Tell me about Snipes

So I notice that the blast sets designed with Defenders in mind, Dark Blast and Psychic Blast, give their snipes out really early in the game. This seems counter-intuitive to me. I wouldn't have thought a Defender-snipe would do enough damage to care about, especially since you won't have debuffed your enemies yet if you're using the snipe as an opener.

I haven't really used my snipes though on any archetype. Anyway, Moonbeam in particular is becoming a pain to build around. So tell me: What, if anything, are Defender snipes good for? How should I use them, or are they to be avoided? Are Corruptor snipes better?

You can use them to pull a single mob or part of a group, if you target correctly. I use mine even in the middle of combat. Of course, have an Energy blast secondary does tend to make mid fight sniping a tad easier.

On my Rad/Rad, I used my snipe a lot in the earlier levels just because Defender damage is so low and my snipe was the heaviest hitter. Like Twisted Toon said, I used to use it during combat as well (although the Rad debuffs made this easier to do without being interrupted).

I say "used to" because, once I got Cosmic Burst with its superior damage and much shorter activation time, Proton Volley became pretty useless to me except for pulling at range. I respec'd out of it by around level 30.

The only time I think snipes are useless (as a snipe) are on Dominators, who get them so late in the set it's laughable.

Blasters, Defenders, and Corruptors can all use the time to "reach out and touch someone." You can hoversnipe, TP out of range and snipe, pull (though doing enough damage it may end up bringing the entire group) and more.

Something you should "build around?" Not necessarily. Useful tool? Yes.

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The best use I have found for a snipe on a defender or dominator is either a power to skip for a more valuable pool power or as a set mule. Beyond that they have little value.

I still have 2 defenders that have the snipe. My Emp/Dark (Sting set mule) and my TA/A (also as a Sting set mule though the TA/A will occasionally use the snipe on a lone minion)

Blasters snipes can be a valuable opener if you have some extra global damage and something other than devices as a secondary.

A little +global damage and Aim + Build Up + Snipe will take out an annoying lieutenant with out them getting a chance to retaliate. Personally on every blaster I've tried it on i've respec'd out of it. The one blaster that could actually get good use out of it is the one that's slow, safe and methodical any way my Arch/Dev BUT no build up means that it won't kill a lieut in one shot so it's gone from him too.

The Rad Blast one makes a really cool noise.

Pew pew pew pew!

By "build around" I meant "build to avoid selecting."

I've never played a /Dark Blast Defender even though I'd like to, because I can't wait until level SIXTEEN just to get my second attack. I like the set on Corruptors though if they have early debuffs in the secondary to get their damage up until eight.

EDIT: THIRD attack, rather.

EDIT: Also, I haven't had the best luck pulling with Snipes. I read somewhere [CoHtitan?] that hte more damage your attack does, the wider radius of enemies will be notified. Is that still true?

Set mule is about the only thing I use snipe powers for unless its a fire blaster with hover- in that case a BU/Aim hover snipe can do some serious damage. I made two builds on a few blasters just so I could use snipe and hover for fun.

In general snipes do nothing beneficial for your DPS, so using them actually lowers the overall damage you do per second (due to extreme activation times).

But heck, they sure do make a nice spot for another 7.5% recharge set.

If the other AT's get the dominator treatment added to their snipes they might be somewhat more useful, but even then defs and corrs have far better powers to open a fight with, which is the same issue doms have.

Set mules

I hardly ever use snipes on the few characters I've taken them for.

I find them probably the most useful on Blasters, occasionally for pulling (having stealth and/or using terrain for partial line-of-sight blocking helps for single pulling btw) or an alpha-strike, or for taking down a far distant runner.

My Corruptors don't take them (nor would any Defenders I made - though my Dark/Sonic Def didn't have option to take one) as they would generally open a fight with a control or debuff.

I think it's crazy that snipes were given to Dominators instead of something useful, as they would always open combat with controls. Sure, my Mind/Psi took his snipe, but only as a set mule to get more +rchg for perma-dom - it's not even on his hotkey bar.

I think it's even more insane that Stalkers were given snipes in 3/4 of their patron pools, especially as they do so much less damage than Assassin's Strike.

My only character that still has a snipe is my rad defender, my first 50 and Main, for (1) a Sting set mule but (2) more importantly pulling AVs in a couple of end game TFs, the Patrons in the STF and the final AV in the LGTF (plus once or twice a pulling the AVs in the middle mission of the ITF).

Its a very specialized use, but conversely about 50% of the content I do with my 50 defender is one of those TFs so I get more use then you'd think. And though I could use it in fights, my vet Nemesis Staff does better damage in less time.

Though with a near clone of him on another server I went with Choking Cloud instead (same +7.5% recharge from Basilisk), and I'm still on the fence about which is more useful. That guy tends to do more low level TFs, though, where you don't need to pull AVs.

I've thought about getting rid of Sniper Rifle on my AR/Dark. I do occasionally use it, but honestly never in a situation where I couldn't just move closer and hit slug + burst or Nem Staff. With Shadow Fall and a Stealth IO, I can pull AVs more reliably single by getting up close then super-leaping away while firing Slug or something just before I am out of range. Heck, I use the same tactic to single-pull Honoree with my Stalker's patron Dark Blast.

So really, it's just holding a Snipe IO set for me I guess. I don't use it all that much.

A Snipe is really an opening move. While you can use it in combat, it's really more useful either to take out the first foe or to pull him, so you can take him out out of range of his buddies.

I also occasionally use it as a finishing move, if the foe is held, and it doesn't matter how long it takes to charge up. It can sometimes be faster than waiting for other attacks to recharge.

Snipes. Gawd, don't get me started on those.

What other people have said is quite relevant. A tool for pulling, picking off a runner. A burst of damage to take out a troublesome enemy, (Malta Sappers, Freakshow before they heal, Tsoo enemies before a Sorcerer heals them) and of course a long ranged attack that allows you to damage an enemy before they get close enough to damage you. First strike.

But they could be improved. Every few months a flurry of snipe-themed threads pop up on the subject.

Snipes are decent burst against mitos, other than that, meh.

My blaster generally finds troublesome enemies better dealt with by going 'HRAAAAAGH' and raining down better attacks on their heads. The sorts of attacks that have better DPA. I suppose that if, in theory, there were some sort of enemy that could reliably kill me in the 3 or so seconds they get between my first attack hitting and their death, and that enemy was resistant to my stuns and holds, and that that enemy still had low enough HP to reliably die to one snipe, I'd use snipes, but... as it is, they're not good for much but pulling.

My defender has her snipe solely for the fact that Cosmic Volley goes 'PEW PEW PEW PEW.' That's more than most of my other level 49 powers have given me.

The other day, I was considering just what would make me reliably take and open with snipes. About the only two things I came up with were:
1. Snipes doing ludicrous damage. At least better DPA than most other ranged attacks available to that character.
2. Maybe if the snipe did an AoE aggro-free -range on all of the enemies around the target? That way it would be better for pulling, since anything aggroed would have problems retaliating immediately and reliably chase you around corners and such. You could just say that they're so awed by your ranged prowess that they're afraid to fight you at range or something. It'd also get rid of some of the complains about minions with pistols outranging snipes. On the other hand, it could make them less useful for solo blasters, who don't always want enemies up close.

To rip one of the few good ideas from Champions Online, maybe Snipes should be changed into an attack that you charge up by holding down the hotkey, then release it to fire. Then the longer you charge it up, the more damage it does, perhaps up to maximum damage equal to a current snipe with BU+Aim. Oh and remove the interrupt from it.

Then snipes could still be used like they are now as an alpha-strike (by building them up fully) or to pull or finish a runner, but they could also be used as a filler in an attack chain by just tapping them (or only charging them up for however long you needed to fill before another attack recharged). That would make them more universally useful and even a dominator or defender could find a use for them.

Actually with such a change it could become a preferred attack for defenders/corruptors - no longer trapped in such a long animation, you could use your snipe at any time and just stop charging it (and release the shot) whenever you needed to be doing something else, such as applying an emergency heal.

If I take the snipe it's only for set bonus purposes. I move around too much to make standing in one place for that long a realistic expectation.

I definitely love the "pew pew pew pew" or Rad's Proton Volley, and Fire's Blazing Bolt is very pretty and powerful feeling. That said, there are far more useful powers for my playstyl, and I can't really justify taking those powers on my main build.