Once my favorite special weapon in D1, I gave up on sniper rifles early in D2 because I discovered Merciless. Now that I have Crimson as an option for my exotic slot, I’d like to create a second loadout with a sniper in the heavy slot. I have a LOT of them in my vault!

Which ones do you like and why?

The only sniper that I like (and almost the only Heavy that I use in Crucible) is the Borealis. Five round mag, which automatically refills your shot when you pop an enemy’s shields (in Crucible, that means almost every hit), and Snapshot as an intrinsic perk? I had a lot of fun shutting down Supers in Mayhem (I have a clip where I blink, launch a Slova Bomb, whip up my rifle as I land, and snipe my bomb in midair, and the Explosion takes out a Titan who had just popped Hammers).

It’s funny that it was intended to be a PvE weapon (given its exotic perk, and the fact that it’s in the highest impact category), but outside of Prism-modifier strikes, it’s just as underpowered as the rest of the snipers in the game.

I put one on once and I was not happy.

I've never even equipped a sword, those are immediately dismantled.

Some guns are just ick.

FWC's (because it's pretty) and an ugly Fusion. Rarely use them. Sniper kills for a challenge in the EDZ is the only place I can think of.

Non really. The flinch and recoil just don't make them worthwhile. If you want to snipe, use a linear fusion rifle.

I didn’t mean for this thread to turn into #criticism, but I’d have to agree with those of you lamenting the woes of snipers in D2. It makes me sad because I really enjoyed them in D1.

I appreciate the three or four recommendations!

There's a new monarchy scout rifle that is super accurate at long ranges and has a long range scope. It's not technically a sniper rifle, but it's close enough that I use it like one. Pretty fun.