Overwatch Sniper

The Overwatch Sniper is a specialized soldier in the Combine Overwatch trained in the use of the Overwatch Sniper Rifle. Snipers are encountered hiding in high, concealed areas where they can get a good field of view. They are never seen holding their rifle except for the blue transparent sighting beam emitting from its hiding spot. Snipers can be detected by the beam emitting from their hiding spot or the sound of the rifle firing on another target.

Capabilities
Snipers are very accurate, and will fire ahead of a moving target so the pulse from the rifle hits the target. It will also shoot breakable objects to limit the amount of cover the target can use.

Snipers seem to take the doctrine "shoot anything that moves" quite literally, shooting at any living creature (besides Combine forces) such as headcrabs, zombies, and even birds.

Snipers tend to get frustrated if they repeatedly miss their targets.

Tactics
Snipers usually set up in well fortified 'nests', effectively invulnerable to ordinary gunfire. Explosives are a different matter, however, and if you can get close enough, a hand grenade will blow the sniper out of his hole nicely. This can be easier said than done, however, because if the sniper spots you before you're within range, which is often the case, you'll have to avoid his fire to get close enough. SMG grenades and RPG rockets are also ideal if you have any to spare. It might also be worth practicing using the Gravity Gun as a grenade launcher to extend your effective throwing distance.

Keep in mind that snipers tend to aim in front of you in the direction you're moving in order to score a successful hit. However, it is possible to confuse the sniper by running in one direction until he fires, then suddenly changing direction, then repeating the same process again until you reach cover.

Try to avoid taking cover behind breakable or light objects, as the sniper will try to expose you by shooting at the objects in front of you. Even unbreakable objects such as barrels can be knocked some distance by the impact of the bullet.

Once you get close enough, throw a grenade into the sniper's hole to kill him.

Though the player never gets an opportunity to use the weapon, Alyx Vance occupies a sniper's nest on two seperate occasions:


 * In Episode One, Alyx uses a sniper rifle to aid Gordon Freeman in an area of City 17. However, Gordon does not see her holding the sniper rifle as she becomes hidden in the same way as an Overwatch Sniper.
 * In Episode Two, Alyx again uses a sniper rifle to aid Gordon as he travels through a zombie-infested bridge maintenance complex. This time, though, the rifle is visible to the player before they descend into the complex. It is in a fixed emplacement in a window, suggesting that the recoil of the weapon makes firing it freehand difficult, or simply as a form of control to prevent it from being taken by the player. Another reason why it may be bolted to the window is because of its immense size; it is as big and as cumbersome as an RPG Launcher. This could also explain why the weapon is never knocked out of sniper's nests by explosions. Also worth noting is the fact that it had to be recharged by a Vortigaunt before it would function. Some players have found a bug during this sequence: If the player manages to detonate any form of explosive in the sniper's nest Alyx is supposedly occupying, the corpse of a Combine Soldier will inexplicably fly out.

Trivia



 * If spawned using console commands, the sniper's model is a normal Overwatch Soldier which the sighting beam emitting right in front of the soldier's groin. This most likely means that it was never meant to be seen, so the appearance is most likely a placeholder. As well, the NPC is immune to bullet fire, and can only be killed by grenades. When it is killed, it will always be propelled forward, to make it fall out of the nests.


 * If the ammo cartridge for the sniper rifle is spawned using console commands, the texture on the ammo box is pink with the repeating words "OBSO1337" ("leetspeak" for Obsolete) wrapped around it. The box, however, will just stay on the ground as the game does not know which weapon uses it.


 * Originally the player was intended to use the rifle wielded by the snipers, however, it was replaced by the resistance-built crossbow.


 * In Episode Two during the Pointifex Freeman chapter after the player gets outside before falling down to the small arena full of zombies if you noclip and goes to where Alyx is sniping you can see a friendly Combine Sniper. After shot with a rifle grenade, which is easily done from the ground, a burning corpse falling from the sniper spot. The beam will disappear only to respawn later.


 * Humorously, Overwatch Snipers are the only known Combine units who swears. They will occasionally shout "SHIT!" when a grenade is thrown into their "nests". The voice is robotic, like normal Combine chatter.


 * Snipers find it very amusing to shoot Pigeons, Seagulls and Ravens.


 * If a Sniper is spawned on Garry's Mod and it kills you the Sniper will ignore you after you respawn on the map but it will kill other NPCS.


 * The Sniper was supposed to use a special camo that would allow it to blend into wherever it was. However, by the time the Half-Life 2 Beta was leaked, the camo is either broken or been removed, as the Sniper looks like a multicolored blob with a gas mask on the top of it. One note is that the Sniper's model is named "combine_elite.mdl".

Behind the scenes

 * Early concept art of the snipers reveal that they might have been female at some point, and much more robotic.
 * According to some early sound files, it seems that the Half-Life 2 episode where Barney is pinned down by an Overwatch Sniper was to involve instead a platoon of Conscripts, lead by a particular officer, pinned down by a Sniper equipped with a "bolt axe rifle".