Sniper Rifle

"When scoped, the BIRD'S EYE fires perfectly accurate, deadly rounds."

- Fink Manufacturing advertisement



The Bird's Eye, known in-game as the Sniper Rifle, is a long-ranged weapon used by Booker DeWitt in the BioShock Infinite beta gameplay video. It has a large mounted scope running along atop the barrel. It is the weapon used to shove Charles Saltonstall's minion, off a ledge in the beta gameplay demo. It featured briefly in a new trailer released in mid-December 2011, with an updated model.

Gameplay
When the player needs to take out an enemy from a very long distance, the Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle is the perfect weapon. Activating the weapon's iron sights allows using a scope to target opponents from quite a distance.

When using the Sniper Rifle, the player might be tempted to aim for headshots, but should try to aim at center mass whenever possible -- a single body shot is enough to take out any soldier on Normal difficulty, even late in the game. This is no longer true on Hard difficulty, though. Unless fully upgraded, the Sniper Rifle loses the ability to kill with one body shot hit, so players should aim for head shots to conserve ammo and make quick work of enemies. Equipping Head Master will increase the amount of critical damage dealt, so switch to this Gear if and when you come across it!

While the Sniper Rifle is great against enemies at long distance, it is much harder to use when attackers are close. Aiming while looking down the scope is slow, and it is very difficult to use the Bird's Eye when firing from the hip. Also, due to its small magazine capacity of four rounds, and a long reload time, the player can only take down a few enemies before they close distance, and the Sniper Rifle loses its effectiveness.

In most situations, it is generally best to not retain a Sniper Rifle for too long, especially when it is only available in some areas or with certain Sniper Rifles, and ammo is not as abundant, especially when avoiding using a Dollar Bill vending machine for 1999 Mode. If the player chooses to always carry one around, they should keep a secondary weapon stocked with ammo to use when enemies get close, especially while the player is caught reloading.

Advantages

 * Optimal weapon at long range
 * Extremely accurate
 * High damage, even with bodyshots
 * Critical hits kill most enemies in one shot, even on Hard mode
 * Findable in common "sniper's nests", i.e. roof tops, behind cover, etc.
 * More accurate with Tunnel Vision
 * Comstock Bird's Eye: 50% (replaces Damage Boost 1)

Disadvantages

 * Difficult to use, even at medium range
 * Ammo is somewhat rare
 * Slow aiming
 * Very few situations which are optimal for use
 * Small magazine size
 * Long reload time

Tips
You can fire without aiming or running with extreme precision, there is no need to aim down unless the enemy is really far away.

After every shot you can immediately perform a melee attack; it overrides the bolt action animation allowing you to attack an enemy who is too close and be able to fire when melee animation ends.

The ammo and the weapon itself are rarer than most guns. Use Elizabeth's Tears to spawn balconies and other structures, which usually have a Sniper Rifle.

Preorder Exclusive
Best Buy customers who preordered BioShock Infinite will also get Comstock's Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle. This upgrade for the Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle comes with a unique skin and an exclusive damage enhancement.

Behind the Scenes

 * The Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle is based on the Karabiner 98k, a bolt-action rifle manufactured by Mauser (in Germany), a version of which was fitted with a telescopic sight and served as a sniper rifle during World War II.