There's one thing that every Destiny 2 player dreads seeing in the Crucible: a red light looking directly at them from across the map. In that moment, that millisecond before you have a second to react, you're helpless, with your only thought being: "Please don't let me them good." In that next moment, you've either Neo'd around their bullet or you're waiting for your Ghost to bring life back into your still corpse.
But hey! If you use a sniper rifle, you can strike fear into the hearts of your enemies, instead of the other way around! There's quite a bit to take a look at when it comes to sniper rifles and their performance in Crucible, but before we get into anything else, keep in mind that sniper rifles, more than anything else in this game, largely come down to preference. All that matters is clicking on the enemy's head, and whatever makes that easiest for you, go for it. But, there are some things that are usually going to make it easier for everyone, so that's what we're going to be taking a look at in this list.
10 RATE OF FIRE
There are two schools of thought when it comes to rate of fire on a sniper rifle in Crucible: A) The higher the rate of fire, the more likely you'll hit a headshot right after a miss. B) The lower the rate of fire, the more damage you'll do, more likely killing an injured enemy on a body shot.
These are both perfectly fine ways of thinking, just for different scenarios. The first is going to be more useful to the sniper that is lone-wolfing more than they're sticking with teammates. It doesn't matter how much damage you do on a body shot if no one else is shooting at the enemy, so in a scenario of you vs an enemy (or more), the biggest thing is getting a headshot as quickly as possible, and high rate of fire sniper rifles are less punishing in that regard.
However, if you're usually sticking with some teammates, you may want to grab a high-impact sniper rifle, instead. Plant a shot right into the enemy's chest, and a teammate can finish them off with one or two bullets from something else.
9 STABILITY
This is going to be more important for those high rate of fire snipers. Stability is going to really make a difference in making those follow-up shots count; it doesn't matter how quickly you can shoot if you can't keep your weapon on target, does it? The good thing is, high rate of fire snipers generally come with a pretty decent stability stat, and there are some perks that can improve it if you'd like an even bigger difference.
8 ZOOM
In Crucible, you're usually going to want the lowest zoom possible. Even on a weapon that is otherwise a god-roll, having a scope that zooms in way too much or feels clunky to use is going to relegate the weapon to the bench.
Nothing, and this can be said with absolute certainty, nothing is more important on a sniper rifle than the scope. Make sure your weapon has a scope that feels comfortable to use, and then worry about everything else.
7 SNAPSHOT
The perk that can turn a decent sniper rifle into a good sniper rifle, or a good sniper rifle into a great sniper rifle. Snapshot allows you to transition down-sights with ludicrous speed, and that difference can mean the world to an aggressive sniper (in fact, aggressive sniping without snapshot is going to make your life much more difficult). The quicker you can go down scope after that shotgunner slides around the corner, the better.
6 OPENING SHOT
Opening Shot might not seem like a super important perk for a sniper rifle, but it's actually one of the best sniper perks in the game. Opening Shot allows the bullet magnetism mechanic in Destiny 2 to activate from a deeper range on the first shot, which can make for a much easier shot to hit on an enemy that's a bit of a distance away. Most of your engagements with a sniper rifle are going to be determined with that first bullet, so this perk can make a big difference.
5 MOVING TARGET
While this perk can be tricky to get the hang of, once you do get the hang of it, it can make you a terrifying (and frustrating) force of chaos and carnage in the eyes of the enemy team.
Moving Target increases target acquisition and movement speed while aiming down sights, allowing you to make yourself very difficult to hit while lining up that perfect headshot on the enemy who is likely about to angrily go back to orbit.
4 ICARUS
While this may not be the absolute best perk for a sniper rifle, you can't argue that it can be a super fun perk. Icarus allows mid-air accuracy to suffer zero penalty, allowing you to jump up over cover to hit a shot, hit a shot immediately after double jumping, or whatever other shenanigans you want to get up to. A target in the air isn't usually going to be as easy to hit as one on the ground, and the enemy is absolutely not going to expect to get sniped by somebody Mario-jumping around the map.
3 LEGENDARY
As mentioned before, a sniper rifle is going to be largely weighed on preference. A weapon one person likes might do absolutely nothing for another, and so on. But, these Legendary weapons can get one (or more) of the perks listed above, and are generally liked by quite a few people:
The Supremacy - A 140 rate of fire sniper rifle, this can roll with snapshot and a stability bonus, making it one of the most comfortable sniper rifles in the game.
Twilight Oath - Another 140 rate of fire sniper rifle, this one can't roll with snapshot, but it can get Opening Shot. Whichever perk you like better is likely going to determine which of these to weapons you prefer.
2 EXOTIC
Any Exotic sniper rifle is usable in Crucible, but they are usually going to be inferior to good Legendary sniper rifles. However, these two, in particular, can have their moments to shine:
Izanagi's Burden - Holding reload allows this weapon to load a single round with increased damage and range, which, in some scenarios, can one-shot body shot and enemy, or put down a roaming super in one headshot.
Borealis - This is just usually a pretty comfortable sniper to use, making it feel quite a bit like a good Legendary sniper already. Add onto that the ability to match your weapon damage to any roaming super in the game, and it can be a pretty good counter to one of those supers running at you.
1 PLAYSTYLE
Sniper rifles can be used in a variety of playstyles, but in general, they break down into either being aggressive and quick-scoping enemy's (which is usually going to require snapshot), or hanging back a bit and holding those longer angles (which is usually going to hugely benefit from Opening Shot). Again, a lot of how much you're going to like any particular sniper rifle is going to come down to preference; which do you have the easiest time hitting your shots with? After taking some time and playing around with a few, you'll likely have a pretty good idea.