise the skill floor, and switch to a weapon with similar characteristics but without needing to compensate for a hindering mechanic, the performance goes through the roof. The SAS-R is a well characterized weapon, as the 4x scope is within its optimal range, its very likely to 1-shot at that distance, very steady, and cycles fast for quick follow up. Its everything you love about Bolt actions, but none of the things that normally make it difficult.
Just started using it myself too, I frustrated with the NS7-PDW right now, and it's my new favorite weapon. Even if you miss a headshot and get a body shot you can so quickly follow it up with a second shot for the kill. I've been using it silenced within 50m mainly and really like the feel of it.
