Sniper (class)

The sniper class specializes in long-ranged combat. Snipers have lower than average health, similar to special units such as Jet Troopers, but make up for this in speed and high damage. They are usually found in secluded areas, far from the front lines.

Weapons and equipment

Auto Turret — An auto turret on Tantive IV in Star Wars: Battlefront II, deployed by an assassin droid.

Star Wars: Battlefront

Star Wars: Battlefront II

Factions

Although the equipment used by snipers in both games are similar, the specific sniper rifle and the actual soldiers themselves differed from faction to faction.

Sniper rifle type

These are the type of sniper rifles used by each faction:

Sniper units

These were the soldiers, specific to each faction, that served as sniper units:

Tactical analysis

Sharpshooter — A clone sharpshooter aiming down scope.

Sniper rifles, while having a low rate of fire, sport a doublescope. This means they have x8 zoom as opposed to the normal x2 zoom, giving them an advantage in spotting enemies from far out.
Aside from this, the bolts have huge stopping power. They are able to kill any non-hero unit in a single headshot, or in two body shots.
A sniper rifle when not scoped in has no reticle in BFII. This can be circumvented by holding the pistol, which does have a reticle, and immediately switching to the sniper rifle and firing upon the target.
Sniper rifles are effective up close if using the aforementioned pistol-change technique, but should only be used in emergencies, such as being outflanked.
Sniper rifles have an advantage in accuracy. While most other weapons' bolts spread haphazardly over long distances, sniper bolts have far less spread.
As it is only possible to hit one enemy at a time, hitting an individual in a group could alert other group members and thus compromise one's sniping position.
Snipers have low health, so they can't afford to alert anybody of their presence.
A team of snipers working in tandem can scatter an entire enemy offense.
Inoffensive applications, snipers are best used to pick off threats from a distance, making the main attacking force's job easier.
As snipers have only five rounds per clip (BFII), each shot should count.
Engineers are helpful as their "Health and Ammo Drops" can prevent any ammo issues. If ammunition is a problem, the semi-automatic mode of the sniper rifle and infinite ammo of the starting pistol will often be seen as a blessing.
Alternatively, a sniper can camp next to an Ammo Droid, however there are few good sniping spots near Ammo Droids.
The award weapon for the sniper rifle, the Beam Rifle, is disdained by many multiplayer snipers as it has limited range.
The auto turret can be deployed behind the sniper to attack enemy flankers, or placed near Command Posts to support defenders.
While auto turrets have low health, they explode upon running out of health, inflicting damage on anybody nearby.
For balancing reasons, when a sniper lays down two auto turrets, the first explodes instantly.
Even if Team Damage is switched off, the explosion from an auto turret will damage teammates.
If aiming to obtain the Precision Pistol award, a sniper should body shot the target with the sniper rifle then them off with the blaster pistol.
AI snipers behave significantly different from other units. Sniper units tend to rush out in order to find a good sniping spot and, until they are killed or told to follow the player, stay where they are the entire match.

Trivia

In the first game, a sniper could lie on their stomach for an accurate precision shot, but in BFII, they could only crouch, leaving them very exposed to enemy fire.

Videos

Tutorial from SWBF1 -