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. They are typically equipped with scopes to allow for long-range precision shots and can be modified with a variety of attachments to improve their performance. Sniper Rifles can technically be any rifle with a scope modification because of the skilled Sniper Certification. However, the 100-meter range, by default, quantifies it as a true sniper rifle for ranking sake. And in that regard, there are only three in Starfield at the time of this posting.
The Best Sniper Rifles in Starfield – Tier List
Magsniper is the best Sniper Rifle in Starfield because it nearly doubles any other Sniper Rifle base damage, has a 100-meter range, and has over 86% accuracy without modification. Once equipped with weapon mods, this weapon can reach over 500 damage, with a 120-meter range and 90% accuracy. It’s the most damage-producing, highest-range sniper rifle in the game.
Here are the best Heavy Weapons tier list in Starfield:
- S Tier: Magsniper
- A Tier: Hard Target
- B Tier: Old Earth Hunting Rifle
Old Earth Hunting Rifle
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 that is ideal for hunting dangerous humans or wildlife. This weapon serves as an entry-level sniper rifle due to its 100-meter range.
The strength of the weapon is its availability early with a huge 100-meter range. The ammunition is plentiful with a high rate of fire and large magazine size. 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 a great option for levels 1-15.
Hard Target
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 whooping 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.
The only downside with this weapon is the weak magazine size of 5. You need to constantly reload, making the skill rapid reload essential. One last positive 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!
Magsniper
Magsniper Sniper Rifle features in Starfield:
- Damage: 268
- Ammo: 6.5mm MI
- Type: Ballistic
- Fire Rate: 17
- Accuracy: 86.1%
- Range: 100
- Mods: 6
The Magsniper Rifle is a semi-automatic sniper rifle that is the best in Starfield. The base damage over 268 is nearly double Hard Target with the same range and 10% better accuracy. 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. Also, this ballistic-type weapon won’t start appearing from traders or enemies until later in the game, around level 30 and beyond. 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. All of those Magsniper features make it the best gun in Starfield among sniper rifles in our weapon tier list.
Why Use Sniper Rifles in Starfield
The benefit of Sniper Rifles in Starfield is the 100-meter range or great with high damage. It’s easier to wait back and take out enemies further back on higher difficulties. Moreover, you can do this undetected with suppressors and scopes, eliminating an entire base of enemies from stealth. Sniper Rifles, when sneaking, are notorious for doing the most damage in Bethesda games, and Starfield is no different. Consider acquiring a sniper rifle weapon, unlocking some weapon modification, and adding a long-range weapon to your arsenal.
Here are the Pros and Cons of using the Sniper Rife in Starfield:
| Sniper Pros | Sniper Cons |
|---|---|
| Best Range | Limited Selection |
| Incredile Damage | Weak in Close |
| Incredible Damage | Lower Mod Selection |
Skills That Influence Rifles
There are many skills that influence your Rifle damage in Starfield. Most of which you can find 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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