The April Update is bringing dozens of changes to Destiny, including new content, new gear, and Crucible/Sandbox changes that will impact the way we play and the decisions we make.
In the Crucible, overshields provide roughly 66.7 additional health, and Guardians have roughly 200 health at highest Armor, so this blows the field wide open for rez-sniping!
The 16 Impact snipers are right on the edge – we won’t know for sure if they can get it done until we test them ourselves on April 12th.
Minimum Impact snipers (Weyloran’s, Uzume) almost certainly cannot kill through rez-overshields, although they will leave targets highly vulnerable to follow up shots thanks to the added precision damage.
High Impact Snipers
| Sniper Rifle | RoF/Impact | Range | Stability | Aim Assist | Low Zoom Scopes | Mag |
| Stillpiercer | 19/31 | 66 | 57 | 41 | Stillpiercer (4.15x)* | 4 |
| Eirene RR4 | 19/31 | 66 | 27 | 21 | Faucon SS1 (4.8x) | 4-5 |
| 1000 Yard Stare* | 19/31 | 66 | 57 | 31 | Standard | 4-5 |
| LDR-5001 (NEW) | 19/31 | 68 | 52 | 39 | Standard | 4 |
| Y-09 Longbow Synthesis (NEW) | 19/31 | 66 | 56 | 43 | Standard | 5? |
| Shadow of Veils* (NEW) | 19/31 | 74 | 41 | 69 | Standard | 4-5 |
| Her Fury* (NEW) | 19/31 | 66 | 46 | 30 | Standard | 4-5 |
| (X) No Land Beyond | 19/31 | 96 | 15 | 40 | No Land Beyond (4x) | 6 |
| (X) Black Spindle | 12/37 | 80 | 35 | 29 | Black Spindle (4x)* | 3 |
Mid Impact Snipers
| Sniper Rifle | RoF/Impact | Range | Stability | Aim Assist | Low Zoom Scopes | Mag |
| Antimony XVI | 26/22 | 78 | 36 | 69 | ATA Scout (4.65x) | 4-5 |
| (Harrowed) Defiance of Yasmin | 26/22 | 66 | 57 | 59 | Defiance of Yasmin (4x) | 4 |
| Aoife Rua-D | 26/22 | 68 | 34 | 60 | ATA Scout (4.65x) | 4-5 |
| Tamar-D | 26/22 | 68 | 36 | 65 | ATA Scout (4.65x) | 4-5 |
| (X) Hereafter | 26/25 | 80 | 49 | 60 | Hereafter (4x/10x)* | 4 |
| (X) Patience and Time | 26/22 | 75 | 81 | 50 | Patience & Time* (7x/7.5x)* | 4 |
Low Impact Snipers
These snipers may be able to kill through a revive shield, although max armor Titans and Warlocks would certainly survive. They cannot killed supered Guardians in a single shot either.
| Sniper Rifle | RoF/Impact | Range | Stability | Aim Assist | LZ Scope | Mag |
| Glass Promontory | 37/16 | 78 | 52 | 59 | Standard* | 4 |
| Tao Hua Yuan* | 37/16 | 79 | 47 | 46 | Standard | 4-5 |
| Extrasolar RR4* | 37/16 | 78 | 49 | 46 | Standard | 4-5 |
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Standard Scopes
- ShortGaze SLH10 (4.5x)
- Longview SLR10 (5x)
- Ambush SLH25 (4.5x)
These scopes are confirmed to have had their base zoom distance pushed out by an unknown amount. The zoom factor listed is the current one – we don’t know what the new factor will be yet.
Special Notes
- 1000 Yard Stare: lower inventory stat (few rounds in reserve).
- Shadow of Veils: could be 1 of the 10 weapons returning in some form in Prison of Elders (unconfirmed). Scope selection is fixed and does not include Ambush.
- Her Fury: a remake of Her Benevolence from Queen’s Wrath (confirmed).
- Patience and Time: Grants Invisibility for a short time while ADS.
- Base Zoom factors increasing on Hereafter, Black Spindle, Patience & Time, and Stillpiercer.
- Glass Promontory: Scope Selection is fixed and does not include Longview SLR10. Comes with awesome perks guaranteed.
- Tao Hua Yuan and Extrasolar RR4: If you can activate and use Guerilla Fighter, the extra damage should seal the deal. /s
Blanket Sniper Rifle Changes:
- Increase base zoom distance on the lowest range sniper scopes. Medium to long range scopes are untouched
- Increase base zoom distance on Sniper Rifles that did not have Optics enhancing scope nodes: Hereafter, Black Spindle, Patience & Time, Stillpiercer
- Add 2 frames of zoom time to base Sniper handling
- Reduce Snapshot perk to 20% benefit to base zoom time (down from 30%)
- Reduce Stability across all Sniper Rifle stats so that reacquiring a target after firing requires more care
- Addressed a bug where Zen Moment was not providing perk benefit to Sniper Rifles
- Zen Moment removed from uncommon and rare sniper grids
- Legendary Hakke Sniper Rifles (Aoife-Rua-D, Tamar-D, Antimony XVI) trade Zen Moment for Performance Bonus
- Legendary Omolon Sniper Rifles trade Zen Moment for Battle Runner
Additional Resources
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PVP Perks to Watch
Hakke Snipers
The Hakke Snipers that can now kill through overshields are Aoife-Rua-D and Tamar-D from Armsday, and the Antimony XVI from New Monarchy. They all share the same perk tables, and with two of them being re-rollable through the Armsday event, these are the perks to look for in a PVP version of them:
- ATA Scout: The lowest zoom scope available for Hakke snipers, this keeps your field of vision wide and makes it easier to track enemy movements at a distance.
- Performance Bonus: That’s right, Zen Moment has been dropped from the Hakke Snipers and replaced by the fantastic Performance Bonus! Granting extra reserve ammo on critical kills, this is easily the best perk in its slot!
- Quickdraw: Quickdraw provides a significant bonus to Handling, increasing your draw and stow speeds, but also speeding up the Aim Down Sights animation – with a nerf to Snapshot, this is a clear top tier perk.
- Braced Frame: Braced Frame is the biggest Stability bonus in the game, and shores up a key weakness of the Hakke Sniper Rifles. The increased Stability makes follow up shots a breeze.
- Explosive Rounds: If punishing revive attempts is your aim, there’s nothing like a little area of effect damage to send your enemies scurrying for cover!
- Take a Knee: This often overlooked perk grants a roughly 30% boost to Aim Assist to crouched Guardians, making it the perfect choice for stealthy sniping – just remember to keep your head down!
- Unflinching: Less helpful than Take a Knee, Unflinching helps you keep your reticle on target under fire and is still a great perk to have on a sniper rifle.
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Conclusion
There are a ton of new and wonderful options for us in the sniping realm with this update. While snipers in general got nerfed, the addition of so many new guns to the rez-sniping tier really opens the doors for new playstyles and old favorites we haven’t seen used in ages.
Among the high impact snipers, 1000YS remains statistically strong, but Longbow Synthesis could be bringing an extra round to the table with its solid stats if its mag remains untouched. If the Shadow of Veils gets remade, that Aim Assist is a huge advantage for hitting headshots, though.
The real excitement comes from the mid Impact snipers though! The three Hakke snipers all bring solid perk-sets and stats to the table, including 60+ Aim Assist across the board. That said, Defiance of Yasmin could well be the best new Legendary thanks to its best in class Stability. The Exotics are even better, of course: Hereafter seems designed for punishing rez attempts with its blinding effect – just make sure you don’t crouch down unless you want to bump your zoom to a crazy 10x! Patience and Time, meanwhile, might just be the next big thing all over again with MASSIVE stability and its trademark active camo perk.
Finally, if the low 16 Impact snipers can reliably kill through the revive overshield, they might become the new meta, thanks to their high Range and Rate of Fire, combined with solid Stability and minimal Recoil.