Best Sniper Build - Mass Effect: Andromeda (MEA)

This post covers the Best Sniper Build in Mass Effect Andromeda. This is a weapon category that has a very long range followed by high damage and a low rate of fire. This encourages precise aiming with aim down sights to land the perfect shot on enemy weak spots.

Sniper Build

The build's idea is to concentrate on using a Sniper rifle and maximize our damage with it. This unlocks long-range combat with very high damage to enemy weak spots. By the end, you should be able to take down most of the shield-protected enemies with a single shot

The boss-like enemies may be more difficult as their weak spots are harder to hit. This will more depend on your ability to target them precisely while aiming down sights. As you get more experience with the game this will come naturally.

Also, you would think that this makes Sniper build stationary. However, you could not be more wrong. Thanks to the Tactical cloak and how Andromeda hover jets work, you can find the best shooting angle anytime

If this build looks exciting and your cup of tea, let's take a look at how to achieve it

Skills Allocation

This section covers how Squad points should be allocated for the end game on the Sniper Build

Combat skills

Power name	Upgrades order	Description
Barricade	Duration Weapon Feedback Regeneration	This skill plays an important role in the build. It will allow always to have cover, increase Shield regeneration and improve weapon damage. There are no downsides to using and it greatly improves Sniper build's combat prowess
Turbocharge	Duration Damage & Force Supercharge	Hanks to this ability, you will be able to increase your sniper damage. Moreover, it will increase clip size without costing additional ammo. This will allow shooting multiple times before the need of reload. The 4th level upgrade Recharge Speed is my preferred one, as I would like to use the ability again as soon as possible (specifically after each reload)
Sniper Rifles	Weight Any Damage & Force	The main passive ability of the Sniper build. It improves the clip size, and damage, and reduces weight. My preferred upgrade for level 5 is Clip size. However, with Turbocharge, this improvement is not large, and taking Reload might be your preferred choice
Combat Fitness	Regeneration Heavy Lifting In the Trenches	This ability provides general bonuses to stats and improves survivability. What is great, is that with the Heavy Lifting upgrade, you will get a larger clip size, which is important for Sniper build. Moreover, In the Trenches perfectly synergizes with Barricade.
Combat Tools	Hover Any Aerial Combat	This skill should have low priority. Mainly it improves airborne combat by allowing to hover longer and increasing accuracy,

Tech skills

Power name	Upgrades order	Description
Tactical Cloak	Damage Bonus Duration Escape Artist	This is a very powerful ability. The big decision is which upgrade to take for Level 6. Going with Combat Cloak enables additional 2 seconds of bonus damage (that is 2-3 shots with Sniper Rifle). However, you then lose a way to restore HP. By taking Escape Artist, we get one shot with bonus damage and also HP regeneration via Life Support upgrade.
Offensive Tech	Any Any Technical Rounds	We only take this ability for the last upgrade - Technical Rounds. After Tactical Cloak is activated Ryder gains an additional 30% weapon damage boost.
Auxiliary Systems	Weapon Mass Reduction Enduring Tech Omni-Vents	Provides some duration bonuses for Tactical Cloak. This in turn will decrease its cooldown as % of the power you use impacts the time. However, Omni-Vents is a very powerful upgrade, and this is why we take this option.
Team Support	Squad Offense Team Recovery Life Support	Generally, this ability is very powerful. By taking the Life Support upgrade you will restore HP after tech skill use. Moreover, Tactical Cloak does not allow HP regeneration, but the Escape Artist upgrade enables this, giving you an easy way to survive most game situations.

Biotic Skills

To unlock Barrier, you will need to allocate 9 points to Biotics, just pick any skills. Or you should have taken Biotic Training when starting the game.

Power name	Upgrades Choices	Description
Any 9 points	-	Need this to unlock Barrier.
Barrier	Unyielding Barrier Biotic Alacrity Saving Barrier	Provides improvements to shields and gives instant shield restore when health is low

Profiles

Profile	Description
Soldier	Gives all the needed stats for a Sniper build - clip size, weapon damage, accuracy, and damage resistance. This maximizes your combat potential

Skills Progression

This section covers detailed ability progression for Sniper Build. This is just a suggested progression, feel free to adjust it based on your needs.

Order	Skill	Description
1	Barricade Level 2	These are two of the three main abilities from the combat tree. Take Recharge Speed upgrade
2	Turbocharge Lv 4
3	Offensive Tech Lv 4	Unlocking Tactical Cloak requires spending 9 points in the tech tree. Get the Damage Bonus upgrade
4	Tactical Cloak Lv 4
5	Sniper Rifles Lv 4	Take Duration and Weapon Feedback for Barricade. Now you will get bonus damage when using it
6	Barricade Lv 5
7	Tactical Cloak Lv 6	Getting the last upgrade Escape Artist should greatly improve the total damage you do while stealthed
8	Combat Fitness Lv 4	Continue further to improve passive stats. It is important to get the 6th-level upgrade Damage & Force for Sniper rifles.
9	Sniper Rifles Lv 6
10	Turbocharge Lv 6	I recommend getting Damage & Force and Dump Heat upgrades, for maximum damage and number of shots.
11	Offensive Tech Lv 6	Getting the last upgrade Technical Rounds will improve the damage by 30% after using Tactical Cloak
12	Team Support Lv 6	Allows restoring HP after using Tech ability via Life Support upgrade.
13	Combat Fitness Lv 6	I think it is very important to get In the Trenches upgrade for Combat Fitness, to get the most out of the Barricade.
14	Barricade Lv 6
15	Auxiliary Systems Lv 6	By getting these passive skills you will marginally improve the build. This will not have any major impact.
16	Combat Tools Lv 6

After this, continue spending points in the Combat tree, to unlock higher-level Soldier profiles.

Tactics

This section will cover how to best play Sniper build in Mass Effect Andromeda.

Maximum Damage

To deal maximum damage, I recommend activating your main abilities in this order:

1. Barricade - 15% weapon damage
2. Turbocharge - 35% weapon damage
3. Tactical Cloak - 90% weapon damage + Offensive Tech bonus 30% weapon damage.

After this, you can release 3-4 shots one after another for maximum damage. In total, each shot will deal 180% extra damage. The Sniper Rifles are already powerful by themselves. However, together with these skills, they are even more powerful

By stacking all of these bonuses, taking out stronger-tier armored enemies will be a breeze.

Headhosts (Weak points) and skills

Once you effectively hit the enemy's weak point (for example heads), the damage will start to stack up. This will allow killing most of the protected grunt enemies with a single shot

Be sure to use Barricade + Tactical Cloak to maximize the shot damage.

Use the agility to your advantage

Mass Effect Andromeda provides unique hovering mechanics. With these and the Sniper build you can take out entrenched enemies. This does not mean that you have to be tucked in and waiting for the enemy to come.

Use Tactical Cloak + Jets and get the best angle to land your shot. After landing on the ground, I would usually sprawl a barricade as this way you will be sure to have some protection until Turbocharge and Tactical Cloak recharge

Squad

Here are the companions that I recommend for Sniper in Mass Effect Andromeda. Check the squad builds recommendations. The build does not rely on any Tech or Biotic combos, so almost any companions work. However, because we are using Bio-Converter there is one important choice

Cora

Core has a Shield Boost skill that restores shields and HP. Moreover, she also has freezing bullets once you maximize Asari Commando, they make the combat much easier

Equipment

This section will cover what equipment you should be using with Sniper Build.

Weapons

Name	Mods	Augmentations
Isharay	SR Barrel SR Receiver SR Tactical Scope	With these augmentations, this sniper rifle becomes extremely powerful, as long as Ryder can restore HP (Team Support skill, Cora Shield Boost skill, etc.) Bio-Converter - use HP to reload Kinetic Coil - increases weapon damage Mod Slot Extension - adds 1 modification slot
Black Widow	SR Barrel SR Receiver SR Tactical Scope	Bio-Converter - use HP to reload Kinetic Coil - increases weapon damage Mod Slot Extension - adds 1 modification slot

Melee Weapons

Even if you do not use melee weapons, the augmentation bonuses still apply always in combat. So it is good to fill them with your preferred bonuses.

Name	Augmentations	Description
Asari Sword	Kinetic Coil - increases weapon damage	Even though you may not use melee weapons, their bonuses from augmentations always apply. Due to this, we want to maximize weapon damage

Armors

Here is my go-to armor loadout that concentrates on increasing general weapon damage

Armor piece	Stats	Augmentation options
Kett Helmet	+3%-12% Combat Power Damage +1%-10% Weapon Damage	Combat Recharge Module - decreases cooldown time for combat skills
Maverick Chest	+3%-12% Weapon Headshot/Weak Point Bonus +3%-15% Weapon Spare Ammo +5%-20% Weapon Damage	Shield Oscillator - provide shield restoration on kill Kinetic Coil - increased damage resistance
Kett Legs	+3%-12% Combat Power Damage +1%-10% Weapon Damage	Combat Recharge Module - decreases cooldown time for combat skills
Kett Arms	+3%-12% Combat Power Damage +1%-10% Weapon Damage	Combat Recharge Module - decreases cooldown time for combat skills

However, for maximum damage, you could go for something a little different that concentrates on weak spot damage. This is perfect if you manage to land headshots often and can easily target Fiend's ribs.

Armor piece	Stats	Augmentation options
Maverick Helmet	+3%-12% Weapon Headshot/Weak Point Bonus +3%-15% Weapon Spare Ammo	Combat Recharge Module - decreases cooldown time for combat skills
Maverick Chest	+3%-12% Weapon Headshot/Weak Point Bonus +3%-15% Weapon Spare Ammo +5%-20% Weapon Damage	Shield Oscillator - provide shield restoration on kill Combat Recharge Module - decreases cooldown time for combat skills
Maverick Legs	+3%-12% Weapon Headshot/Weak Point Bonus +3%-15% Weapon Spare Ammo	Combat Recharge Module - decreases cooldown time for combat skills
Maverick Arms	+3%-12% Weapon Headshot/Weak Point Bonus +3%-15% Weapon Spare Ammo	Combat Recharge Module - decreases cooldown time for combat skills

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this post on the best Sniper build in Mass Effect Andromeda. I covered recommended abilities and their progression, best equipment, and tactics.

Feel free to leave a comment below!