Where to find a sniper rifle in Starfield

Starfield is a game that offers a lot of content for you to make your way through. You can spend many hours just walking around barren planets and mining for some minerals or simply looting abandoned buildings and caves. One of the things that Starfield prides itself on is the number of ways to play the game, with you being able to spec into very specific builds through the expansive skill tree. You can make many different builds from being a boxer to being the tried-and-tested stealthy archer, although you’re using a sniper rifle and not a bow and arrow this time. But finding a sniper rifle can prove a little difficult in Starfield if you don’t know where to look. Here’s our guide on where to find a sniper rifle in Starfield.

Where to find a sniper rifle in Starfield

Finding a sniper rifle in Starfield is a pretty hard task if you don’t know where to look for one. There are a few places that you can get one, but the earliest one in-game that I have personally found is in the weapons shop, Rowland Arms, in Akila City. In this shop you can find the sniper rifle with the name “Old Earth Hunting Rifle,” it comes fitted with a suppressor and a decent scope for you to use with it. This is a great gun for your early-game sniper build.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Another rifle I have found which makes for a great sniper rifle is the Peacekeeper. As for where to find this rifle, you get this weapon for completing the Groundpounder side quest that tasks you with saving a research outpost on Altair-II in the Altair system. Once you get into orbit around this planet you should receive a distress call, follow the quest and you’ll receive this weapon at the end of it. Originally, the Peacekeeper is a standard assault rifle, but you can turn it into a sniper rifle very easily once you find a workbench in Starfield. Go to a workbench and give it a medium scope, make it a semi-automatic rifle, and attach any other mods you think would be great for a sniper rifle.

There are many more sniper rifles in the game, but it seems the best sniper rifles unlock as the game progresses. I found the Old Earth Hunting Rifle when I was level 12, and I’m not sure if it unlocked based on story progression or level, but when I went searching for a sniper rifle it was there.

Where to find Hard Target sniper rifle

By far one of the best choices for a sniper build in Starfield is the Hard Target. It’s a hard-hitting sniper rifle that stands out with its whopping 181 damage and 7 mod slots. Luckily, you won’t have to travel all across the galaxy for this one since we’ve managed to zero in on a location where you should be able to find one for yourself for free. Just be ready to pop some Ecliptic mercenaries on your search. Here’s where to find a Hard Target rifle in Starfield:

Head over to the planet Jaffa IV in the Jaffa system where you’ll find a named location on the surface called Vulture’s Roost. This is yet another area filled with Ecliptics so make sure to load up on weapons and ammo. As you make your way through Vulture’s Roost, lockpicking one door after the other, pay attention so you can notice when some lively music will be playing. That means you should have reached a two-story square-ish bar area. This is your cue to look around the counters where you’ll find a Hard Target rifle just lying there. Once you’ve picked it up, it’s time to get out of dodge by stealing a Dagger ship that will be neatly parked in the landing pod area (which is the actual reward for completing Vulture’s Roost).

Other suggestions for sniper rifles

If you can’t find a sniper rifle in a shop, you may still be in luck when it comes to being able to find a sniper rifle. This is because you can actually use the weapon customization systems to make a few different weapons into something that essentially replicates a sniper rifle. 

For example, there’s a rifle you get from enemies pretty early called the Lawgiver, and this is a semi-automatic rifle that deals some decent damage. You can equip a short scope onto this for some magnification, and then a suppressor if you want to stay quiet too, and it essentially becomes a mid-range sniper rifle in Starfield.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Another option that I have used is somewhat unusual but works great. The Drum Beat can actually be modified with a medium scope, and suppressor, and turned into a semi-automatic weapon. This means you can fully make this 60-round magazine assault rifle into a sort of sniper rifle until you find an actual sniper that deals some better damage. You can also combine this knowledge with bonuses from skills such as Stealth to deal some more sneak attack damage with suppressors.

Console commands for sniper rifles

Psst! Looked far and wide for a sniper rifle, but just out of luck? Or maybe you’re too many levels lower to unlock some of the best sniper rifles like Hard Target or Magsniper in the shops, but need one to complete your sniper build? Well, fortunately, you can make use of some simple console commands that will add the best sniper rifles to your inventory instantly. Here are the console commands for the best sniper rifles in Starfield. On PC, just press the “ ~ ” or “ ` ” key on your keyboard to open up the console and type the following commands for the sniper rifle you want:

Old Earth Hunting Rifle: “player.additem 0021BBCD 1”

Hard Target: “player.additem 000546CC 1”

Magsniper: “player.additem 0002EB45 1”

Note: Using console commands may disable achievements.

Starfield is available for purchase on Steam.