Kripp's Sniper Rifle Vanessa Build

One Shot, One Kill

Often the best builds in the late game are those that can one-shot the opponent. This minimizes the chance of the opponent scaling in power, or getting to a point where they stack their defenses far out of reach.

The "burst threshold" becomes a lot trickier in the late game because HP values are much higher. So while a hyper-aggressive build is a strong option early on, without substantial scaling (or crazy enchant/skill combos) they will generally fall off eventually.

However, having a Weapon that can deal a massive amount of Damage with just a single use puts the opponent on the clock. Either they kill you before it goes off, or rely on building enough Shield to live through it.

In order to ensure you're strong enough to win with a single strike, there's three things you'll need to have.

1. A way to boost Damage through items and/or skills.
2. High enough Crit Chance to guarantee (or nearly-guarantee) you will Crit.
3. A fast and effective repeatable source of Haste.

In all honesty, this is pretty much what you're looking for across all one-Weapon builds (or any other build really). However, the main difference is that these are an absolute necessity. Sniper Rifle has a 10 second Cooldown, so you need to get it moving ASAP.

Sniper Rifle

Sniper Rifle deals a ridiculous amount of Damage considering it's a Medium-sized Weapon. Of course the main catch is that it must be your only Weapon to benefit from its insane scaling.

It's extremely important to upgrade your Sniper Rifle to improve its rate of scaling. The difference between tiers is critical (3x, 5x, 10x), and if you fall behind you'll lack the Damage necessary to win. You won't always get to fire more than once.

Patch 0.1.7 reworked the Obsidian enchant to now turn items into Weapons, giving them Damage scaling to match a percentage of their other stat values. In the case of Weapons, this can become a Damage-doubling effect, which is insane with Sniper Rifle!

Kripp's Sniper Rifle had the Obsidian enchant, reducing the need to find other ways to scaling its Damage.

Silencer

Silencer is an essential component of all Sniper Rifle builds, and should always be the second priority item for targeted upgrades in order to maximize the Cooldown reduction.

While some builds don't mind placing the Silencer somewhere else on the board (not adjacent), the lost Damage is far more significant for Sniper Rifle since that extra bit of Damage is multiplied tenfold.

Captain's Wheel

Captain's Wheel provides incredibly valuable support as long as you have at least one Large item. Other Haste items can also work, but the most important thing is applying the Haste as early as possible.

It's effectively a two second Cooldown, meaning the Sniper Rifle's long 10 second Cooldown can start accelerating very quickly into the fight. Unfortunately Shadowed Cloak, a common enabler of many one-Weapon builds, doesn't work very well here since its trigger only applies after the item it supports gets used. Not very useful with Sniper Rifle's 10 second Cooldown.

With this particular setup the Sniper Rifle isn't actually being Hasted by the Captain's Wheel. Continue reading below for details.

Rowboat

Rowboat's fairly recent redesign gives it some nice utility alongside Sniper Rifle. It's not too hard to get five unique item types, and if you can, it becomes an excellent source of Charge.

Instead of Captain's Wheel Hasting the Sniper Rifle, it instead Hastes the Rowboat which Charges the Sniper Rifle directly. This creates an even faster wind-up than what Haste can provide, further shortening the wait for Sniper Rifle to fire.

Crow's Nest

Crow's Nest is one of the easiest ways to reach the 100% Crit threshold which is incredibly important for the Sniper Rifle. While the Lifesteal won't always be needed, on some occasions when the opponent can survive, that sustain becomes crucial to buy enough time for the second shot to go off.

While you could potentially forgo the Crow's Nest in favor of other Crit and/or support items, it's worth remembering that it does fulfill the Large item requirement for the Captain's Wheel. Plus, it's an excellent target for a Deadly enchant if given the option.

Artillery Spotter / Right Eye

Crit skills can be very important for patching up any missing gaps. While it's still possible to succeed with a high enough Crit Chance, you generally don't want to leave room for error.

Artillery Spotter is a pretty solid option since Sniper Rifle builds tend to utilize fewer items, but overall just look for the best rate you can find so long as the positioning allows it (Right Eye is excellent).

Quick Freeze

Quick Freeze is one of the best Freeze skills available to the build since Haste will trigger very early into the fight. Any added disruption can certainly make the difference, potentially locking up an enemy's important item.

If you don't have a Radiant Sniper Rifle you'll be at risk of Slows/Freezes yourself, so having one of your own can help buy enough time to get off the attack before it's too late.

Any Base Damage Skills

Sniper Rifle is pretty powerful on its own, but you will definitely want further ways to improve its Damage, especially for the late game. As mentioned earlier, Obsidian definitely does a lot. However, getting a Radiant enchant may be more preferable when offered, and so it's important to have other ways to up its base.

Even skills like Right-Handed can help a lot thanks to the 10x multiplier. Picking up a handful of these can easily increase your reach. If you're really lucky, you can try and hunt down One Shot, One Kill from the Ferros Khan PvE Encounter. Though be warned, this isn't an easy fight to win!