Have you ever had a gun you forced yourself to play with to unlock cammo, or just try it out? At the end of a few hours you got the hang of the gun and it was a lot of fun, but you didn't quite know what to do with it? Either the gun didn't fit your style of play, or there was a better choice for the role you wanted to use it in. So, you finished up force leveling it then set it aside permanently. This is a case for some of the higher damage weapons with a middle fire rate in the game. Namely, the SVU-AS, XPR, and SMR fall into this category. Quite a few players pass over these weapons because the full auto guns work better up close than the SMR and the Ballista and DSR 50 deliver an easier one shot kill for sniping.
The dedicated marksman role really is where these 3 weapons shine. The dedicated marksman class is a midrange sniping support class that focuses on using cover fire to keep the rushing and objective players on your team alive. The main idea, is you want a weapon that can engage multiple opponents quickly and between 20 and 40 meters. Generally, when I play this class, I follow one or more of the rushers on my team about 15 to 20 meters behind them. When they run into an opponent, I jump on the sights and provide support fire for them. One hit from me will cut their shots to kill in half, or if they run into an ambush or are outnumbered, I can quickly even the odds.
Flipping the coin, my faster team mate is allowing me the operational distance to help compensate that my weapon doesn't compete well in against a close range shotgun or smg. This class works best as part of a mobile team, but you can just follow somebody else and it works pretty well. Also, this build has a lot of adaptability based on how you set up the class. For example, if I jump on an objective with a team mate, in domination. My gun is set up for the range where most of the defenders are going to try and engage us from cover. Alternatively, I can supply support fire for somebody on an objective from a more distant outpost.
There are a lot of possible builds for this class. I am going to quickly cover the main points on it.
Pick a weapon:
The first thing you need to do is pick out a gun. The SMR, SVU-AS and XPR all have a consistent two shot kill. They also fire and handle well enough that you can take out 2 to 4 opponents between reloads. However, you could build this class using the MK-48, LSTAT, Ballista, FAL, M8A1, or Swat 556.
Primary Attachments:
Generally, you want two primary gun attachments with this class. On the snipers, choose two from the Ballistic CPU, Variable zoom, or dual band scope. Alternatively, the ACOG paired with extended clip can work well here. The SMR usually you would want to pair the ACOG, Hybrid Sight, or target finder with either quick draw or the stock. Similar accessories on the other assault rifles. On the LMG's, ACOG, Variable Zoom, Hybrid, Target Finder, Dual band all work well. You would probably want to pair them either with quick draw or FMJ. Most other accessories don't compliment this class well and avoiding primary gun fighter helps keep more slots free for the remainder of the class.
Perk 1:
Lightweight is probably the best option here. You want to keep up with the faster members of your team and it helps quite a bit since most of the weapons here a some sort of a speed penalty. If you want to be on the objectives more, Flak Jacket is a viable alternative. This isn't a stealth class so Ghost, doesn't help much and hardline and blind eye are not particularly useful either.
Perk 2:
Toughness is the best choice here since this class hinges on accuracy. However, if you build is more equipment reliant, scavenger could be more useful to replenish your grenades and extra primary ammo never hurts in the long hall.
Perk 3:
Dexterity is the best here as well. You will often be sprinting to keep up with your faster team mates and being able to fire quickly is almost a must. If you plan to be one of the bodies on the objectives, tactical mask is a good compliment to flak jacket and might prove the better choice. If you are running supportive equipment or talking a lot with the rest of your team, engineer can also keep you alive by helping you avoided enemy ambushes. Any pair of these is an excellent choice if you have the open slots for perk 3 greed.
Tactical equipment:
This class build lends itself to some of the more obscure tactical choices. EMP grenades are good if you want to clean out enemy equipment or handle ground score streaks. Black hats can serve a similar role, but tend to slow the class down. If you are running the dual band scope, smoke grenades are an awesome choice. Throw one between you and a group of enemies. Then, hop on your scope and pick them off when they cannot see you to return fire. If your team knows you are doing this, they might want to play dual band, or MMS sights while you use scavenger to supply infinite smoke grenades. Finally, the tactical insertion is another good choice. If you do go down, it can keep you from halving to cross the entire map to get back to your team.
Lethal Grenades:
This class isn't as reliant on lethals as other builds often are. Since you are not camping, betties and claymores are useless and the combat axe isn't as useful without fast hands. Frag grenades, or C4 would be the best options. However, if you are not running scavenger, you might be better off leaving this slot empty in favor of another point being spent some place else.
Secondary weapon:
This depends on what you want to do with the class. The primary weapon and perks are the most important parts. If you are not comfortable with your primary weapon a close range a pistol can help round the class out. If you don't want a pistol, the FHJ launcher can be helpful in keeping UAV's and other score streaks off your teams back. Alternatively if you are running scavenger, the SMAW works just as well with the added bonus of antipersonnel as well. Finally, you can leave this slot empty to load up some place else.
In closing, this class is a support class. It offers another perspective if you want to play outside the normal means of the game. However, it generally doesn't get you to the higher kill streaks. This is a class you play to get your team mates to the higher kill streaks. I have never had a K/D ratio exceeding 3.2 . But, on the Wii U version of this game I have a ton of savior medals from playing this class. Keeping your team mates going isn't always a fun job, but it can mean the difference between you getting railroaded and the other team having to fight off a swarm and dogs at the same time.