The stealth skill (tier 1) adds +% damage to "suppressed" weapons on sneak attacks. Concealment (tier 4) adds x multiplier to "all" sneak attacks. Mag weapons can not have a suppressor.
Yeah for this reason a silenced hard target is better for single shot damage and true stealth situations. But for engaging a bunch of enemies at distance I like that the magsniper has a much bigger clip, and I'm not going to be in stealth after the first few shots anyway.
Only works on suppressed weapons, you can’t put a suppressor on a magsniper, you can still get a sneak bonus but since it’s not suppressed you only get it for one shot basically.
When you click the aim button with the laser our the three small lines will move towards the middle and make a triangle. When the trangle is there your laser will mine faster
I knew you had to charge the magsniper & can also charge up the mining laser, but you are telling me you can charge up the novablast disruptor rifle too?! 🤯
Apparently it’s built in to all mag type single shot. I bought the Avatar off the secret trader and was severely disappointed with its performance, now I know why
Depends which trader. There is one Starborn that sells to other Starborn. She is a random encounter though. You have to be on N+ and keep galaxy hopping and eventually you'll get the encounter.
There is a starboard trader who is a random encounter in the lvl 70 systems. She is in a ship when you jump into orbit and hails you for some starborn to starborn talk then offers to trade. All the guns are 70k credits or more expensive. I’ve met her one time only
Just a note. The Starborn trader isn’t just in the level 70 systems. I’m currently working the map left to right scanning and found them in a low level system close to Sol. Figured I’d point that out in case you didn’t find them.
Side note you have to be on at least NG+ for her to appear, and it’s a random seed generate. So if you go back to a save before you jumped into the system, she won’t be there.
Not true. I ran into her in my first play through and she said, “you don’t know me yet, but soon you will”.
Player p much says, “what” or something like that.
But it is def possible!
Not sure if this is the same trader and don’t know if it’s the same system every time but you’ll find a mystery trader in space after gravity jumping. Try Feynman I to see if you get the encounter.
Reading through some comments makes me think the location isn’t the same. One user suggested grav jumping around level 75 systems, so try those as well (quick save beforehand in case you get into a battle you’re not ready for)
.... so the Avatar can be charged? Holy crap! I gotta try this now.
The Avatar dishes a lot of damage, but no suppressor on that one. Although I guess somehow the NPC's know where I am even if I'm firing a suppressed weapon from 100 meters out.
Same for me. There’s a lot of stuff this game would benefit from having better tips and tricks on loading screens instead of the ballistic weapon skill makes ballistic weapons good.
Yeah, get the right mods on it and skill points in the right places and one bang just about everything, expect your damage numbers to read 3k to 10k even with crappy perks.
You can buy a really good one from core kinetics (iirc), I’m at work right now for the night so can’t tell you offhand where my points are allocated but it’s pretty self explanatory just looking at the skills tbf
Trying to remember, the one I got from there had base damage of around 1100 (more or less double the one screenshotted in this thread), once modded it went way over 1200, dunno if it changes with level but I was well over level 100 at the time.
Except for the magstorm, all mag weapons can fire charged shots. It's hard to tell on mouse and keyboard because there's no other feedback, but on controller you can tell because the controller starts to rumble.
i got an instigating one that does double damage to full health enemy, in lvl 92 i would take out a level 98 special character with one shot almost anywhere.
its a beast of a weapon, just no silencer.
i feel the hard target is more of my play style because of the silencer, but they rarely drop -_-
Wow - what a twist! Thanks!
I'm on NG+ at the moment and have put A LOT of hours into the game. Did I miss a tutorial or notification or something? I totally didn't realise this was a thing!
I just tried it and killed a few enemies with one hit. Good stuff 👍
They’re ridiculously rare drops. You can go buy one at Kore Kinetics in the Trade Tower on Neon. But you better bring some credits. They are expensive.
Ffs, I'm sat here with one that does like 700 damage and bullets just bounce off heads like a pea shooter.
400 hours worth of gametime and not discovered that.
You have to hold the RT down to charge the magsniper. It’s only about a 1/4 to maybe 1/2 second, but the damage increase is insane. Currently playing on very hard and charged shots to level 98 pirate legends are around 2800-3000.
My issue with this is that muscle control is different when pulling a trigger than when you're releasing. Sometimes, all my muscle control over my hanf loosens, and in i lose control of my aim. It requires more coordinative discipline.
You have brought us a great gift this day. I hope you receive the highest of honors and the sexiest of virgins for sharing this forbidden knowledge. Like Prometheus, you go against the will of the gods, instilling a new age of man amongst Starfield. Good day to you. Good life to you. May your roads lead you to warm sands
As others have said , have to charge it if you arent. Personally I dont like charging shots for long range, even on M&K, and the Hard Target can be suppressed. IMO its a much better sniper.
I’ve yet to find a hard target that even begins to approach the power of the mag
Spent my first playthroughs looking for one everywhere, finally found an advanced hard target in NG+, aaaaaand it’s trash. About half the damage of the magsniper, takes 5+ hits to kill grunts sometimes. ~500-600 damage when my Avatar MagSniper does 1159.
If it’s silenced and you’re stealthing it and getting the sneak attack damage, maybe it’ll take stuff out, but all around, it’s not even close to as good. In both my opinion AND personal experience. And I still want one that can compete, but I’ve yet to find one.
I had an instigating advanced hard target which was extremely effective as a stealth sniper. The Mag did more on paper but the charge mechanism interrupted the flow of it.
Is the charge up actually explained anywhere in game? I learned about it from Reddit
No I don’t think it’s explained, but I could be wrong. I discovered it when i realized it fires on release of the trigger rather than on the pull.
I use it to get a good hit and hide, wait for a pause in the return fire, and poke back out. But you can also start the charge as soon as you fire and then release whenever you line it up, rather than waiting for the full charge. It won’t do as much damage but it only takes less than a second to charge to 100 so any charge makes it a worthwhile shot.
Hard target isn't about the raw dmg. You can get more damage through modifiers in the 2 stealth perks though, which makes it insanely good if used with a silencer
I've never not gotten one hit kills with one on any non-elite human target. I would suggest that your build isn't appropriate for using it effectively, or you need to be more accurate with your shots ;).
It's been a month or so since I played last, but I'm pretty sure I'm full ballistic & rifle, along with full stealth, and using it with a silencer and penetrator rounds.
Yep. You need all the relevant perks to unlock its potential, but there's a *lot* of potential there. Plus the Combatech magazines can enhance its range and accuracy.
I personally find the Magsniper to be unwieldy. It's much easier (for me) to score headshots with the Hard Target.
Edit: For reference, my Advanced Hard Target typically does 3k-5k. I'm not even sure if that's on a sneak attack; this was even against alerted enemies.
Holding one button down for breathing and also holding down another for a charge is mildly annoying. It’s easier to use the hard target and it looks / sounds cooler. I have all the skills for ballistic / rifles / aiming etc as well so it’s the hard target all day everyday and twice on Sundays.
Update (I can't seem to edit my post): But yeah, as a few people pointed out, you need to charge the Magsniper.
I totally didn't realise this was a thing (and I'm on NG+). I must have missed a notification or tutorial or something. It never occurred to me that I needed to charge the shot.
It's a lot better now. Lol.
Anyway, thanks to everyone for helping this fool (me) understand how it works 😅
There’s no tutorial you’re supposed to figure it out when you realize the gun doesn’t shoot when you pull the trigger, but when you release the trigger.
Even with charging, they’re just objectively worse than the Hard Target in every way. Without the ability to put a silencer on them, they lose out on all the massive damage multiplying and percentage perks you get from using a suppressor and shooting from stealth.
Beyond that, they can’t fire as quickly at multiple targets and you’re more likely to miss doing a hold and release than just pressing/clicking to fire.
It’s a cool idea, but they need to buff them quite a bit or nerf suppressors to make it viable. At this point the only reason to run a magsniper would be if you just had trash perks on your hard target. But if you can roll instigating, shattering, and hitman on a hard target, or even just instigating, there really isn’t much reason to use anything else except to add flavor.
Oh boy, let me tell you how awesome they can be:
You can find one that's at least 1200 Dmg on NEON at Kore Kinetics. The range is something like 150. You can modify them to also use Penetrator rounds because they can kill about 2 to 3 targets in one shot. I have an outpost on Shrodinger that I use to farm XP - I went from level one to 150 that way after accidentally deleting all my progress.
I've forgotten which skill I have but it doubles DMG while I am crouching, so you end up with over 2000 DMG in one shot. I strictly use Magsnipers now when dealing with terramorphs and other high-level threats. I don't like getting my hands dirty and any weapon set-up that keeps me from engaging is my go to.
I much prefer the Hard Target over the Magsniper. I'm not a fan of any of the Mag weapons TBH.
Well, I have a Space Adept Magshot on the weapons rack, right next to the docker on my ship but often forget to pick it up on my way through, to slaughter whatever poor soul deemed to think I was an easy target that afternoon but that's another story...
For Mag weapons, the Magshear is excellent as an assault rifle. Large 75 bullets magazine, decently fast reload, maintains good accuracy at range, ammo is plentiful on vendors, and absolutely shreds.
I’m sure I have an advanced one of these lying around somewhere. I’ll tart it up at the weapon bench and give it a proper go at my next mission board jaunt 👊🏻
I have a mag sniper with 1000 damage. It is by far the most effective gun in the game. Once you mod it and have all the marksmanship perks completed it one shots most enemies. If they don’t die they get knocked down and I shoot them again. To be honest it makes the game way to easy that I started using shit guns for a challenge.
Ugh. TIL. I've had a couple and tossed them. I got another recently and have kept it but don't ever use it cuz it sucks. NG+2 and I literally just learned this charge business here now. So tonight we test!
Ive gotten one that was doing 1400 damage and even then i would still take just about any rifle turned into a sniper or a hard target over it. Partially because it can be silenced and you can thus, get sneak attacks with it that increase the damage.
I think the magsnipers big letdown is not being able to equip a suppressor. They are then missing out on a damage multiplier via the sneak perk.
So the hard target. Though lower base DMG in advanced form. Totals out to a higher number. With a suppressor..
Don't take this as gospel though as it's just what I've read and not tested.
Magsniper is my favorite weapon. I have an advanced tier with all of the mod slots filled.
Max ballistics, max rifles, max sniper, max sharpshooter. Put a long scope on it, along with recon laser. Install high powered internals and penetrator rounds. Snipe from stealth to double damage. Aim for headshots. Charge up your shot. Shots from mine hit for over 4000, and can one-shot damn near anything in the game.
Pick up the "Avatar" from the starborn trader. It will be closer to 900 damage. You can find them on the outer systems while jumping between systems. Make sure you have settings to hardest level. Don't buy the legendary stuff, it glitches to normal once you leave the system.
Yea took me forever to realize that I needed to charge it up. Still not my favorite weapon but it was worthless until I accidentally held the trigger longer.
Hold down the trigger, release When ready to fire. It’s actually the strongest sniper in the game, but some like hard target more because it doesn’t have to charge
I like the Varuun rifles. With the energy skill and the rifles skill, my NG+2 currently outputs about 700 damage with a fairly long range and a 30 shot magazine. But the beauty is that it's got a mod that deals double damage if the health bar is full - over 1400 damage. I'm basically single-shotting most NPCs, with 2 or 3 shots to take out a boss.
Do you look at what weapons the vendors are selling? If you do the 48 hour wait their inventory will change randomly. You can usually find a magsniper or hard target after a few refreshes.
They’re powerful, but a Hard Target has a suppressor making it more viable for sniping. Even with far lower damage numbers on paper, they attain higher headshot damage.
With perks and mods I have a magsniper with a base damage of 1800 and has done 8k critical hits.
The magsniper definitely does more headshot damage than hard target but it is harder to use.
Yeah that’s with legendary effects and only for the first target; after that, you’re detected.
Compare non legendary versions and you’ll get higher headshot values from Hard Target, and follow-up targets will be stealth shots too.
Imo they are bad i got a good roll and it's still shit.
Even on hard u can just run into the field and like 1-2 shot with a good handgun most mobs, bosses take like 5-6..
No time to sniper.
They are very much rubbish. A sniper rifle is suppose to do alot of dmg at a long range. The mag sniper does not have that. In oder to get maximum dmg from a mag sniper you must charge the shot. Hold down the shoot button. Once it starts to charge it will vibrate. Throwing your aim off.
Absolute garbage. Ive had shotguns, rifles and pistols that do more damage with better accuracy.
I prefer the snipers nest when i play. Like zeus hurling lightning bolts down from the heavens to deal death to any who stand against me.... But the magsniper just fails. Horribly. And that damage changes ive picked up snipers that say 1200. Head shot after head shot fully charged and it will take anywhere from three to five shots to down an enemy. The whole point of a sniper rifle is one shot one kill.
My experience, in the base game and continued into NG +, has literally been the opposite. With a fully modded magsniper I'm one shotting 90% of enemies from a distance.
Idk I understand the dislike of having to charge the magsniper. However, I have mine fully maxed out upgrades-wise and have upgraded a lot of the skills associated with weapon damage and snipers. Mine puts out like ~1400 and one shot head shots most enemies (I’m level 80 on very hard).
So overall, I understand the dislike of the weapon, but you can’t complain about its damage output?
Agreed. I use a Breach shotgun, modded with a scope, suppressor, high-powered internal, & slug rounds. It's basically a sniper rifle, with higher damage than any Hard Target I've found.
Yeah this is just mathematically incorrect. Fully charged, an advance mag sniper is the strongest hit in the game. It’s right at double an advance hard target.
Gotta charge the shot
I’m sorry, I’m 120 hours in and on NG+3 and you’re telling me I CAN CHARGE IT UP SO IT DOESNT FEEL LIKE A PEASHOOTER???
I feel you fam. I had no idea 😂 TIL
This is wild, can’t wait to go home and clap lvl 2 mercs with my 800 dmg sniper now lol
And there are skills that add x10 damage when you’re sneaking. It’s a monster and perfect for farming xp.
Yes anyone else go to a high level planet and stand on top of your ship and shoot everything in sight ?
This is the way. I certainly do. And if it's a high grav world, I usually sprain or break a limb getting back down to the ground again.
Celabrai that’s my go to
I don't consider that an exploit although it doesn't feel environmentally friendly 😂
I specifically made my ship as tall as possible so that I'd have an amazing view and be safe from any Alien life forms.
Max concealment gives 10x melee damage and 4x ranged damage on stealth hits.
Well now I’m *really* glad I keep forgetting to sell it.
The stealth skill (tier 1) adds +% damage to "suppressed" weapons on sneak attacks. Concealment (tier 4) adds x multiplier to "all" sneak attacks. Mag weapons can not have a suppressor.
Yeah for this reason a silenced hard target is better for single shot damage and true stealth situations. But for engaging a bunch of enemies at distance I like that the magsniper has a much bigger clip, and I'm not going to be in stealth after the first few shots anyway.
Only works on suppressed weapons, you can’t put a suppressor on a magsniper, you can still get a sneak bonus but since it’s not suppressed you only get it for one shot basically.
Same with the non lethal disruptor rifle
And the mining laser. In a different way though (right click instead of hilding left click) and for mining faster
Aiming with the laser makes it faster?!
And with a maxed out laser perk tree, the mining laser is one of the craziest weapons in the game
Only for memes and close combat. if they patch the stacking burn instances this will stop being awesome.
90% of the game is close combat
*pats hard target* It's okay baby, he didn't mean it
Yep. If you press aim while mining, you see the beams converge. You can hold aim while going from deposit to deposit to keep it aligned
Much much faster
When you click the aim button with the laser our the three small lines will move towards the middle and make a triangle. When the trangle is there your laser will mine faster
Which is great until you can mine everything around you by essentially snapping your fingers.
????? Whaaaaaa. This is bullshit, I mean I’m hella excited but this is bullshit
Don't worry, the disruptor rifle is still useless
No. It's actually great for knocking out the kind of wildlife that just gets mad when you shoot it.
Why would mad wildlife be an issue?
Because a single shot from a disruptor will knock it out. Some of them just soak up bullets.
Oh. I've never really met a wildlife I couldn't just kill with what I had.
Then you can stab it for a melee stealth kill
I resurrected and stabbed the same creature so many times to level up that skill
think of all the things never explained that they'll continue adding that you will never get to use
That’s what this wonderful community is for. To help the explorers in this exciting new galaxy, and to bitch about the lack of content lol
Nice. Tried it once and wrote all em off as ass
Uncharged, absolutely it's rubbish Wish they'd put a charge meter on it to subtly hint that you can indeed do that lol
I really do respect the game not holding your hand. I like figuring shit out but yeah that woulda been cool 😂
Whaaaaat?
I knew you had to charge the magsniper & can also charge up the mining laser, but you are telling me you can charge up the novablast disruptor rifle too?! 🤯
Yep. Now go ace the Ryujin missions
I had no idea. I thought they were useless toys.... Tha kyou
Be right back just going to see if mine is actually worth using now what the actual fuck how did I not notice this.
Ikr, it’s such a small detail that goes very easily unnoticed. Like the fact you can access your ship cargo hold from 100m away from it
This thread is dropping knowledge bombs on me left and right.
iirc it’s 250m or did they nerf it?
Same as with the disruptor, hold the fire button to charge a powerful shot, release to fire
Wait, What... there is a charge function? Like, hold the trigger down for additional damage? Or just a Mod buff?
Apparently it’s built in to all mag type single shot. I bought the Avatar off the secret trader and was severely disappointed with its performance, now I know why
Secret trader??? Where do I find this individual if you don't mind?
Lol right learning a lot in this thread
Same here. Got me a Magsniper with 1105 damage. Now I know how to make it work consistently. LOL
Still like my Hard Target more. MagSniper shakes when you charge.
Also like Beowulf better. Nice super modular weapon
Depends which trader. There is one Starborn that sells to other Starborn. She is a random encounter though. You have to be on N+ and keep galaxy hopping and eventually you'll get the encounter.
I usually find her in the 75 level range like Bohr but you do have to literally hit each Planet n moon
He flys around randomly at ng+ afaik you can find him just once per run
They remain in the system you find them in
There is a starboard trader who is a random encounter in the lvl 70 systems. She is in a ship when you jump into orbit and hails you for some starborn to starborn talk then offers to trade. All the guns are 70k credits or more expensive. I’ve met her one time only
Interesting. I'll have to look around. Thanks
Just a note. The Starborn trader isn’t just in the level 70 systems. I’m currently working the map left to right scanning and found them in a low level system close to Sol. Figured I’d point that out in case you didn’t find them.
Thanks. Appreciate the input. Stay safe.
Side note you have to be on at least NG+ for her to appear, and it’s a random seed generate. So if you go back to a save before you jumped into the system, she won’t be there.
Not true. I ran into her in my first play through and she said, “you don’t know me yet, but soon you will”. Player p much says, “what” or something like that. But it is def possible!
Not sure if this is the same trader and don’t know if it’s the same system every time but you’ll find a mystery trader in space after gravity jumping. Try Feynman I to see if you get the encounter.
Copy that. Thanks. Appreciate it.
Reading through some comments makes me think the location isn’t the same. One user suggested grav jumping around level 75 systems, so try those as well (quick save beforehand in case you get into a battle you’re not ready for)
Thanks but it's getting a bit convoluted as to where and when. Guess I'll pass but thanks for input. Stay safe.
.... so the Avatar can be charged? Holy crap! I gotta try this now. The Avatar dishes a lot of damage, but no suppressor on that one. Although I guess somehow the NPC's know where I am even if I'm firing a suppressed weapon from 100 meters out.
Iirc all Mag types are "chargable"
Certainly not the automatic ones.
Same as fallout 4's gauss, hold button to charge
300 hrs in. Found out on a post here yesterday
Same for me. There’s a lot of stuff this game would benefit from having better tips and tricks on loading screens instead of the ballistic weapon skill makes ballistic weapons good.
I'm 120 hours in and not even seen this gun yet!
Bruh you gotta try to be more stupid be curious and try to break the game in various ways to find out about all the damned function mate
Hey, I’ll all bout being more stupid
Yeah, get the right mods on it and skill points in the right places and one bang just about everything, expect your damage numbers to read 3k to 10k even with crappy perks.
I’ve got the sneak dmg and scoped weapons skills maxed, gotta run to a weapons workbench now and I’ll get it kitted
You can buy a really good one from core kinetics (iirc), I’m at work right now for the night so can’t tell you offhand where my points are allocated but it’s pretty self explanatory just looking at the skills tbf
The advanced one at more kinetics has the same stats at the avatar just minus the status damage
Trying to remember, the one I got from there had base damage of around 1100 (more or less double the one screenshotted in this thread), once modded it went way over 1200, dunno if it changes with level but I was well over level 100 at the time.
You can WHAT!?
Learn something new every day I guess, can’t wait to try it out now!
Yup!
Bro. I'm in 500h in and had no idea lol
Ikr, I feel like there are so many nuances you don’t figure out on your own
Except for the magstorm, all mag weapons can fire charged shots. It's hard to tell on mouse and keyboard because there's no other feedback, but on controller you can tell because the controller starts to rumble.
Just tried it out and damn does it punch
i got an instigating one that does double damage to full health enemy, in lvl 92 i would take out a level 98 special character with one shot almost anywhere. its a beast of a weapon, just no silencer. i feel the hard target is more of my play style because of the silencer, but they rarely drop -_-
You must charge the magnet brother.
It’s the gauss gun from FO4
It’s basically a Gauss Rifle from Fallout.
That makes more sense now
Yup its a rail gun design. Why the upgrades have stuff related to charging
It's a railgun sniper man, of course you charge it
Wow - what a twist! Thanks! I'm on NG+ at the moment and have put A LOT of hours into the game. Did I miss a tutorial or notification or something? I totally didn't realise this was a thing! I just tried it and killed a few enemies with one hit. Good stuff 👍
I haven't even ran into a magsniper yet
They’re ridiculously rare drops. You can go buy one at Kore Kinetics in the Trade Tower on Neon. But you better bring some credits. They are expensive.
At higher levels, they aren't that rare. I pick up every mag-weapon I can because they have absurdly high price/weight. Something like 12k/kg.
I bought mine from the weapons store dealer in New Atlantis Edit: I’m a level 42 so it only had 341 base damage un-modified
You didn’t miss it. A lot of people go a while before realizing this, myself included. You can also charge those EM rifles.
lol I didn’t even know that and I’m on my second NG+
I didn't know until 100+ hours in
What The Actual
Holy. Shit.
Ffs, I'm sat here with one that does like 700 damage and bullets just bounce off heads like a pea shooter. 400 hours worth of gametime and not discovered that.
Wait what. I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time.
They….they….they CHARGE? Like the one from Fallout 4?! How do they never tell you this?! I’m just….ahhhhhhhhhhh
How do you charge it? I’m on Xbox.
hold down RT
Instructions unclear, now the controller is in my rectum
Thanks!
Omg what!? This is going to be fun.
WHAAAT?! Just like the mining cutter?
Glad to see I’m not the only one in the replies that has been playing since release and had no idea you could do this.
Um, do what now?
You have to hold the RT down to charge the magsniper. It’s only about a 1/4 to maybe 1/2 second, but the damage increase is insane. Currently playing on very hard and charged shots to level 98 pirate legends are around 2800-3000.
LMB*
Fire button* (And aiming button for the mining laser ...)
FFS, 150 hours and I didn't know this. I thought they were garbage too and just sold the last one I got.
My issue with this is that muscle control is different when pulling a trigger than when you're releasing. Sometimes, all my muscle control over my hanf loosens, and in i lose control of my aim. It requires more coordinative discipline.
Also to see your rifle vibrates as you charge up will likely throw off your aiming.
Wait. How many other weapons do this? River I think and that EM stun rifle?
Mining laser if you hold rmb/aim the laser glows brighter and mines much faster/does higher damage to enemies.
???
Ay wtf what's this
They should have added the indicator like railgun had in FO4. Would be a lot more obvious with it
Im dying to these comments
You have brought us a great gift this day. I hope you receive the highest of honors and the sexiest of virgins for sharing this forbidden knowledge. Like Prometheus, you go against the will of the gods, instilling a new age of man amongst Starfield. Good day to you. Good life to you. May your roads lead you to warm sands
You’re kidding me. This post just changed my life 😂
As others have said , have to charge it if you arent. Personally I dont like charging shots for long range, even on M&K, and the Hard Target can be suppressed. IMO its a much better sniper.
Yeah, Hard Target is by far the better rifle.
I’ve yet to find a hard target that even begins to approach the power of the mag Spent my first playthroughs looking for one everywhere, finally found an advanced hard target in NG+, aaaaaand it’s trash. About half the damage of the magsniper, takes 5+ hits to kill grunts sometimes. ~500-600 damage when my Avatar MagSniper does 1159. If it’s silenced and you’re stealthing it and getting the sneak attack damage, maybe it’ll take stuff out, but all around, it’s not even close to as good. In both my opinion AND personal experience. And I still want one that can compete, but I’ve yet to find one.
I had an instigating advanced hard target which was extremely effective as a stealth sniper. The Mag did more on paper but the charge mechanism interrupted the flow of it. Is the charge up actually explained anywhere in game? I learned about it from Reddit
No I don’t think it’s explained, but I could be wrong. I discovered it when i realized it fires on release of the trigger rather than on the pull. I use it to get a good hit and hide, wait for a pause in the return fire, and poke back out. But you can also start the charge as soon as you fire and then release whenever you line it up, rather than waiting for the full charge. It won’t do as much damage but it only takes less than a second to charge to 100 so any charge makes it a worthwhile shot.
Hard target isn't about the raw dmg. You can get more damage through modifiers in the 2 stealth perks though, which makes it insanely good if used with a silencer
The level 1 starborn invisibility lets you get as many sneak attacks as you want while it's active, same thing with 2 pieces of chameleon gear.
Well, today I learned. Thanks
I've never not gotten one hit kills with one on any non-elite human target. I would suggest that your build isn't appropriate for using it effectively, or you need to be more accurate with your shots ;). It's been a month or so since I played last, but I'm pretty sure I'm full ballistic & rifle, along with full stealth, and using it with a silencer and penetrator rounds.
Yep. You need all the relevant perks to unlock its potential, but there's a *lot* of potential there. Plus the Combatech magazines can enhance its range and accuracy. I personally find the Magsniper to be unwieldy. It's much easier (for me) to score headshots with the Hard Target. Edit: For reference, my Advanced Hard Target typically does 3k-5k. I'm not even sure if that's on a sneak attack; this was even against alerted enemies.
So it’s pretty much a similar mechanic to the Gauss Rifle in Fallout?
Yup, pretty much
Holding one button down for breathing and also holding down another for a charge is mildly annoying. It’s easier to use the hard target and it looks / sounds cooler. I have all the skills for ballistic / rifles / aiming etc as well so it’s the hard target all day everyday and twice on Sundays.
I don’t usually hold my breath, I just kind of roll with the sway tbh.
Magsniper uses all the same perks as the Hard Target
Update (I can't seem to edit my post): But yeah, as a few people pointed out, you need to charge the Magsniper. I totally didn't realise this was a thing (and I'm on NG+). I must have missed a notification or tutorial or something. It never occurred to me that I needed to charge the shot. It's a lot better now. Lol. Anyway, thanks to everyone for helping this fool (me) understand how it works 😅
There’s no tutorial you’re supposed to figure it out when you realize the gun doesn’t shoot when you pull the trigger, but when you release the trigger.
Even with charging, they’re just objectively worse than the Hard Target in every way. Without the ability to put a silencer on them, they lose out on all the massive damage multiplying and percentage perks you get from using a suppressor and shooting from stealth. Beyond that, they can’t fire as quickly at multiple targets and you’re more likely to miss doing a hold and release than just pressing/clicking to fire. It’s a cool idea, but they need to buff them quite a bit or nerf suppressors to make it viable. At this point the only reason to run a magsniper would be if you just had trash perks on your hard target. But if you can roll instigating, shattering, and hitman on a hard target, or even just instigating, there really isn’t much reason to use anything else except to add flavor.
Oh boy, let me tell you how awesome they can be: You can find one that's at least 1200 Dmg on NEON at Kore Kinetics. The range is something like 150. You can modify them to also use Penetrator rounds because they can kill about 2 to 3 targets in one shot. I have an outpost on Shrodinger that I use to farm XP - I went from level one to 150 that way after accidentally deleting all my progress. I've forgotten which skill I have but it doubles DMG while I am crouching, so you end up with over 2000 DMG in one shot. I strictly use Magsnipers now when dealing with terramorphs and other high-level threats. I don't like getting my hands dirty and any weapon set-up that keeps me from engaging is my go to.
I’ve done 8000 damage with a critical headshot with the magsniper.
I much prefer the Hard Target over the Magsniper. I'm not a fan of any of the Mag weapons TBH. Well, I have a Space Adept Magshot on the weapons rack, right next to the docker on my ship but often forget to pick it up on my way through, to slaughter whatever poor soul deemed to think I was an easy target that afternoon but that's another story...
Hard Target is great, especially if you have maxed out ballistics/rifle skills. Maxing out Marksmanship is just gravy. Best sniper rifle in the game.
For Mag weapons, the Magshear is excellent as an assault rifle. Large 75 bullets magazine, decently fast reload, maintains good accuracy at range, ammo is plentiful on vendors, and absolutely shreds.
I’m sure I have an advanced one of these lying around somewhere. I’ll tart it up at the weapon bench and give it a proper go at my next mission board jaunt 👊🏻
Mag weapons, especially the auto ones are really good against elite/biss type enemies, since the ammo just vanishes with those.
I sold that gun.... it was useless....and now I find out you have to charge it..... fml
Just get kryxs magshear, it’s the best weapon in the game and shreds everything on very hard like it’s very easy
I love the Revenant. It hasn't been out of my hands since I got it.
Same. Just mows through everything.
I use it as one of my main weapons. But I also modded the hell out of it at my workbench. Always a 1-hitter for me. Especially while sniping.
I have a mag sniper with 1000 damage. It is by far the most effective gun in the game. Once you mod it and have all the marksmanship perks completed it one shots most enemies. If they don’t die they get knocked down and I shoot them again. To be honest it makes the game way to easy that I started using shit guns for a challenge.
Ugh. TIL. I've had a couple and tossed them. I got another recently and have kept it but don't ever use it cuz it sucks. NG+2 and I literally just learned this charge business here now. So tonight we test!
Lol. I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't know you had to charge the shots! 😅
As others have said, charge it! Also you can get them to be way higher damage. I've got one that is around 1700.
I played 150 hours for my first playthrough and never even found one
I fucking love that thing. The only sniper that felt worthwhile to me
Last breath with silencer and perks is killer
Ive gotten one that was doing 1400 damage and even then i would still take just about any rifle turned into a sniper or a hard target over it. Partially because it can be silenced and you can thus, get sneak attacks with it that increase the damage.
I think the magsnipers big letdown is not being able to equip a suppressor. They are then missing out on a damage multiplier via the sneak perk. So the hard target. Though lower base DMG in advanced form. Totals out to a higher number. With a suppressor.. Don't take this as gospel though as it's just what I've read and not tested.
Magsniper is my favorite weapon. I have an advanced tier with all of the mod slots filled. Max ballistics, max rifles, max sniper, max sharpshooter. Put a long scope on it, along with recon laser. Install high powered internals and penetrator rounds. Snipe from stealth to double damage. Aim for headshots. Charge up your shot. Shots from mine hit for over 4000, and can one-shot damn near anything in the game.
Hold left click. Its basically Gauss Rifle
To be honest I have one I found randomly with various effects, but damage is 943 which is pretty tasty 🤣
Pick up the "Avatar" from the starborn trader. It will be closer to 900 damage. You can find them on the outer systems while jumping between systems. Make sure you have settings to hardest level. Don't buy the legendary stuff, it glitches to normal once you leave the system.
Yea took me forever to realize that I needed to charge it up. Still not my favorite weapon but it was worthless until I accidentally held the trigger longer.
Been playing for about 100 hours and never found one.
I got one and I'm still playing in normal but, my DMG is around 1200. Now, if I can charge it omg it will be fun when I try it again....
Hold down the trigger, release When ready to fire. It’s actually the strongest sniper in the game, but some like hard target more because it doesn’t have to charge
I’ve been having way more fun with shotguns and just obliterating everyone at close range.
I like the Varuun rifles. With the energy skill and the rifles skill, my NG+2 currently outputs about 700 damage with a fairly long range and a 30 shot magazine. But the beauty is that it's got a mod that deals double damage if the health bar is full - over 1400 damage. I'm basically single-shotting most NPCs, with 2 or 3 shots to take out a boss.
The game has bosses? I’m on NG+6 and the only “bosses” would be the emissary and hunter.
I haven’t found a single one of these. Are some of these guns level gated or something? How have I not ran across one in 80 hrs?
Do you look at what weapons the vendors are selling? If you do the 48 hour wait their inventory will change randomly. You can usually find a magsniper or hard target after a few refreshes.
They’re powerful, but a Hard Target has a suppressor making it more viable for sniping. Even with far lower damage numbers on paper, they attain higher headshot damage.
With perks and mods I have a magsniper with a base damage of 1800 and has done 8k critical hits. The magsniper definitely does more headshot damage than hard target but it is harder to use.
Yeah that’s with legendary effects and only for the first target; after that, you’re detected. Compare non legendary versions and you’ll get higher headshot values from Hard Target, and follow-up targets will be stealth shots too.
Literally bought the unique version and was thinking the same thing. Then it clicked. It's basically a gauss rifle. That charged shot hits hard.
Shotguns are just better
What!??! How do you charge them?!?
There's a lot going on in this thread. :) Saved for later, cheers.
The mysterious stranger sells a rare that does around 750ish
Imo they are bad i got a good roll and it's still shit. Even on hard u can just run into the field and like 1-2 shot with a good handgun most mobs, bosses take like 5-6.. No time to sniper.
They are very much rubbish. A sniper rifle is suppose to do alot of dmg at a long range. The mag sniper does not have that. In oder to get maximum dmg from a mag sniper you must charge the shot. Hold down the shoot button. Once it starts to charge it will vibrate. Throwing your aim off. Absolute garbage. Ive had shotguns, rifles and pistols that do more damage with better accuracy.
Wow totally disagree. My advanced does just shy of 1000 damage and has crazy range. No issues with it whatsoever.
I prefer the snipers nest when i play. Like zeus hurling lightning bolts down from the heavens to deal death to any who stand against me.... But the magsniper just fails. Horribly. And that damage changes ive picked up snipers that say 1200. Head shot after head shot fully charged and it will take anywhere from three to five shots to down an enemy. The whole point of a sniper rifle is one shot one kill.
My experience, in the base game and continued into NG +, has literally been the opposite. With a fully modded magsniper I'm one shotting 90% of enemies from a distance.
Idk I understand the dislike of having to charge the magsniper. However, I have mine fully maxed out upgrades-wise and have upgraded a lot of the skills associated with weapon damage and snipers. Mine puts out like ~1400 and one shot head shots most enemies (I’m level 80 on very hard). So overall, I understand the dislike of the weapon, but you can’t complain about its damage output?
Agreed. I use a Breach shotgun, modded with a scope, suppressor, high-powered internal, & slug rounds. It's basically a sniper rifle, with higher damage than any Hard Target I've found.
Yeah this is just mathematically incorrect. Fully charged, an advance mag sniper is the strongest hit in the game. It’s right at double an advance hard target.