How to Play Sniper — TFT Set 13: Into the Arcane
Welcome to our trait guide, where we’ll be covering the Sniper trait in the new TFT Set 13: Into the Arcane. In this guide, we’ll explain how Sniper works, cover the different champions, provide notable Augment choices, and cover some potential team comps.
Explore all of the new Set 13 traits here!
How TFT Sniper Works
Sniper has been a part of TFT sets multiple times in the past, and it’s mostly the same as past iterations. Sniper’s will deal more damage the further away their target is. They’re usually squishy backline AD units, and they want a strong frontline to keep enemy units away.
For the most part, it’s quite hard to go vertical with Sniper as you lack the frontline and utility to keep your backline safe. However, board space issues are lessened if you’re able to get a Sniper Emblem. A Sniper Emblem also allows you to make another ranged unit a Sniper, giving them more damage.
Sniper Trait Bonus
Champions: Maddie 1g / Zeri 2g / Kog’Maw 3g / Twitch 4g / Caitlyn 5g
Snipers deal more damage to targets farther away.
- (2) 7% damage per hex
- (4) 16% damage per hex
- (6) 35% damage per hex and +5 Attack Range
Sniper Synergy
Here’s the list of traits you can branch into from the Sniper units:
- Enforcer 2x (Maddie/Caitlyn)
- Firelight (Zeri)
- Automata (Kog’Maw)
- Experiment (Twitch)
The trait only has 5 units, but there is an overlap with Maddie (1-cost) and Caitlyn (5-cost). This gives you a potential path to build toward if you pick up an early Maddie upgrade. Maddie and Caitlyn can be used for an efficient Sniper (2), but Maddie’s contribution late game will be miniscule.
However, utilizing both traits (Sniper/Enforcer) usually makes a low-cost unit worthwhile unless you transition into a super powerful endgame board.
Outside of these two, we have other units like Kog’Maw, Twitch, and Zeri. These units can likely be built around as your main carry. Zeri and Kog’Maw will look to be part of reroll team comps since they are 2 and 3-cost, while Twitch can be played with a default leveling strategy as a 4-cost.
One path you can take is to build around Twitch, and change up your board if you’re able to find Caitlyn.
TFT Sniper Champions
Maddie Enforcer Sniper 1g
Maddie has a straight forward damage ability that fires toward the farthest target, but will hit the first enemy the bullets come into contact with. This is a classic ability that 1-cost Caitlyn has had in the past, but Maddie will fire multiple shots instead of one big shot.
All things considered, the damage is mostly the same, but the flavor is just slightly different.
Zeri Firelight Sniper 2g
Zeri’s ability is a passive, and it has a Statikk Shiv like effect. Every third attack will send out sparks, dealing damage to the target and 2 nearby enemies. Unlike Statikk Shiv, this damage scales with AD, so you’ll still want to build AD items on Zeri.
Kog’Maw Automata Sniper 3g
Kog’Maw’s ability also has a passive like Zeri, but instead of AD, Kog’Maw deals bonus (AP) magic damage on his auto attacks. He also has an active, which gives him an Attack Speed buff for the fight. Every two casts will also increase his range, letting him stay far in the back where he’s safe.
Kog’Maw is the only AP focused Sniper, and his teams will probably look quite different from the others. Look to pair him with other strong 3-cost units that build a good core of traits.
Twitch Experiment Sniper 4g
Twitch’s ability gives him a short burst of Attack Speed, infinite range, and piercing bullets. The damage will be buffed, but the bullets will deal less damage the more enemies they pass through. This is to prevent you randomly sniping the enemy backline carry too easily.
However, there’s one last twitch. During these attacks, Twitch will attack randomly. You could target the enemy backline carry, a random unit to the side, etc. Because of this, positioning will be key for Twitch. You’ll want to place him in a spot where you can reduce his random attack variance and still hit multiple enemies in a line.
Conversely, your enemies will try to position in a way where Twitch won’t be able to get good value from his ability.
Caitlyn Enforcer Sniper 5g
Caitlyn is returning to TFT as a 5-cost unit, and her ability is a massive aerial strike. She’ll call an airship to drop bombs, and when a bomb hits a unit, she’ll also fire at them. The airship bombs will scale off both AD and AP, but Caitlyn’s shot will scale on AD only.
This means you’ll prefer AD items, but other sources of AP will also benefit Caitlyn well.
Best TFT Sniper Augments
In general, Augments like Crest and Crown will always be good, but there are definitely more notable ones to explore and discover. As we make our way to the PBE, we’ll be sure to test a variety of combinations and update this article with what we find.
TFT Sniper Team Comps
The set has yet to even come out on PBE yet, and unfortunately, our team was unable to playtest the Set this time around. While we can’t recommend team comps at the moment, we’ll be sure to come back and update this article once we have a good feel for things.
Thanks for Reading! If you want to try and come up with your own team comps for Set 13, check out our Team Builder. For a full overview on the new set, check out our TFT Set 13 Reveal Page.
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