Sniper Elite Resistance | Beginner’s Guide
Prepare for combat, stealth, and survival behind enemy lines in Sniper Elite Resistance.
Game Guide by Monarch on Apr 23, 2025
You assume the role of Harry Hawker and deploy to France with a clear directive. You must join up with the French Resistance and fight behind enemy lines until the country can be liberated once and for all. This guide provides gameplay mechanics, key intel, and crucial survival tips for your mission.
If this is your first mission, welcome. Sniper Elite offers a complete and immersive experience as a World War II sniper. The franchise is back with Sniper Elite Resistance, available on all platforms.
Starting Each Mission
Each mission begins at an insertion point, a place of relative safety, some distance away from the location’s enemy presence. From this position, you begin with the element of surprise. Your survival may depend on maintaining that crucial advantage.
Stealth is core to your role as a Sniper Elite. Let’s use the first mission of Sniper Elite Resistance as an example to explore key strategies you can use to stay undetected.
Behind Enemy Lines
You are tasked with providing ground support for a Royal Air Force strike on a dam in the French Alps. The installation is core to German activities in the area, protected by a set of twin flak cannons that are preventing the RAF from taking out the dam. Your mission is to disable these defenses by any means necessary.
The inser point for this mission is the top of a watchtower overlooking the dam. From here, you can see the majority of the mission area, including your primary objective. With its 360° view, this vantage point is perfect for recon and sniping.
Recon and Marking Enemies
In order to stay undetected, you need to know what you’re up against. This is where careful recon comes into play. Find an appropriate vantage point, ideally an elevated position with a full view of the battlefield. Use your binoculars to mark enemies, study their patrol paths, and make note of routes to and from objectives.
Not every vantage point will be safe. Always be on the lookout for enemy snipers. They pose a greater threat than infantry and can neutralize you in seconds.
With all threats marked and a better understanding of the area, you're ready to start thinning the enemy's numbers. Pick off enemies from a distance. Sniping effectively is a balance of skill, patience, and environmental awareness.
Sniping Mechanics and Ballistics
Depending on your difficulty settings, your aim can be affected by wind speed, direction, distance, gravity, and even your heart rate. An experienced operative is in tune with these at all times.
Wind patterns change, so you must compensate your aim accordingly. Your aim will be steadier the closer you are to the ground. Crouching helps, but going prone is ideal. You can also steady your aim by using empty lung while aiming through your rifle scope.
Heart rate plays a crucial role in your aim. The higher your heart rate, the more unsteady your shot. Your heart rate increases from taking damage, running, or using empty lung. You can lower it by moving slowly or resting.
Adjust your scope based on the target’s distance. That information can be found by marking the target with your binoculars or rifle scope. Dialing in your sights prevents over- or under-shooting and avoids alerting enemies with missed shots.
Sound Masking and Environmental Awareness
Even if you’re sniping from hundreds of yards away, enemy proximity might mean they hear your shots. Sound masking becomes critical. Use environmental noise—like the clanking of dam machinery or rushing water—to hide the sound of your rifle.
If the battlefield is too quiet, create your own masking opportunities. Sabotage vehicles or enemy machinery. Be careful though—sabotaging may draw attention. However, it also creates opportunities, allowing you to use distractions to your advantage.
Combat and Loadout Strategy
Engaging the enemy is inevitable. How you handle soldiers is up to you. You can sneak around or use your loadout to eliminate threats.
Your loadout includes a primary rifle, a secondary, and a pistol—designed for long, medium, and short-range engagements. Your kit also includes a knife for lethal close-quarter stealth takedowns. Non-lethal options are available too.
In the mission Behind Enemy Lines, you begin in a prime sniping position to clear out enemy forces before making your approach. However, nothing stops you from climbing down the tower and charging forward. If you choose to fight up close, be aware that going in guns blazing will raise the alarm.
Use the well rod for silent kills or time your shots with environmental noise. If you switch to your SMG, your cover has likely been compromised and a full firefight is coming.
Moving Through Enemy Territory
Stay low and move carefully when approaching targets. Use cover to block lines of sight. Keep your head on a swivel and listen for enemy chatter and footsteps. Use your focus ability to monitor surroundings, especially in tight spaces like the dam or multi-level buildings.
These stealth tactics are also helpful for players who prefer a more aggressive approach. The battlefield is unpredictable. Pay attention to enemy alert phases and adjust your strategy.
Alert Phases
There are three phases: idle, suspicious, and combat—represented by white, yellow, and red indicators.
Idle means enemies are unaware of your presence. This is ideal. Suspicious occurs if they glimpse you, find a body, or hear gunfire. If spotted or engaged, they shift to combat mode.
If you’re pinned down, use everything you have—guns, grenades, traps, or environmental hazards. Keep moving and stay close to cover. If resistance is too strong, retreat. Even elite operatives aren’t invincible. Fall back, reset, and re-approach from a better angle.
The time enemies take to shift phases and how aggressively they search depends on your difficulty settings. On Authentic, enemies are relentless.
Reinforcements and Co-Op Play
If you’re struggling, consider teaming up. A fellow SOE agent or French Resistance fighter can join you in co-op mode. You’ll begin each mission with SOE- and Resistance-supplied weapons. As you progress, you’ll unlock parts to customize power, rate of fire, control, and mobility.
Weapon customization is available before missions or at workbenches scattered throughout the field. Each location has up to three workbenches—one for pistols, SMGs, and rifles.
These won’t always be obvious. Explore thoroughly. Some require you to climb, drop, lockpick, or break into areas. For example, after leaving the watchtower and ziplining to the bridge, you’ll approach a small village. In one house, turn left into a room blocked by wooden boards. Use the crowbar found there to access the first workbench.
You’ll find more as you go. In mission two, there’s a workbench that unlocks the first suppressor—vital for survival.
Propaganda Missions and Posters
For the first time in a Sniper Elite game, there are extra operations called propaganda missions. These put you in the shoes of a French Resistance fighter with specific stealth and combat objectives.
To access them, you must first collect French Resistance propaganda posters in the field. Once collected, these missions unlock in the main menu.
Posters are usually hidden, but here’s a tip: when one is nearby, you’ll hear it rustling in the wind. Listen closely to track them down.
Final Advice
Sniper Elites are defined by tactical precision, adaptability, and resolve. The battlefield is yours to master. Follow these tips, stay sharp, and take every opportunity the environment gives you.
Join the Resistance. You are dismissed.
Also, check our Sniper Elite: Resistance Review and other guides below:
Editor, NoobFeed
Latest Articles
No Data.