Dab1001/Pitch

Sniper Rifle
Gameplay role
Faction:	Human (UNSC)
Weapon tier (?):	Power weapon
Weapon type (?):	Precision weapon
Firing mode:	Semi-automatic
Effective range:	Long to medium
Counterparts:	Covenant: Beam Rifle; Focus Rifle; Forerunner: Binary Rifle;
Weapon stats
Damage:	High
Damage type (?):	Kinetic
Projectile speed:	Very high, near instantaneous
Rate of fire:	Low
Magazine size:	4 bullets
Variants and attachments
Halo 5 REQ variant(s):	End of the Line; Arrow of Time; Nornfang;

The Sniper Rifle, sometimes shortened to just Sniper or Snipes, is a human precision power weapon featured in all major Halo games, starting with Halo: Combat Evolved. It is a long-range weapon which typically has two levels of scope, and is best used to pick off enemies at a great distance. The Sniper deals a large amount of damage per shot, but has a slow rate of fire and usually only carries four shots per magazine.

Universe and lore

Main article: Sniper rifle (fiction)

Most of the sniper rifles seen in the Halo games are part of the SRS99 family, a series of rifles produced by Misriah Armory for the United Nations Space Command armed forces. The original SRS99 AM rifle entered service in 2460 with the UNSC Army, and the SRS99 series was eventually adopted by all remaining branches in 2521, thanks to its impressive modularity and continuing support on behalf of Misriah.^[1] Having gone through at least three further revisions since its initial adoption, the series remains in service as of 2558, with the Series-5 model being in mass production at that time.^[2]

Another prominent sniper rifle is the M99 Stanchion, a now-defunct weapon that has been out of production since 2521.^[3] The Stanchion bears more resemblance to a coilgun or railgun than a traditional chemical propellant-based firearm, using electromagnetism to launch its projectiles.^[4] It was used by the crew of the UNSC Spirit of Fire during the Second Ark Conflict, along with another sniper rifle known as the signature-suppressed anti-materiel rifle.^[5]^[6] Additionally, an Insurrectionist group active on Harvest and Arcadia was known to equip its soldiers with an as-of-yet unidentified sniper rifle.^[7]

The following is a list of all sniper rifles in Halo lore that have appeared in the games:

SRS99C-S2 AM sniper rifle
Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2
SRS99D-S2 AM sniper rifle
Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST
SRS99-AM sniper rifle
Halo: Reach, Halo: CE Anniversary and Halo 2: Anniversary
SRS99-S5 AM sniper rifle
Halo 4, Halo: Spartan Assault, Halo: Spartan Strike and Halo 5: Guardians
Unidentified sniper rifle
Halo Wars
Signature-suppressed anti-materiel rifle
Halo Wars 2
M99 Stanchion
Halo Wars 2

Overview

General info here

Unlock requirements and cost

Variants

There are three variants of the Sniper Rifle, all of which are REQ variants from Halo 5: Guardians.

End of the Line

End of the Line in Halo 5: Guardians.

Main article: End of the Line

"All good things must come to and end. Improved Sniper Rifle with reduced recoil, but emphasis on faster rate-of-fire has slightly reduced damage"

— REQ description^[8]

End of the Line is a Rare REQ variant of the Sniper Rifle, featured in Halo 5: Guardians]]. It boasts a faster rate of fire and significantly reduced recoil, but deals slightly less damage per shot - though it is still capable of killing an enemy player in two body shots or one headshot. Should the player have an End of the Line REQ card, the weapon can be acquired in Warzone via the REQ system for a cost of 6 energy, or alternatively the card can be sold for 100 REQ points.^[8]

Arrow of Time

Arrow of Time in Halo 5: Guardians.

Main article: Arrow of Time

"There's no going back. Advanced Sniper Rifle with extended magazine and heavy-duty cyberlink that prevents descope. Unfortunately, the weapon does have extra recoil to compensate for."

— REQ description^[9]

Arrow of Time is an Ultra-Rare REQ variant of the Sniper Rifle in Halo 5: Guardians. It features a larger magazine than the standard Sniper, with 6 shots instead of 4, and the player will not be descoped when shot whilst zoomed in with the weapon. However, it also has increased recoil compared to the normal Sniper Rifle. Its REQ card costs 7 energy to use in-game, or can be sold for 150 REQ points.^[9]

Nornfang

Nornfang in Halo 5: Guardians.

Main article: Nornfang

"A master-crafter instrument of death and destruction. Mythic Sniper Rifle firing high explosive armor piercing (APHE) rounds that increases overall damage. In addition, Linda's modifications ensure the Motion Tracker is visible even when using Zoom."

— REQ description^[10]

Nornfang is a Mythic REQ variant of the Sniper Rifle in Halo 5: Guardians, and is the personal sniper rifle of the SPARTAN-II Linda-058. The weapon fires rounds that explode on impact, dealing damage to any nearby enemies, and instantly killing them if hit directly. Additionally, when scoped in, the motion sensor will not be hidden while using Nornfang. To balance this out, the player gains the Damage Boost visual effect when they equip the weapon, making them very easy to spot. Nornfang can be requisitioned in Warzone for 7 energy, provided the player has a spare Nornfang REQ card, or alternatively the card can be sold for 200 REQ points.^[10]

Nornfang also appears in Halo 5: Guardians' campaign. It can be found abandoned in the troop bay of the ONI Acrisius on the level Unconfirmed, and on the Blue Team missions in co-op, the player playing as Linda-058 will spawn with the weapon at the start of the level (but not upon respawning). However, in campaign, the weapon is significantly less powerful, retaining none of its bonus abilities from the multiplayer.^[11]

Counterparts

The most prominent counterpart to the Sniper Rifle is the Covenant's Beam Rifle, a long-range weapon with two levels of zoom, which is similar in operation to the Sniper Rifle. The Beam Rifle was first introduced in Halo 2, but has reappeared in several games since. It fires a beam of light with a practically instant travel time, which behaves similarly to a Sniper Rifle bullet; a hit to the body will remove an opponent's shields, whereas a headshot will instantly kill them. Unlike the Sniper, however, the Beam Rifle uses a battery system for its ammo, typically with ten shots in total, and the weapon cannot be reloaded. In most games, the weapon will overheat after two or three shots in rapid succession.

Another Covenant counterpart to the Sniper Rifle is the Focus Rifle, first introduced in Halo: Reach. Unlike the Sniper Rifle and Beam Rifle, the Focus Rifle fires a continuous beam which deals heavy damage to enemy units, but will overheat if fired continuously for too long. However, the Focus Rifle takes longer to kill enemies than the Sniper Rifle does, and the brightly colored beam will expose the location of the player. Like the Beam Rifle, the Focus Rifle uses a battery ammo system, and cannot be reloaded. It also has two zoom levels, similar to the Sniper and Beam Rifle.

The Forerunner counterpart to the Sniper Rifle is known as the Binary Rifle. This rifle operates using a similar ammunition system as the Sniper Rifle, albeit with two shots per magazine rather than four. It features two levels of zoom, just as the Sniper does, however with one major difference: whilst zoomed, a distinct red targeting laser will shine out from the barrel - even before the weapon is fired - which will alert enemies to the fact they're being targeted, and will also highlight the user's location. The projectile fired by the Binary Rifle varies by game. In Halo 4, it fires a bolt of light that travels instantaneously and will always immediately kill an enemy player regardless of where it hits them. In Halo 5: Guardians, it fires a continuous beam for a brief period of time, which deals very heavy damage and can easily kill an enemy player if held on them for long enough - though the strong recoil can make this difficult.

Beam Rifle
Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, Halo 2: Anniversary and Halo 5: Guardians
Focus Rifle
Halo: Reach, Halo: Spartan Assault and Halo: Spartan Strike
Binary Rifle
Halo 4, Halo: Spartan Strike and Halo 5: Guardians

Gameplay

Gameplay info here

First-person shooters

Main article: First-person shooter

FPS info here

	CE	H2	H3	ODST	Reach	H4	H2A	H5G
	CE	H2	H3	ODST	Reach	H4	MP	H5G
Weapon type	Power	Power	Power	Power	Power	Power	Power	Power
Damage type	Kinetic	Kinetic	Kinetic	Kinetic	Kinetic	Kinetic	Kinetic	Kinetic
Firing mode	Semi-auto	Semi-auto	Semi-auto	Semi-auto	Semi-auto	Semi-auto	Semi-auto	Semi-auto
Precision weapon	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Zoom levels	2x, 10x	5x, 10x	5x, 10x	5x, 10x	5x, 10x	?, ?	5x, 10x	4x, 9x
Shots per trigger pull	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Magazine/clip size	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Reserve ammo (reserve mags)	24 (6)	20 (5)	20 (5)	20 (5)	20 (5)	24 (6)	16 (4)	16 (4)
Headshots to kill	1	1	1	-	1	1	1	1
Shots to kill	2	2	2	-	2	2	2	2
Headshots to break shields	1	1	1	-	1	1	1	1
Shots to break shields	1	1	1	-	1	1	1	1
Red reticle range (Hip fire)	0m	0m	15.94m	15.94m	22.89m	38.5m	0m	38.0m
Red reticle range (Zoom level 1)	106.6m	-	63.21m	63.21m	91.45m	152.7m	122.0m	152.4m
Red reticle range (Zoom level 2)	426.6m	-	141.87m	141.87m	228.51m	343.1m	274.4m	342.9m

Twin-stick shooters

Main article: Twin-stick shooter

Twin-stick info here (Spartan Assault, Spartan Strike, etc)

	Spartan Assault	Spartan Strike
	Spartan Assault	Spartan Strike
Weapon type	Power	Power
Damage type	Kinetic	Kinetic
Firing mode	Semi-auto	Semi-auto
Precision weapon	✓	✓
Shots per trigger pull	1	1
Magazine/clip size	∞	∞
Reserve ammo (reserve mags)	-	-

Real-time strategy games

Main article: Real-time strategy

Wars info here

Evolution

Changes from CE to H2

...

etc

...

Changes from H2A to H5G

...

Skins

Discussion of skins and skin unlock conditions here.

Medals

Medals tied to the weapon.

Achievements

Discussion of achievements related to the weapon.

Production notes

Usual production notes section

Trivia

Trivia here

Gallery

Main article: User:Dab1001/PitchSniper Rifle image gallery

Concept art

Concept art of the rebel sniper unit and their sniper rifle, from Halo Wars.
Concept art of the Sniper Rifle as it appears in Halo: Reach.
Concept art of the Sniper Rifle's scope in Halo 4.

Renders

The Sniper Rifle, as it appears in Halo: Combat Evolved.
Halo 2's version of the Sniper Rifle.
The Sniper Rifle's appearance in Halo 3 and Halo 3: ODST.
A render of the Sniper Rifle from Halo Wars.
The Sniper Rifle as it appears in Halo: Reach.
A render of the Sniper Rifle in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
An image of the Halo 4 Sniper Rifle.
Halo 2: Anniversary's Sniper Rifle.
The Sniper Rifle in Halo 5: Guardians.

Screenshots

A player holding the Sniper Rifle on Blood Gulch.
The Sniper Rifle's night vision mode in Halo: CE.
Master Chief holding a Sniper Rifle in a Halo 2 promotional image.
Zooming in with the Sniper Rifle in Halo 2.
A first-person view of the Sniper Rifle, on Guardian in Halo 3.
Zooming in with the Sniper in Halo 3.
Halo Wars' rebel sniper unit, equipped with a pair of Sniper Rifles.
A player with a Sniper Rifle, on Lost Platoon in Halo 3: ODST's Firefight.
Zooming in with the Sniper Rifle in Halo 3: ODST.
A player holding a Sniper Rifle in the Halo: Reach campaign mission Nightfall.
The Sniper Rifle in first person in the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta.
Holding the Sniper Rifle in first person, in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.
Zooming in with the Halo: CEA Sniper Rifle.
Two players with Sniper Rifles on Ragnarok, in Halo 4.
A player with a Sniper Rifle in a Halo 4 match of Capture the Flag on Exile.
The Sniper Rifle in first person in Halo 4's campaign.
A first person view of the Sniper Rifle in Halo 2: Anniversary campaign.
A first person view of the Sniper Rifle in its multiplayer.
A player with the Sniper on Lockdown.
A player crouching with the Sniper Rifle on Shrine.
Holding the Sniper Rifle in Halo 5: Guardians.
The Sniper's scope in Halo 5.
A first-person view of the Sniper Rifle in Halo Online.
A sniper unit in Halo Wars 2, equipped with a Sniper Rifle.
A close-up of the Halo Wars 2 Sniper.