Hey everyone, it's your knowledge hungry noob Gardenia and I'm trying to learn what all I can do to take the sway out of my Sniper Rifle scope. The crosshair is all over the place making it difficult to land shots. I looked at the wikia already, but the data was inconclusive, so I'm asking the sniping experts here. Thanks for any help you may offer.

When you really have to make a shot take some Steady. It only last for a little while, but there is no sway while it does.

Also, make sure you're crouching. That takes some sway out of your aim.

Stability Mods onto the rifle, if they're available, (not all rifles can be modded to fix sway in-game,) taking Steady, and improve your Guns skill by putting ranks into it.

There are only four things that affect increased sway with iron sights: movement, standing(crouching is better), if you don't meet the skill requirement and if you don't meet the Strength requirement.

The least amount of sway you can get without resorting to drugs is while crouching, not moving with at least 75 Guns skill and at least 6 Strength. If you want to decrease this further then you can use a drug called Steady that lowers your weapons spread temporarily.

Yup, all the above:

*crouching
*use "Steady" a drug to improve stability (I hardly ever use it though)
*go to the Gun Runners and by every sniper rifle weapon modification you can! There's one that reduces the weight of the rifle, which will also keep it more steady/stable.

That too! I forgot about Strength. You need a certain strength to keep guns steady, which is listed in the weapons stats

*Crouching and standing still.
*Level your guns skill
*There's always Steady
*Strength stat. If your strength stat or guns skill is below the required amount for the weapon you're using, sway will be heavy. (most snipers need 6 strength, the AMR needs 8)

Those are the three ways. Unlike FO3, where sway dies completely once you get 100 guns, sway always exists in New Vegas, it's just minimalized. The exception is steady, which gives you perfect aim, but it's a drug of course so there's downsides. It's also quite the finite resource until you complete Lonesome Road or Dead Money.

It's probably your strength. Do you meet the strength requirements for your weapon?

If so then just crouch and take the chem Steady.

I'd forgotten all about the basic attributes. I bet you I don't meet the strength. The last perc I took was the one where you can raise any special by one point and I was trying to live longer while under attack so I picked 1 point in Endurance. I think I should have picked strength........grrrrrrrrrr........I'll have to go look at the percs and.....well I guess I just need to get more strength unless there is a great perc for increasing Strength.

you can get two strength from completing OWB or you can get the weapons handling perk that reduces the strength requirement of guns by 2.

one of the perks in Old World Blues gives you +2 Strength, if you have the DLC and the patience to get it

Edit: it also doesn't use up one the level-earned perks...

This is the biggest thing, yes. Steady is nice but I don't really use it. I kinda learn which way the rifle is going to sway and use the motion to decide when to shoot.

Does Steady even work for iron sights? I could have sworn it was just for improving VATS while using an Guns weapon.

Also, crippled arms.

I never get sway with Sniper Rifle at 75 Guns and 6 Strength unless I'm either a) standing or crippled to hell. The AMR is a different story because I almost never get Weapons Handling OR 8 Strength (unless going Melee).

Maybe just try using a Hunting Rifle with a scope and bolt action upgrade. Just aim for the head and watch for the Jello.

There is also a perk that requires you to have <10 strength. What it does is lower the strength requirements for all weapons by 2.

I am going to start of by asking: What is your strenght? (STR)

The sniper rifle requires at least 6 STR for you to be able to use it right. So you won't have alot of sway.

The Anti-Material Rifle requires 8 STR.

So if your STR is 4 then you can always boost your STR by buying an implant from Dr.Usanagi for 4000 caps. Can also boost it by taking "Intense Training." These are the best ways to reduce sway without taking drugs such as buffout and steady.

Edit: and there is the perk "Weapons Handling."

Steady works perfectly while scoped or aiming down iron sights. I've never tried it with VATS, but I only use VATS at close range.

There is always a bit of sway. I have 100 Guns, 10 Strength and there is a very small bit of sway without Steady. Try getting just close enough to an enemy position for them to spawn.You will see a bit of sway when you're trying to snipe a stick figure


Same here. I never use Steady anymore, though I may at a certain near-end game mission on the NCR side.