Snipers are always a point of contention in online shooters. Either the weapons are overpowered, making way for annoying campers, or they’re weakened and rendered completely useless. XDefiant is in a weird position – the snipers are absolutely OP, but there’s also no room for campers.

The internet is abuzz with commenters complaining about how overpowered snipers are in XDefiant. They're undoubtedly talking about the TAC-50 sniper rifle, which I even highlighted in my Best Loadouts for All Meta Weapons in XDefiant article. But the base M44 sniper rifle is also a source of contention here, as it appears to be a very viable option until you unlock the TAC-50.

Are snipers balanced in XDefiant? pic.twitter.com/rUNEe3RvFI

As clearly demonstrated in the clip above, the crux of the problem with snipers in XDefiant is just how effective they are at almost all ranges – especially short to medium range. This is largely due to the game’s long time-to-kill (TTK), which makes powerful one-shot weapons like snipers far too powerful. Combine that with a fairly fast aim-down sights (ADS) time and virtually no recoil and knockback, as well as fairly high mobility, and you can see why snipers are chosen as worthy alternatives to assault rifles and, hell – even shotguns.