Support #2 - The Sniper

Melee Weapon: Kukri

When it comes down to melee, the Kukri is a strong weapon. A healthy foe can be hacked down in a few chops, and one who’s had a good taste of the Machine Pistol will normally drop with a single swipe. If you don’t kill them with a couple of hits, retreat to a new position before their friends show up.

Best Allies: Engineer

No one really likes the Sniper - you’re always on the outskirts, and to many players it wont seem as though your even contributing to the game dynamic, but don’t worry about that. Engineers might not like you, but they tend to choose the same cover you use to hide their Sentry guns and Dispensers. Because of your low ammo and health you often need to get to a resupply, to recuperate. If there is an Engineer nearby, you can position yourself in resupply range of their Dispenser and stay healthy and wealthy without having to move.

Worst Enemies: Spy, Scout

Much like the Engineer, the Sniper tends to fall foul of the Spy. A Spy can spot a Sniper from afar, and dawdle up behind them as they gaze glassy eyed into their Sniper’s scope. Often Snipers will stand with their back to the wall, to guard against a backstab, but there’s normally room for a Spy to fatally apply the knife. The only defense it to be vigilant and periodically unscope to check your surroundings. Pay particular attention to teammates who are just hanging around. They could be spies. Loose talk cost lives.

The Scout’s tremendous speed and powerful scattergun can also be the end of a Sniper. A double jumping Scout is near impossible to headshot, or even hit. Your Machine Pistol can cause them problems when they get in range, but by that time they’ll be hitting you with their scattergun. If they empty their scattergun and pull their pistol, the Sniper’s chances of survival are very low.

• Tidy your cables
• Modify an MSI Wind
• Hide your ATX power cables
• Monitor your PC with an analogue meter
• Cool your VRMs
• Make your own SSD for less than £20
• Create a 3D animated Logo
• Set up a secure browsing environment
• Remove motherboard heatsinks and heatpipes
• Remove a GPU cooler

These are the most popular features articles over the past three months.

• VIDEO: Dream PCs 2008: Armari's amazing XCP
• Intel Core i7 - all you need to know
• Intel Core i7 and X58 revealed
• VIDEO: 6GHz plus: Overclocking the E8600 with liquid nitrogen
• How to add any song to Guitar Hero 3
• The FAIL Feature
• How to get a cooler Radeon HD 4870 with manual fan speed control
• Interview with Hardcore Computer: The quest for a full immersion cooled desktop PC
• Ten Technologies that can Revolutionise PCs
• VIDEO: Dream PCs 2008: Scan's Great White