Zane sniper, I need tips

Borderlands 3 Zane the Operative
#1

Good afternoon,

Does anyone have any good build zane sniper?
Or tips on how to build a Sniper build.
I find the Snipers in the game so weak that not even Fl4k can make good use of this type of weapon. If anyone has a good tip I am grateful.

#2

@kabflash

He did it and had a really good time.

2 Likes
#3

Sniping isn’t particularily viable in the engame, sadly. Essentially the main idea to make it work is to combine the Monocle sniper with the Overkill guardian perk to create a chain of one-hit headshots but it is still somewhat tough to pull off, especially since you need to be scoped in to get the bonus crit of the monocle and the Monocle had a very high zoom level.

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#4

How are you using them? FL4K with a Re-Router and a Monocle can snipe his way through MM4, one-shotting most of the locals. Source: am clearing Athenas in this manner as I type this. Enemies with triple health bars need more than one shot, and if a NOG hooks them up with an extra shield mod, they’ll take more than one shot, but that’s if I don’t soften them up with a grenade first (and I don’t have a relic or COM with god-roll stats).

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#5

Thank you for the tip.

#6

Yes, by doing some tests I am coming to the same conclusion. It was a fun and efficient style of play in previous games. A single weapon that seems to have some use is the monocle, but the zoom makes it difficult to use the weapon. It could have more damage.

#7

It was just a force of expression. I don’t doubt you should do a good job with Fl4k with your build on M4. What bothers me, is classic game style needing a crutch to work on the BL3.

#8

In this game, especially on M4, you have to focus to make something work at all. If you want to snipe, you need to create a build entirely focused on doing it. Or at least, the build has to be sniper adjacent.

My Fl4k just got a Rakk Damage Monocle. It’s my favorite new toy a friend sent me. Basically, two shots plus Rakk on anointed enemies.

#9

Which one?

People tend to forget this because the pimpernel existed, but the majority of snipers in BL2 come UVHM did not kill in one shot without slag. Some could, but the majority were nowhere close to that level of power. BL1 was really the last game where you could one shot enemies throughout the game with snipers.

To make use of sniping in BL3, you definitely need to take advantage of the overkill perk in Guardian Ranks. You’re also punished far more for missing shots because of it. Still, it definitely can be done as the video above shows.

Just like the Maya vs Zero sniper debate in BL2, Zane has an easier time sniping whereas FL4K would do way more damage. That would only be the case in Fade Away though. Outside of Fade Away, with Zane’s barrier being up 24/7 and having near permanent uptime on Playing Dirty, the difference isn’t so extreme and Zane has better QOL for sniping.

#10

lol there was an actual debate about Maya vs Zero in terms of sniping? I love Maya but that was only a debate because of her bonus to enemies above 50% health…soon as that dropped off so did her Sniping prowess

#11

Phaselock holding enemies for easy headshots, slagging from a distance with scorn, as well as chain reaction. Pure damage wise it wasn’t a competition, but for mobbing her QOL made her a viable choice.

Now tbf, I don’t think any character can do the hardest content like Zero could with snipers. I haven’t seen anyone yet do M4 Takedown as a sniper build, so I definitely see the OP’s point regarding the highest difficulty content. But for M4 mobbing, SS and the like, sniping should fine given you work with it.

#12

The build in the video above I took into Takedown M4. On the first try I got to Wotan and only died in the last phase due to player error. The rest of it was quite easy really and I’m positive I could beat it if I tried again. I’ve just sort of been taking a break from Zane so I haven’t bothered yet but it’s totally viable.

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#13

In bl2, I played sniper with Axton. I used the pimpernel a little because my main was already Krieg at the time, I know it was a great weapon that does not play much with him. My favorite bl2 sniper was the skullmasher of making good hits with her, scum was part of the game, so the magic missile was a fundamental part of the complication. I can say that I spent most of my time on TPS playing with Aurelia, so maybe I say that I found the sniper style very bad on Bl3.

#14

cries in Moze

#15

I am leveling moze currently. The hope that she and headsplosion are a good pair.

1 Like
#16

At level 50, she can use high fire rate sniper rifles If you use Some for the Road. Otherwise, just like with everyone, she’s amazing with the ion cannon.

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#17

They don’t necessarily need to one-shot but their ammo pool needs to be relative to the amount of damage they can cause and currently that’s just not the case. Sure, you did need slag in Borderlands 2, but you did have it. Sniping in Borderlands 3 in a way still needs slag but doesn’t have it, so you’re just stuck with sub-par damage until you can wittle down an enemy enough to kill him at which point you can start chaining some overkill.

#18

Fair, but 3 out of 4 characters have ammo mitigation skills.

Also, as much as I don’t like considering this gear for the purposes of this discussion, Debuff gear like the Eruption can add 40% bonus damage fairly consistently. On top of that you have elemental anoints that add at least 1 instance of +50% damage (for a fair number of builds you get two). There’s a fair amount of damage you can stack to get snipers to one shot trash, even on M4, though I can still be annoying and I personally wouldn’t bother with it.

#19

Well you also have to consider, even if she didn’t kill in one shot, more often than not the cloud kill would finish the enemy off.

#20

3 out of four? Does Amara have an ammo mitigation skill? I know Fl4k and Moze do but Zane doesn’t.

The thing is, the debuff stuff is really a hassle and not that practical for normal sniping. Most elemental anoints are also ASE, making them rather good on Fl4k and very poor on Zane.
I feel like overall the amount of stuff you need to stack on top of each other to get snipers to do the kind of damage a sniper should do on M4 is pretty absurd compared to Borderlands 2 where it’s just slag, maybe Deathmark if you’re on Zer0 and you already get reasonable damage,