Hawken Sharpshooter Guide

Hawken Sharpshooter Guide by llsHzll

Hi, I am a 2400mmr player and here are my thoughts and tips on getting better with the Sharpshooter.

The sharpshooter is possibly the scariest most annoying mech in Hawken. Its slug and sabot hit for a massive 170 points of damage or 212 points of damage if you use its power shot ability. The hit scan weapons (slug+sabot) allow the sharpshooter to kill anything and everything as long as you have a line of sight of a target even for a split second.

What are the counters to the Shaprshooter?

IMO the only counter to the Sharpshooter is another Shrapshooter or an A class that managed to get into kissing range.
B and C classes? Situational awareness, kitting back while taking pot shots or just straight up running with your tail between your legs will allow you to live most of the time.

How to get better at aiming?

The smart way to play SS is to be defensive, always have cover and be with your teammates. This allows you to get kills, have a good K/D but it doesn’t make you a better player. What you need to do is to work on your twitch reflexes.

Here is a quick video of me practicing my twitch shots:

As you can see I try to never aim directly on a target, I always aim off to the side and quickly pass over the target and try to time my shots to hit. This allows you to get comfortable with the slug and sabot combo and trains you to counter those quick moving air compressors A classes that manage to get close to you.
PS: When going up against A classes pace your shots and shoot just after the dodge, the slug rifle shoots at almost exactly the same rate as the dodge cool down on A classes.

Here are two videos of me playing smart and try harding on my main account:

Here is a video of me goofing around on siege on my alt account; I get into some good 1v1’s where my health orbs save my butt:

Internals and items

It really depends on your play style.
Replenisher and advanced armor fusor is what I use because it allows me to be more aggressive, keeps me repairing in battle thus giving me more staying ability.

Air compressor is good in higher mmr rooms because of added mobility or if you want to counter another very good sharpshooter.

Advanced reconstructor is good if you have a more laid back and defensive style.

As far as items go, I like health orbs on all my mechs because it allows me to repair faster and can save my ass in 1v1’s.

Shout outs and other resources.

Special shout out to all other Sharpshooter bros I recently played with (Cloakdood, cond0m, lo_spaghetto and others).

Super special shoutout to vR and x9 for being a bunch of cool dudes.

Here are a list of good sharpshooter players that stream on twitch:
Otlo: http://www.twitch.tv/otio_eune
Condom: http://www.twitch.tv/akbudder
Rei?: http://www.twitch.tv/TheCockPit
x9x8x7x: http://www.twitch.tv/x9x8x7x 

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *