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Master the unforgiving universe of Starfield with the Best Sniper Rifles – Weapon Tier List guide and become the ultimate long-range predator.
In Starfield, sniper rifles are a type of weapon that uses high-velocity rounds to deliver devastating damage at range. The Sniper Certification skill in the combat tree increases the damage for Scoped weapons. Thus, any rifle can be considered a sniper rifle. Additionally, the Rifle Certification, Ballastics, and Sharpshooting skills can all add damage to your sniper rifle. Reaching over 100 meters with pinpoint accuracy makes Sniper rifles and builds some of the best in Starfield. This guide discusses the best Sniper rifles, how to obtain them, and how to use them.
The Best Sniper Rifles in Starfield – Tier List
The best sniper rifle in Starfield is the Magsniper Ballistic Rifle. The Magsniper has the best base damage, a 100-meter range, and is easy to find ammunition for. However, a fully optimized Eternity’s Gate Particle Beam Rifle comes just behind it with insane damage, just a weaker range. A third option is Hard Target, a mid-game sniper rifle that uses easy-to-find ammunition, great range, and good damage.
Here are the best Sniper Rifles in Starfield ranked worst to best:
- S Tier: Magsniper
- A Tier: Eternity’s Gate Magsniper
- B Tier: Hard Target
- C Tier: Old Earth Hunting Rifle
Related:
Old Earth Hunting Rifle (C Tier)
Old Earth Hunting Rifle features in Starfield:
- Damage: 36
- Ammo: 9x39mm
- Type: Ballistic
- Fire Rate: 40
- Accuracy: 86.8%
- Range: 100
- Mods: 3
The Old Earth Hunting Rifle is a bolt-action rifle in Starfield that is based on a classic Earth hunting rifle design. It is a powerful and accurate weapon for hunting dangerous humans or wildlife. This weapon serves as an entry-level sniper rifle due to its 100-meter range.
Old Earth Hunting Rifle Pros
- Easy ammunition
- Effortless to obtain
- Good accuracy
Old Earth Hunting Rifle Cons
- Mod availability
- Low Damage
- Weaker at higher levels
The weapon’s strength is its availability early with a vast 100-meter range. The ammunition is plentiful, has a high rate of fire, and is large. While the damage is good as well, what holds the weapon back is only three available mod slots. Once you level your Science Skill tree and get advanced weapon modification, this weapon will quickly fade in power. It’s still an excellent option for levels 1-15.
Hard Target (B Tier)
Hard Target Sniper Rifle features in Starfield:
- Damage: 139
- Ammo: .50 Caliber
- Type: Ballistic
- Fire Rate: 25
- Accuracy: 74.2%
- Range: 100
- Mods: 7
The Hard Target rifle is your quintessential sniper rifle with a 100-meter base range and over 100 damage. The rifle also has up to 7 modifications, with very high base accuracy and a decent rate of fire. Moreover, ammunition of .50 caliber is available and accessible. This weapon is a ballistic damage type, so skills like ballistics, rifle certification, sniper certification, marksman, and more apply to it. Simply put, if you modify this weapon to its full potential, it will serve as your long-range one-shot sniper for the entirety of the game.
Hard Target Rifle Pros
- Good base damage
- 100-meter range
- Ballistic with many skills to upgrade damage
Hard Target Rifle Cons
- Lower Accuracy
- Not advanced ammunition
- Less damage than others on the list
The only downside with this weapon is the weak magazine size of 5. You need to reload, making the skill rapid reload essential constantly. One last vivacious is the Penetrator Rounds, which can pass through multiple enemies with one bullet. If you want the all-around killer rifle in Starfield, then Hard Target is your choice!
Eternity’s Gate (A Tier)
Eternity’s Gate Rifle features in Starfield:
- Damage: 38 physical & 113 energy
- Ammo: heavy fuse
- Type: Particle Beam Rifle
- Fire Rate: 25
- Accuracy: 70%
- Range: 60
- Mods: 6
The Eternity’s Gate Particle Beam Rifle is a unique version of the Va’ruun Inflictor. This legendary rifle can come with three perks, radically increasing the damage and effectiveness. The base damage is great, using both laser and ballistic damage, thus benefiting from two perks. However, obtaining the ammunition is an utter nightmare.
Eternity’s Gate Rifle Pros
- Base Damage
- Uses two damage types
- Good mod selection
Eternity’s Gate Rifle Cons
- Lower Range
- Ammunition is hard to find
- Obtaining is difficult
The only reason Eternity Gate isn’t number one for a sniper is the sheer range disparity between this and the Magsniper. However, depending on your decision, we recommend trying this weapon on a new game plus (unity).
Magsniper (S Tier)
Magsniper Sniper Rifle features in Starfield:
- Damage: 223
- Ammo: 6.5mm MI
- Type: Ballistic
- Fire Rate: 17
- Accuracy: 86.1%
- Range: 100
- Mods: 6
The best sniper rifle is the Magsniper ranking S Tier due to its 100-meter range and over 200 base damage with high accuracy. With more base damage than any other and nearly 10% increased accuracy, the Magsniper is the end-game deluxe sniper rifle. Don’t expect Magsniper to show up right away, you will need to advance in level most likely to find them throughout vendors. The weapon has a lower rate of fire, but with that much damage in one shot, you won’t need to put a lot of rounds down range at once. You can equip one of six Magsniper’s mod slots with Penetrator rounds, allowing for multiple kills in one shot. Look to obtain the rare, unique variant called the Avatar from a vendor only found during New Game Plus (unity).
Magsniper Rifle Pros
- 100 Meter Range
- Great Accuracy
- Good mod selection
Magsniper Rifle Cons
- Rate of Fire
- Later in the game, appear
- It doesn’t have 7 or 8 mods
With one of the highest base damage and range in all of Starfield, this is the premier Sniper Rifle in the game, and you will want to collect it. Those Magsniper features make it the best gun in Starfield among sniper rifles in our weapon tier list.
Skills That Influence Rifles
Many skills influence your Rifle damage in Starfield. Most of these are in the Combat skill tree, with two in the Physical. You will need weapon engineering from the Science skill tree to optimize your Sniper Rifle damage. This will allow customization of the weapon to include powerful barrels, ammunition, suppressors, and scopes.
Below is a list of all the skills that increase your Sniper Rifle damage in Starfield:
- Stealth (Physical Skill Tree): Adds a Stealth Meter, and Suppressed weapons do an additional 5% sneak attack damage.
- Concealment (Physical Skill Tree): Ranged sneak attacks do 2.5x normal damage.
- Isolation (Social Skill Tree): Do +10% weapon damage and gain 15 Damage Resistance for each Spacesuit and Helmet equipped when you don’t have a companion or any crew.
- Armor Penetration (Combat Skill Tree): Attacks ignore 15% of a target’s armor.
- Ballistics (Combat Skill Tree): Ballistic weapons do 10% more damage.
- Marksmanship (Combat Skill Tree): Increase critical hit chance with non-automatic ranged weapons by 3%.
- Rifle Certification (Combat Skill Tree): Rifles do 10% more damage.
- Sharpshooting (Combat Skill Tree): Increase headshot critical damage by 50% with ranged weapons.
- Sniper Certification (Combat Skill Tree): Scoped weapons are steadier and have less sway.
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