Sniper stats, abilities and strategy
Picks off his enemies from afar
Death from a distance is Sniper's specialty. He keeps his enemies on their toes with a steady barrage of firepower, and then, when the time is right, picks them off with a kill shot.
Win Rate 49.0%
Pick Rate 21.2%
Attributes
538 +44.0/lvl
255 +31.2/lvl
19 +2.0/lvl
27 +3.2/lvl
15 +2.6/lvl
Stats
Damage:
40 - 46 + 3.2/level (146 - 152 at level 30)
Range:
550
Armor:
3.5 + 0.5/level (21.3 at level 30)
Movement:
285
Roles
Carry
Durable
Nuker
Pusher
Support
Escape
Disabler
Initiator
Facets
Ghillie Suit
Win Rate: 50.7%
Pick Rate: 37.4%
While Take Aim is active, Sniper's attacks do not reveal him from fog of war.
Scattershot
Win Rate: 47.9%
Pick Rate: 62.6%
Shrapnel slow and damage are increased, but duration is decreased.
Abilities
ABILITY: Passive
PASSIVE: Breakable
Increases Sniper's attack range.
ATTACK RANGE BONUS: 160 / 260 / 360 / 460
Shrapnel
AFFECTS: Area
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
Consumes a charge to launch a ball of shrapnel that showers the target area in explosive pellets. Enemies are subject to damage and slowed movement. Reveals the targeted area. Shrapnel charges restore every %abilitychargerestoretime% seconds.
Damage is dealt 11 times, immediately at spell effect then every second.
Does not damage buildings.
Provides vision in the targeted area.
MOVEMENT SLOW: 12% / 18% / 24% / 30%
RADIUS: 400 / 425 / 450 / 475
DAMAGE: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75
DURATION: 10
75
1800
FACET: Scattershot
Shrapnel slow and damage are increased, but duration is decreased.
LEVEL 25 TALENT: -30s Shrapnel Charge Restore Time
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +30% Shrapnel Damage
Kardel's modular rifle also fires incendiary rounds, useful for assaulting entrenched locations.
Headshot
ABILITY: Passive
DAMAGE TYPE: Physical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: Breakable
Sniper increases his accuracy, giving him a chance to deal extra damage and knock back his enemies. Knockback distance increases based on how close the enemy is to Sniper. Headshots briefly slow enemy movement and attack speed by 100%.
DAMAGE: 20 / 50 / 80 / 110
CHANCE: 40%
MAX KNOCKBACK DISTANCE: 50
SLOW DURATION: 0.2 / 0.3 / 0.4 / 0.5
LEVEL 25 TALENT: +50 Max Headshot Knockback Distance
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +30 Headshot Damage
Taking potshots at steepstalkers in his childhood has been thoroughly refined into perfect leads on enemy combatants.
Take Aim
DISPELLABLE: Yes
DEBUFF [E]: Yes
Increases armor, Headshot chance, and attack range. Slows you by 65% for the duration.
DURATION: 3
HEADSHOT CHANCE: 100%
BONUS ATTACK RANGE: 200
ARMOR: 5 / 10 / 15 / 20
ATTACK SPEED: 0
20 / 18 / 16 / 14
50
FACET: Ghillie Suit
While Take Aim is active, Sniper's attacks do not reveal him from fog of war.
LEVEL 20 TALENT: +2s Take Aim Duration
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +45 Attack Speed During Take Aim
LEVEL 10 TALENT: +55 Take Aim Attack Range Bonus
Patch 7.38
- Now has an overhead indicator when the ability is active
Kardel always takes it upon himself to stay as far from harm as he can while still performing his role - taking perfect aim.
Assassinate
AFFECTS: Unit
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DEBUFF [E]: Yes
Sniper locks onto a target enemy unit and, after a short aiming duration, fires a devastating shot that deals Sniper's attack damage plus bonus damage at long range and mini-stuns the target. Whenever Sniper kills an enemy hero, Assassinate is refreshed.
Crosshair effect is only visible to allies.
Invisibility doesn't disjoint the projectile.
DAMAGE: 300 / 400 / 500
STUN DURATION:
AIM DURATION:
20 / 15 / 10
175
3000
Aghanim's Scepter
Causes Assassinate to fire quicker and stun the enemy target.
STUN DURATION:
AIM DURATION:
LEVEL 15 TALENT: +150 Assassinate Damage
In order to fulfill the prophecy and return to his home town, Kardel must make another shot as perfect as the one on the day of his ancient test.
Concussive Grenade
Shard grants new ability
AFFECTS: Area
DAMAGE TYPE: Magical
PIERCES DEBUFF IMMUNITY: No
PASSIVE: No
DISPELLABLE: Yes
DEBUFF [E]: Yes
Launches a grenade at the target area, dealing damage to enemies and knocking them and Sniper himself back. Enemies affected are disarmed and have their movement slowed after the knockback.
DAMAGE: 200
RADIUS: 375
MOVE SLOW: 50%
SLOW DURATION: 3
KNOCKBACK DISTANCE: 475
10
50
600
Talents
+50 Max Headshot Knockback Distance
-30s Shrapnel Charge Restore Time
+ 0.9 %
+30% Shrapnel Damage
+2s Take Aim Duration
+ 1.5 %
+150 Assassinate Damage
+45 Attack Speed During Take Aim
+ 0.7 %
+30 Headshot Damage
+ 2.5 %
+55 Take Aim Attack Range Bonus
Win Rate
Pick Rate
Patch 7.38
- Level 10 Talent +10% Shrapnel Movement Slow replaced with +55 Take Aim Bonus Attack Range
- Level 15 Talent +1s Take Aim Duration replaced with +150 Assassinate Damage
- Level 15 Talent +30 Attack Speed replaced with +45 Attack Speed During Take Aim
- Level 20 Talent +15 Take Aim Armor replaced with +2s Take Aim Duration
Strategy
Sniper gets easily ganked, always have an Observer Ward placed and pay attention to the minimap.
Push out the lane with Shrapnel prior to rune spawns.
Look to stack the nearby jungle camp with Shrapnel whenever you can.
Sniper doesn't like to rotate too much, so focus on farming and pressure the tower if opponents' mid rotates.
Don't let opponents see you at the start of a fight. Let them focus on someone else.
If you feel you might be ganked, Shrapnel the wave and move out.
Sniper is really strong at defending buildings with Shrapnel and his long attack range.
When in trouble, often times the correct play is to press Take Aim and stand your ground.
Aghanim's Scepter and Aghanim's Shard are Core items. Take your time in between the fights to farm them.
Look to play aggressively in lane as soon as you get level 2 Shrapnel as you have massive kill threat with the triple charges powered with the Scattershot facet.
Counter Strategy
Gank Sniper in early game. He doesn't have any escape mechanism and is very squishy
Buy gap-closing items against Sniper
Smoke of Deceit can be used to dodge Sniper's Assassinate ability
Use Smoke of Deceit to wrap around and catch Sniper off-guard
Deep observer wards allow you to spot Sniper on the backlines
Be very careful when pushing high-ground against Sniper. Chip the tower and racks patiently and don't overextend. You might also want to give up on the high-ground siege and take a fight outside of their base
Lore
Kardel Sharpeye was born deep in the mountains of Knollen where, since time immemorial, Keen Folk have survived by hunting the strange, cliff-dwelling steepstalkers above their village, shooting them from a distance and collecting the carcasses where they fell. Sharpeye was among the best of these strange mountain keens for whom projectile weapons are but another appendage, and to shoot is as natural as to touch.
On his day of summoning, when he was to gain full standing in his village, Sharpeye took the ancient test: a single shot from the valley floor to strike a beast down from the cliffs. To miss was to be dishonored. With his entire village standing vigil, Sharpeye took his shot. A steepstalker fell; the crowd cheered. But when the carcass was collected, the village grew silent, for the elders found that the bullet had pierced its glittering central eye then fallen to be clenched in the steepstalker's mandibles. This ominous sign was the literal opening of a dark prophecy, foretelling both greatness and exile for the gunman who made such a shot. Sharpeye the Sniper was thus, by his own skill, condemned to make his way apart from his people--and unwelcome back among them until he has fulfilled the remainder of the prophecy by attaining legendary stature on a field of battle.